Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Sarah McNamara
February 3, 2014
Teaching and Learning
Holly Dolan
Opinion Writing: LAP 2
I.
Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content?
This lesson will include a read-aloud of I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman
Orloff. Students will think about the reasons that Alex, the main character, gives
to support his opinion. They will also consider the quality of his reasons by
thinking about whether they would have bought Alex the iguana if they were in his
mother’s shoes. Finally, students will use Alex’s argument as a model for their
own letters to their parents, convincing them that they should be able to get a
certain pet.
II.
Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able to do
after the experience of this class.
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III.
Students will be able to identify Alex’s opinion and the reasons he gives to
support it after turning and talking with a partner.
Students will be able to assess the quality of Alex’s reasons by considering
and responding to the question, “If you were Alex’s mother, would you be
convinced by the reasons he gives?”
Students will be able to write their own letters to their parents, convincing
them that they should be able to get a certain pet, using Alex’s argument
as a model.
Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your Curriculum
Unit Plan learning goals.
This lesson falls in the “Immersion” portion of the unit. Because students do not
yet have much experience with opinion writing, it is essential that they see as
many successful models of it as possible while they begin tackling this type of
writing on their own. They need to see what opinion writing looks like—what kind
of language it uses, how it is formatted, etc. It is also important for them to
consider how effective the reasons other writers provide to support their opinions.
This will not only help them to internalize what makes a reason a good one, but it
will also cause them to be self-reflective about the reasons that they provide in
their own writing.
IV.
Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have reached
your learning goals.
I will assess whether students have reached the learning goals in a couple of
ways. During the read-aloud, I will stop every few pages to ask students what
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
reasons Alex has provided to support his opinion. They will consider these
reasons first through turn-and-talks with their partner, and they will then share
out with the whole group. I will listen closely to students during both the turnand-talks and the whole-group discussions to assess how closely they are
listening to the book and how able they are to identify the reasons that Alex gives.
When we finish the read-aloud, students will again discuss with their partners,
and then share out with the whole group how effective Alex’s reasons were. Their
comments will show me how deeply they are thinking about his reasons, as well
as what they believe makes a good reason. Finally, students’ own letters to their
parents in which they write about why they believe they should be able to get a
certain pet will give me additional insight into students’ opinion writing
abilities—how effective their reasons are, how organized their writing is, etc. I
will use their letters to gauge what areas I need to focus on for the remainder of
the unit.
V.
Personalization and equity: Describe how you will provide for individual student
strengths and needs. How will you and your lesson consider the needs of each
student and scaffold learning? How specifically will ELL students and students
with learning disabilities gain access and be supported?
This lesson will be scaffolded to support students at all ability levels. First,
students will discuss every question that I ask during the read-aloud with their
partners before I open it up to a whole group discussion. Turn-and-talks will
allow all students, particularly shy students and ELLs, who may not feel
comfortable sharing out with the whole group, to express their ideas in a
comfortable setting. Additionally, throughout the read-aloud, I will chart all of
the reasons that students identify. This visual will aid ELLs who may miss out on
some of the subtleties of the verbal discussions. Finally, the read-aloud itself will
act as a model for students’ own letters, providing them with an example of what
a successful opinion piece looks like, as well as ideas for reasons to include.
VI.
Activity description and agenda
a. Describe the activities that will help your students understand the content of
your class lesson by creating an agenda with time frames for your class. Be
prepared to explain why you think each activity will help students on the path
toward understanding.
Time
8:30-8:50
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Student Activity
Listen to readaloud. Participate
in turn-and-talks
and whole group
discussions about
the reasons Alex
provides.
Teacher Activity
Read-aloud of I
Wanna Iguana.
Throughout readaloud, stop to ask
students what
reasons Alex
provides to
support his
Materials
I Wanna Iguana
by Karen
Kaufman Orloff,
chart paper,
marker
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
8:50-9:00
Consider with
partner the quality
of Alex’s reasons.
Share out with
whole group and
listen to peers’
ideas.
9:00-9:20
Return to table
spots. Using ideas
from discussion
with peers, write a
letter to parents,
convincing them
that you should be
able to get a
certain pet.
Return to rug with
notebooks. Share
letter with partner.
Share letter with
whole group if
desired, and listen
to peers’ letters.
