Overview of Unit:

Third graders are full of opinions and are eager to persuade others. This unit channels those opinions into writing that can make a difference. In this unit, students learn to introduce topics, support these by listing reasons, using transition words to connect the various parts of their pieces and to conclude. This unit moves writers from writing opinion speeches to forming cause groups to support various causes. Across the unit, there is a focus on considering audience and considering word choice in light of audience.

This unit has two major goals. The first is to help writers live more wide-awake lives, taking in all that is happening around them--injustices, small kindnesses, and so on--and writing about these in ways that move others to action and new thinking. The second major goal is to help writers become increasingly more adept at opinion writing in ways that provide the beginning steps for more formal essay writing.

In Bend One: Children will learn that persuasive writers look at their world and imagine how it could be better to grow ideas for possible writing projects. They’ll first work together on a shared topic and then write many more speeches in their notebooks. Allowing the class time to write and revise together through shared writing is a wonderful way to rally students around the idea of writing to make change.

In Bend Two: Writers are given the opportunity to work for an extended amount of time on one piece, taking it through the writing process. They will gather facts and details and work to organize these. Students will “write long” about their topics, categorize the evidence they collect, and decide which evidence belongs in their speeches.

In Bend Three: Students will transfer and apply everything they have learned about writing persuasive speeches to writing other types of opinion pieces--petitions, editorials, persuasive letters, and so on. After noticing that much of the work they’ve completed on speeches also applies to these other types of writing, you’ll charge them to produce work in any of these genres.

Bend 4: “Cause Groups”,-students will work in collaborative groups to support causes. You may have one group dedicated to recycling, for example, and another group dedicated to animal rights. Groups will decide on projects they need to create to get others to act for their cause. They may create speeches, petitions, or editorials, and they may assign different members of a small group to write on a different project.