Workshop Lesson Plan

Planning:
Central focus: Essential literacy strategy: Related skills:

Authors Purpose Using textual evidence to  Main idea

support an authors point.  Summarizing

Standard: Language Function: 21st century skills:

RI.5.8 Explain how an author Identify/Explain  Critical thinking

uses reasons and evidence to  Collaboration
support particular points in a
text, identifying which reasons
and evidence support which
point(s).

Objective
Performance: Students will be able to complete a graphic organizer identifying and explaining the authors
points for writing a persuasive article.

Conditions: Through the use of the article “Pizza for School Lunch,” students will complete a graphic
organizer to identify the authors points in a piece of persuasive writing and explain how the author uses those
points to support the argument.

Criteria: Students must score at least 7 out of 9 points to obtain mastery.

What theory/research supports using this objective/strategy to align with the needs of your student?
The students will be working at the remember and understand stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students will use
the remember stage by recalling information from the article to answer questions in the graphic organizer and
they will use the understand stage to explain the purpose for writing the article.
How are the objective, lesson, and materials related to students’ personal, cultural, or community
assets?
Students are reading materials that could actually relate to them/they could see themselves writing as it may
be of interest to them. Student’s develop a sense of community during the guided practice where students talk
about their school and as a group, come up with reasons why Cox Mill is the best school.
Vocabulary Discourse Syntax
Terms: Discourse required in this Syntax required in this lesson:
 Authors purpose lesson:
 persuade Complete sentences with correct
Filling out a graphic organizer grammar and punctuation.
 evidence/reasons
with textual evidence.

How do you teach/support How do you teach/support How do you teach/support syntax
vocabulary development? discourse development? development?

The teacher uses academic
language during instruction and
when talking about authors
purpose. The teacher should also
introduce the terms and ask for
The teacher supports the
discourse development by
reading articles and using
textual evidence to fill out
graphic organizers.
The teacher models writing a summary
in complete sentences with correct
grammar and punctuation before
students practice doing it themselves.
student definitions before
continuing on with its use.

Supports, accommodations, and modifications (IEPs, 504s, other learning needs)

Student Supports, accommodations, and modifications Supports, accommodations, and
during instruction modifications during assessment
Visual Students who struggle with visual impairments Students who struggle with visual
Impairments will receive handouts and instructional materials impairments will receive handouts and
in a larger font on larger printed paper. testing materials in a larger font on
larger printed paper.
Hearing Students who struggle with hearing impairments Students who struggle with hearing
Impairments will have a blue tooth device linked to their impairments will have a blue tooth
hearing aid and the teacher will speak into a device linked to their hearing aid and
microphone connected to the teacher’s shirt and the teacher will speak into a
sit close to the teacher in proximity. microphone connected to the teacher’s
shirt and sit close to the teacher in
proximity.
Prior academic learning: Students know what authors purpose is and the different types but have not dived
into any examples.

Meaningful connection to prior academic learning: Students will reflect back on what is authors purpose
and connect it to this activity by identifying the reasons the author uses to support said purpose.

Materials: “Author’s Points and Reasons” Worksheet, “Pizza for School Lunch” article, highlighters,
pencils, “Letter to the Editor” article
Implementing:
Whole-Group Instruction (focused mini-lesson) Differentiation:
Teaching point: Authors Point and Reasons If students are struggling
understanding what
Review: What is authors purpose? What are the different authors purposes you authors purpose is, the
have learned about? Examples of each? Turn and talk for 2 minutes. teacher will write the
definition on the board
Students then share out. for students to refer back
to.
PIE’ED: Persuade, Inform, Entertain, Explain, Describe

Explanation: Students who struggle

understanding what
Explain the reason for finding the authors purpose: to better understand the topic’s authors purpose is will
information as a reader and see the author’s viewpoint. receive a handout with
the definition of authors
Give students the “Author’s Points and Reasons” worksheet and the “Letter to the purpose and the different
Editor” worksheet. types (PIE’ED).

Tell students we will read the article together and we will find the author’s point
and reasons or evidence to support that point.

Modeling: If students are unable to

understand during whole-
Model how to support a point with details. group instruction, the
teacher can pull the
The teacher will read aloud “Letter to the Editor” and stop, think aloud, and student aside for further
highlight the reasons as they are read. explanation with 1:1
interaction.
Highlighted portions:

 “Almost every kid loves pizza”

 “Even though pizza tastes great, it can be a very healthy food”
 “Pizza can also be very fast and easy to make, which would be good for
our cafeteria staff”
 “The school should add a daily pizza option to the school lunch menu”

Questions to ask:
 What is this paragraph talking about?
 What is the topic sentence?
 How does this support the point the author is trying to make?

Transfer the highlighted portions into the “Authors Points and Reasons”
worksheet.

Next, practice writing an example summary and then have students try it on their
own based off teacher example. Students will complete the answer at the bottom
 to explain how the author supports the point. Students will take the information
from the graphic organizer and put it into paragraph form. It might sound like,
“The author of the article, “___” thinks that (insert author’s point). One reason
he/she thinks that is because ____. Another reason he thinks that is because ____.
Finally, he thinks that because ____.

Listen to student responses.

Guided practice/active engagement: If students are struggling

working with peers, the
Tell students that I am making a point that Cox Mill Elementary is the best school teacher can circulate the
in the world! Display this sentence under document camera and label it, “author’s room and listen during
point” in a circle in the middle of the page. “turn and talk” to see if
he/she needs to intervene
Ask students to provide reasons to support why it is the best school. Record 3 of and provide further
student responses and label them, “reasons or evidence.” This will be done in a assistance.
bubble map format. Assign each of the three tables one piece of evidence to share
with 2 minutes to discuss (turn and talk).