9:20-9:30
opinion.
Lead discussion
Chart
about the quality
of the reasons
that Alex gives,
encouraging
students to use
the chart as an
aid. “If you were
Alex’s mother,
would you be
convinced by the
reasons Alex
gives?”
Walk around and Notebooks
help students who
need assistance.
Instruct students
Notebooks
to share letters
with their
partners. Choose
a few students to
share their letter
with the whole
group.
b. What particular challenges, in terms of student learning or implementing
planned activity, do you anticipate and how will you address them?
One concern I have is that students may have trouble writing their own letters
after listening to the read-aloud. Before I send students off to write, I will have
them turn and talk with their partner about what pet they would want, and what
reasons they would give their parents to convince them that they should get one. I
will then ask a few students to share their ideas with the whole group. My hope is
that hearing a few additional ideas from their peers will help the students who
may struggle to immediately come up with an idea.
VII.
List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
W.3.1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with
reasons.
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Learning Activity Plan
VIII.
Reflection
a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated purpose and
learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful? How do you know?
In what ways was it not successful? How might the activity be planned
differently another time?
I was pretty happy about how this lesson went. The main goal of the lesson was
for students to see an example of effective opinion writing, focusing on the reasons
provided. I wanted students to be able to identify Alex’s reasons for wanting an
iguana, as well as evaluate the validity of them. As I read, I stopped frequently and
asked students to turn and talk with their partners about the reasons they heard, and I
listed them on chart paper. Students were very successful in pinpointing reasons.
They pointed out that 1) iguanas are cute and quiet; 2) Alex would keep it in a cage in
his room; 3) he was lonely and it would make a good friend; 4) he could teach it
tricks; and 5) he would feed it every day, make sure it had enough water, and clean its
cage. The fact that students were able to recognize these as reasons indicated to me
that they understand the meaning and use of reasons in opinion writing.
When we finished the book, I asked students to turn and talk with their partners
about whether Alex made a good case; if you were his mother, would you get him the
iguana? I told them to use the chart that we had created to remind themselves of his
reasons. Students had a hard time considering this in terms of the validity of Alex’s
reasons. Rather, their answers tended to be based on their prior beliefs about whether
an iguana would make a good pet. Students make comments like, “I wouldn’t get him
an iguana because they are ugly…he should get a dog instead.” Because this lesson
was more about exposing students to the genre of opinion writing, as well as getting
them to think about how to utilize reasons to convey an opinion, I didn’t go into
which of Alex’s reasons were effective and which were not. Instead, I plan to teach a
lesson on opinion versus fact, so that students have some concrete understanding to
draw upon when they are evaluating whether a reason is valid or not.
For the next activity, students wrote letters in their notebooks to their parents,
convincing them that they should be able to get a certain pet. Overall, students did a
pretty good job with this. I think that it was helpful for them to hear and talk about the
reasons that Alex gave because they were able to easily adapt them to their own
letters. For example, many students explained that they would take care of the pet by
feeding it, cleaning its cage, bathing it, etc., which was a reason that Alex provided,
as well.
I was also impressed with the way that many students organized their ideas. For
example, in Work Sample 1, Marben begins his letter by stating his opinion: “I want a
dog because they are nice and cool.” He then provides a reason that he should be able
to have a dog (he’ll take good care of him), and elaborates on this by providing
examples (buy him a doggy bed and food, give him a shower every day, play with
him, give him treats when he behaves, and take him for walks). Similarly, in Work
Sample 2, Andrew tells his opinion, “You should buy a bunny,” and then supports it
with a number of reasons and examples. He says that he could take care of it, and
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
then expands by writing that he would feed it and sleep with it. He explains that it
could teach him things and again, elaborates by stating that it could teach him to hop,
move his ears, and run fast.
b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your next
LAP?
This lesson informed me that my students understand what reasons are and how
they are used in opinion writing, but they need more work in determining what
constitutes an effective reason. In the next few lessons, students will be exposed to
more opinion writing through reading reviews and considering whether they are
convinced by the reasons the writers offer. I think that additional practice with this
will help them to more easily understand what a good reason looks like, and
consequently, aid them in coming up with their own when they are writing.
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Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
Work Sample 1
Work Sample 2
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