Lesson 2: Persuasive/ Opinion Writing

Lesson Overview

POW + TREE will be reviewed in this class. The students will look for TREE parts read in class as
well as in an essay they had previously written. They will graph the correct number of parts on
charting paper. Students will share what they did well in the former essay as well as how they can do
better.

Student Objectives

● Students will write what the POW + TREE mnemonic represents.

● Students will identify the parts of an essay read in class, as well for one they had previously
written (for the pretest).

Materials

● POW + TREE Mnemonic for Older students (Hard Copy or Digital Copy)
● POW + TREE Graphic Organizer for Older Students (Hard Copy or Digital Copy)
● Essay Rocket Graphs for Older Students
● Essay Samples for Older Students
● Paper, Pencils, Scratch Paper (or Digital Devices)

Setting the Context for Student Learning (Anticipatory Set)

Students are to be assessed on the memorization of POW + TREE. It is essential that they memorize
it for the writing tasks, so have students review and practice if they don’t do well on the test. Remind
them that they will be tested each day as to stress the importance.

Procedure to Developing the Strategy and Self-Regulation:

Step 1: FIND PARTS IN AN ESSAY

. Go through two more writing samples of opinion essays, having students verbally
identify the essay parts (the writer’s belief, reasons, explanations, closure). In addition to
this practice, have students think of other reasons to support the views of the writers.

Step 2: LOOK AT WRITING BEHAVIOR

● Hand out students’ previously written essays (students should have received a
pretest to opinion writing prior to beginning these lessons).
● Have students read their essays and identify which parts they have and which
parts they do not have. Teacher should have made note of this without comments
directly on student essays as to give students the opportunity to self-regulate.
● After some time alloted for students working independently or with a peer, return
to a whole class setting and discuss finds as a class.
 ● Challenge students to improve their essays in new ways:
○ Give more than three reasons
○ Use better word choice (higher level diction)
○ Use an interesting first sentence
○ Use an interesting second sentence

Step 3: GRAPH CURRENT LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE AND SET GOALS

● Give each student an Essay Rockets graph. Students should fill in the number of
parts they had for the pretest out of eight (considering one topic sentence, three
reasons, three explanations, one ending sentence). If they add more reasons or
explanations, they can potentially bust the rocket.
● Students will receive the whole class goal of writing better opinion essays through
containing all essay parts as well as better parts the next time they write an
opinion an essay.

Wrap Up/ Homework

Students will be tested on POW + TREE in the next class from memory.