Teach the Writer, not the Piece- 3rd Grade Test Prep Writing Unit

Today, our amazing Lincoln 3rd graders took a look at a recent opinion writing piece they did as part of their test prep unit. In today's mini lesson, students reviewed a classmates writing for all of the things that good Opinion Writers do. We used fun post-it tabs to mark each of these important parts. We used the following labeling system:

O- My Opinion

R1- Reason 1

R2- Reason 2

R3- Reason 3

C- Conclusion

After engaging in this experience as a whole class, students returned to their own writing to evaluate themselves as good Opinion Writers (not their writing). 

If students were able to mark the 5 main parts, they received additional post-it tabs to mark examples. 

Without even being told to do so, students began to see where they forgot their good Opinion Writer habits and began adding those parts as part of the revision process. 

During the workshop, we paused to ask how many students found things to add, all hands shot up. We shared a few examples of additions students had made. 

At the end, we reminded students that they should always go back and revise what they have written, by making sure they have all of the "good opinion writing parts."

Next, we move on to evidence language used by good opinion writers tomorrow. More to come...