Independent practice (when appropriate): If students are struggling

to fill out the organizer
Students will read the article “Pizza for School Lunch” and practice highlighting on their own, students
the reasons the author wrote the article. Students will then transfer their will be able to have
information onto a new “Authors Points and Reasons” worksheet and complete access to the
the summary that we practiced in the guided piece of the activity. modeled/guided practice
worksheets to assist them
in completing the
independent practice.
Link/closing: Provide a half sheet of
paper that has a
“You guys did such a great job! Authors purpose is very important because it summary/main points
helps us understand why the information being presented is important. Today we from todays learning.
reviewed the persuade piece of our PIE’ED acronym and tomorrow we will
discuss the second letter, I, which is inform!”

Assessing:
Assessment:
How does it measure the essential literacy strategy? How does it measure the related skills?
The rubric measures the student’s ability to identify The rubric measures the related skills by looking at
the authors points and explain how the author uses summarizing skills using complete sentences and
them to support a point. identifying the main idea of each paragraph to help
students identify the topic sentence/point.
Rubric: Include an analytic rubric that will offer students feedback on their strengths AND weaknesses for
both the ELS and related skills.
Rubric 3 2 1
Author’s purpose The student provides the The student provides the The student does not
correct authors purpose correct authors purpose, provide the correct
in a complete sentence. but it is not in a authors purpose.
complete sentence.
Identification of reasons The student provides the The student provides 2 The student provides 1
3 correct reasons the correct reasons the or less correct reasons
author wrote the article. author wrote the article. the author wrote the
article.
Summary of how points The student writes a The student writes a The student writes a
support the purpose summary in complete summary in complete summary that does not
sentences and includes sentences but does not include the three correct
the correct authors have either the three reasons or the correct
purpose and the three correct reasons or the authors purpose.
correct reasons. correct authors purpose.
The following is to be completed after implementing lesson:
Reflecting on students’ performance
Students’ strengths in relation to essential literacy Students’ strengths in relation to related skills
strategy
Majority of students were able to identify the authors Majority of students were great at writing a summary
reasons for writing the article and were able to explain of the article using points, transitioning words, and
using words. supporting details.

Students’ weaknesses in relation to essential literacy
strategy
Some students struggled identifying the sentence that
provided the reason out of the paragraph as it was all
talking about the same thing. In other words, some
students struggled finding the topic sentence.
Students’ weaknesses in relation to related skills
Students’ weaknesses I noticed in relation to related
skills is the difference between main idea and
authors purpose and students think that this is the
same thing.

Reflecting on lesson implementation (with justifications from student performance and lesson delivery)
Strengths Areas for growth
The lesson modeling proved to be effective for The lesson could have further discussed “topic
majority of the class as the majority of students sentences” and practiced locating the main point per
highlighted the authors reasons and transferred them paragraph.
into the “Authors Points and Reasons” organizer.

Given the students' in/ability to achieve the learning standard, describe your next steps to improve your
practice
Next steps for teaching essential literacy strategy Next steps for teaching related skills
The next steps for teaching authors purpose would be The next steps for teaching summarizing and main
to move on to the next type in the PIE’ED format, idea would be to review the difference between main
moving to inform. idea and authors purpose as this got a little mixed up.

Evidence of students’ use of language function? Evidence of students’ use of vocabulary?

Students explained the authors reasons for writing the Students utilized the terms “authors point/purpose,”
article, “Pizza for School Lunch.” “evidence/reasons,” and “persuade” when sharing
responses with partners.

Evidence of students’ use of syntax? Evidence of students’ use of discourse?

 Students wrote in complete sentences with correct Student’s completed the “Authors Points and
grammar and punctuation in the final section of the Reasons” graphic organizer.
“Authors Points and Reasons” worksheet in the
summary portion.

References:

https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/resources/studentmodels#Grade%205
 Author’s Points and Reasons

Name _________________________________ Date _____________________

Authors Point: ____________________________________________________________

The author of this article makes a good point! Explain how the point is made and supported.
Name: ______________________

Date: ______________________
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,

I’m writing to you about the Teacher-Who-Made-a-Difference contest. Ms. Wells made a
difference to me! I think she should be the winner of your contest. Ms. Wells has done so
much for me and for all of her students; this is the least I can do for her.

First of all, Ms. Wells is helpful. She’s willing to help anyone in the classroom who needs
help. My teacher always helps us with worksheets. On Friday, she showed me how to do
something in math. If you ask her for help, she’ll help you.

In addition, Ms. Wells is a kind person. She always lets her students stay in from recess. On
February 26, she let our class have a Colonial Day. We got to dress up like colonists; it was
a blast! Not only is she kind to kids, but she’s also kind to other teachers and parents. She is
always thoughtful and considerate.

Lastly, Ms. Wells donates her time to kids. She donates her lunch recess for Student
Council, which meets in her room. Last fall, Ms. Wells promised me that she would come to
one of my soccer games. Guess what? She did, even though she had a lot of school stuff to
correct and had to leave for Chicago.

In conclusion, I think Ms. Wells should be the winner of your contest. She is helpful and kind
and gives her free time to students. I know you will agree with me that Ms. Wells is a
Teacher Who Made a Difference. She’s the best!

Sincerely,

Melissa