Writing An Opinion Piece - The Beginning
Design Guide
Designers for Learning - Adult Learning Zone
Table of Contents
Learner Audience / Primary Users
College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) Alignment
Instructional Strategies and Activities
Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration
Part 3: Supplementary Resources & References
Part 1: Lesson Description
Lesson Title
Writing An Opinion Piece - The Beginning
Abstract
This writing lesson focuses on beginning a written piece on an opinion that is supported by reasons. It includes introducing the topic, stating an opinion, and planning the structure of the piece to continue further.
This lesson will help the learners to convert their thoughts and conversational sentences into written forms while looking at a topic and understanding the practical construction of opinion around it.
Learner Audience / Primary Users
Learners are low level, grade B equivalent on English language proficiency scale.
Educational Use
- Curriculum / Instruction
- Assessment
- Professional Development
Language
English
Material Type
- Instructional Material
Keywords
- Designers for Learning
- Adult Education
- Basic English writing
- Opinion piece writing
Time Required for Lesson
1 hour
Targeted Skills
Key skills covered in this lesson include:
- Employability
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to:
- Introduce the topic or text they are writing about
- State an opinion, and
- Create an organizational structure that lists reasons
College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) Alignment
- Level: Adult Education
- Grade Level: B
- Subject: English Language Arts / Literacy
- Domain or Strand:
- Strand:
- Writing
- Writing of History/Social Studies
- Standard Description: W.3.1a - Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
- a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.
Prior Knowledge
The learner should know how to write alphabets and words.
Required Resources
A classroom with a black board and pieces of chalk
Each learner should have a pocket book and a pencil or a pen
Internet and a printer for the instructor to take printouts of the handouts
Sentence structure handouts provided by BBC Skillwise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/sentence-structure/resources/e3
Lesson Author & License
- Lesson Author: Aptachaitanya
Part 2: Lesson
Instructional Strategies and Activities
Warm-Up
Time: 5 minutes
Step 1: Learners are asked to say some everyday topics from their day-to-day life. For example: Traffic, School, Farming, Cooking etc
Step 2: Learners are asked to tell one thing that they like or dislike about a specific topic. For example: Traffic jam in the middle of a traffic.
Introduction
Time: 10 minutes
Instructor asks the learner to say her like or dislike in a sentence. For example: I don’t like traffic jam.
Then the instructor writes the same on the blackboard.
Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration
Time: 20 minutes
Part 1:
Learners are given with the handout ‘Introduction to sentence construction.’
Instructor then highlights parts of the sentence and explains what each part does in a sentence.
Learners are asked to match the parts highlighted on the blackboard with those mentioned in the handout.
Part 2:
Instructor narrates a small narrative that has introduction, body, and conclusion. Writes the same as boxes on the blackboard and explains what to go in each box, by writing keywords in each box.
Guided Practice
Time: 5 minutes
Learners are asked to do the following steps:
Step 1: Learners are asked to come up with a topic and a sentence of an opinion of like or dislike from everyday topics in written on a piece of paper or in their notebooks.
Step 2: Learners are asked to draw three boxes and populate the first one with the introduction, the second one with 5 keywords related to the topic, and the last one with one or two keywords on the decision or conclusion.
Evaluation
Time: 10 minutes
Learners are asked to self evaluate by doing the following steps:
Step 1: Highlight the parts of the sentence that follow the standard structure of a sentence
Step 2: Check if all the boxes are filled with required number of keywords.
Application
Time: 10 minutes
The learners are asked to try to narrate the planned piece to a co-learner, instructor, a friend, or a family member in complete sentences, in the order of rectangles planned.
Key Terms and Concepts
Sentence: A set of words arranged in a row that conveys a complete thought.
Sentence structure: The arrangement of words following grammar and punctuation.
Narrative: A narrative that tells or describes a particular act or an event.
Keyword: A significant word that can be elaborated into a sentence.
Part 3: Supplementary Resources & References
Supplementary Resources
Sentence structure handouts provided by BBC Skillwise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/sentence-structure/resources/e3
References
Sentence structure handouts provided by BBC Skillwise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/sentence-structure/resources/e3
Attribution Statements
“Original content contributed by PERSON(s) of INSTITUTION(s) to PROJECT.”
“Content created by PERSON(s) of INSTITUTION(s) for PROJECT,
originally published at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/sentence-structure/resources/e3 under a Creative Commons license.”
This course content is offered by Designers for Learning under a CC Attribution license.
Content in this course can be considered under this license unless otherwise noted. Page
(Design Guide effective September 12, 2016)