Standard 3: Critical Reading and Writing Students will apply critical thinking skills to reading and writing.

3.3.W.3 ​Students will write an opinion about a topic and provide relevant evidence as support in multiple paragraphs with transitional words and phrases.

Student Actions

Teacher Actions

• Students distinguish between facts and opinions.

• Students brainstorm topics and list ideas that they can use to write an opinion piece.

• Students form an opinion.

• Students list reasons for their opinion.

• Students choose reasons that will best support their opinion and provide evidence for each reason while considering their audience.

• Students write paragraphs that include a topic sentence, reason, evidence, and a closing sentence.

• Students use transitional words and phrases in order to provide smoothness and clarity to their writing. 

• Students work through part, or all, of the writing process. 

• Teachers review fact and opinion.

• Teachers describe the elements of an opinion writing piece.

• Teachers share mentor texts through mini-lessons to show how authors 

• express opinions about a topic

• incorporate relevant evidence to support opinions

• use transitional words and phrases to add clarity and organization

• Teachers model brainstorming topics.  For example, teachers may ask questions such as:

• What are some of your favorite things?

• What would you really like to have?

• How do you feel about _____?

• Teachers chunk the task of writing an opinion piece by focusing on composing one paragraph at a time.

• Teachers provide organizational tools and model  how to use them to organize a multi-paragraph  composition.

• Teachers model how to form an opinion.

• Teachers model how to brainstorm reasons for their opinion while thinking aloud about the intended audience.

• Teachers introduce and explicitly model how to provide evidence (e.g., statements, facts, or examples) for their reasons while thinking aloud about the intended audience.

• Teachers model writing an opinion paragraph that includes a topic sentence, reasons, evidence, and a closing sentence.

• Teachers introduce and explicitly model how transition words and phrases add clarity and organization to writing.

• Teachers allow time for students to practice writing the first paragraph of their opinion piece.

• Teachers model how to use transitional words and phrases to begin new paragraphs.

• Teachers review writing an opinion paragraph and provide time for students to practice composing the next paragraphs in their opinion piece.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback on their writing throughout the writing process 

Recommendations

Key Terms & Related Objectives

When students have difficulty writing topic sentences with opinions, teachers can…

• provide opinion stems and word banks

• I believe…

• I prefer…

• The worst thing about…

• The best thing about…

• have students state their opinion orally before writing it.

• provide guided practice.

When students have difficulty writing their first draft, teachers can...

• allow students to rehearse or practice saying their ideas out loud before writing.  

• encourage students to not focus on correct spelling and conventions.

• allow students to work in a small group near the teacher.

• provide organizational tools such as graphic organizers with embedded sentence stems or transitional words and phrases.

When students have difficulty providing evidence, teachers can ...

• shorten the writing assignment or the amount of evidence that a student needs to provide.

• ask guiding questions.

• focus on one type of evidence (e.g., examples).

• review mentor texts.

• provide organizational tools such as graphic organizers or indicate in student’s writing where they need to provide evidence.

• Evidence: the reasons or support for an argument.

• Opinion: a view or judgment about a topic, supported by reasoning and examples.

• Opinion Writing: writing that clearly states a view or judgment about a topic, supported by reasoning and examples.

• Topic: the subject of an entire paragraph or text selection.

• 3.3.R.6: Distinguish fact vs. opinion

• 3.2.W.1: Prewrite and organize drafts

• 3.2.W.2: Revise drafts