Allie Timpert

Professor Suk
Education Field Experience- EDUC 230-01
Fall 2014

Middle School Lesson Plan

Grade: 6
Subject: Language Arts
Topic: Writing a Persuasive Essay
Objective: Students will be able to (SWBAT) construct an effective persuasive essay while
using key techniques.
Standards: CCSS for ELA W.6.1a. (CCSS, 20010) Introduce claim(s) and organize the reasons
and evidence clearly.
Student Materials: Students will need to take notes from the PowerPoint slides with either their
iPads or notebooks.
Teacher Materials: PowerPoint presentation, handouts for students, computer.
Prerequisite Skills and Knowledge: Students have the knowledge to write opinion pieces
where reasons and evidence are supplied to support a specific topic. Students in the classroom
have previously learned to create an outline for organization in their writing process. As a class,
we have been researching proper websites when incorporating facts and statistics in our writing.
Anticipatory Set: Present to the classroom a short speech on the negative effects homework has
on student grades. Explain to the class: I have recently decided that all homework is not
necessary in this classroom. Please come up and throw last nights homework assignment in the
garbage. After reading many articles and discussing the topic with my colleagues, I have found
homework to have only negative outcomes in student grades, and therefore, we will no longer be
doing homework. After watching my students celebrate for a few seconds, I will explain to the
class that I was sadly, just teasing them. However, in todays class we will be learning how to
write a persuasive writing piece.
Input and Modeling: The teacher will display the PowerPoint slides to the class which provides
information on how to construct a persuasive essay. The PowerPoint slides will provide the
students with correct persuasive vocabulary, ideas on topics and an example persuasive piece.
During the time of showing the PowerPoint slides, the students will take notes during this time
and ask any questions that they might have on writing a proper persuasive piece. Students will
also be given their own packet of the slides to refer back to during their time of writing.

Student Practice and Checking for Understanding:

1. Teacher will hand out a flashcard to each student in the class which contains one noun
(chocolate, vehicle, homework, soda, etc.). The students will have five minutes to come up with
ideas on how to persuade the classroom on their noun as either a positive or negative. When the
time is ready, the students will then break off into small groups and present their ideas. These
flashcards can be used for the students first persuasive writing piece.
2. Students will then be given an outline to start brainstorming and writing their own persuasive
writing piece. The start of their assignment will be done in class where the students can interact
with one another, and ask questions when needed. During this time, the outline should be
completed before the end of class. I will call each student up one at a time to go over their
outline and discuss the topic chosen. This allows for me to have an understanding of whether or
not my students understood the assignment and how they spent their time during the class period.
3. After the class, students should have an understanding of how to write their first persuasive
piece with reasons to support their topic. In class, we have read examples of persuasive pieces,
took notes on the PowerPoint presentation, had one on one interaction with myself to clear up
any questions or concerns, and essentially started the students first piece with the outline
completed during class. The students will be given a rubric to refer back to during their
assignment to understand my expectations of their first persuasive writing piece.
Closure: Before the end of class, we will go back to the flashcard activity where the students
will once again use their five minutes to persuade the class on their topic. However, the students
will add one piece of essential information that they learned in todays class. For example, they
can add a vocabulary word, create more than one reason, add a piece of evidence (could be
fiction since there will be only five minutes to construct this mini activity) or add a short
counterclaim. In any event, the student will give me one piece of information that they learned as
their ticket out of todays class.

References: Association, National Governors (NGA) and Officers, Council of Chief State
School (CCSSO). (2010) Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved from
http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-arts-standards.

EXAMPLE FLASHCARDS:

Persuasive Writing Outline

6th Grade Language Arts
NAME:______________________________
TOPIC: _____________________________
PROS

CONS

THESIS:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

MAIN ARGUMENT ONE

MAIN ARGUMENT TWO

EVIDENCE: (this is where you should have your sources cited)

MAIN ARGUMENT ONE
MAIN ARGUMENT TWO

COUNTERCLAIM:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

WEAKNESS in counterclaim:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

CLOSING:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________