Title of Unit: The Basics of Politics Title of Lesson: Opinions Submitted By: Martha Rendon

A. Summary of the Lesson Plan: This lesson will be for students to start thinking about how opinions are formed. Students will be able to discuss and provide examples of different sources of information that are used when forming opinions. B. Target Population: Grade Level: 5th grade Skill Level: all skill levels Grouping: Whole group for step 1-3, table groups step 4, whole group step 5-6, table groups step 7, whole group step 8-9, table groups step 10, whole group steps 11-13, individual work steps 14-15, groups step 16-17, whole class step 18, whole group closure C. Materials: 33 copies of Venn diagram worksheet Chart paper Markers

D. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards o C15.5.4 Compare sources of information people use to form an opinion.

Student-Friendly Standards C.15.5.4 I can discuss and give examples of how opinions are formed and complete a Venn diagram for different sources of information.

E. Procedure: 1. TW pose the question to the class, What do we know about opinions? Lets think about the word opinion. What is the definition? 2. TW explain that an opinion is a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty. 3. TW ask the class, Given this definition, how are opinions formed. For example, Sandy can say that Sadie is the best friend in the whole wide world, but Dylan may think Oscar is the best friend in the whole wide world. What is each person basing their opinion on? Maybe its feelings because Sandy is always happy when Sadie is around? Talk to your shoulder partner. 4. SW report back to the class what they came up with (i.e. The opinion is mostly based on feelings.)

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2013

Karen Powell- Instructor

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Title of Unit: The Basics of Politics Title of Lesson: Opinions Submitted By: Martha Rendon

5. TW then pose another scenario for the students. Now, what if you never had Ms. Rendon as a teacher, but you heard someone on the playground telling a not-so-nice story about Ms. Rendon, maybe saying that Ms. Rendon always sends students to the office or that Ms. Rendon is always yelling at the class. You decide that Ms. Rendon MUST be a real mean teacher. Who or what was your source of information? Talk to your table group. 6. TW explain that a source of information is a document or person from which information is obtained. 7. SW share back with the class about the ideas that their groups came up with. 8. TW explain, The source of information for your opinion was the person that told the story on the playground. 9. TW ask students, Everyone has opinions. Even our parents. How do we think our parents, or even some of us in this room, come up with their opinions? Remember to think about different types of sources where you can get information. Talk to your table groups and come up with as many sources as you can, but talk quietly, this is a race! Go! 10. TW give students about two minutes to come up with as many sources of information as possible and then, share back with the class as the teacher write down all of the ideas on chart paper. (i.e. the news broadcast on T.V., articles online, a politician at a political debate.) 11. TW explain to students that we will be completing a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two forms of sources of information (ex. News articles and political debate candidate.) 12. SW each receive a Venn diagram. 13. TW explain to students that they can pick whichever two sources of information and start doing research. 14. TW give students thirty to forty-five minutes to complete their research and Interest Group sheets, while walking around the room monitoring work being completed and checking for questions. 15. After thirty to forty-five minutes, SW have their worksheets checked off by teacher and hold on to their papers. 16. TW have class break out into groups depending on what is listed in their left circle of the Venn diagram. (ex. One group can have online news articles, another group can have T.V. news correspondents.) 17. Students in each group will compare and contrast their answers with that of the other members of the group that have the same topic.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2013

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 2

Title of Unit: The Basics of Politics Title of Lesson: Opinions Submitted By: Martha Rendon

18. Student groups will report back to the class the most important ideas the group came up with. 19. CLOSURE: Today, we learned about opinions and different sources of information that form our opinions. Lets be on the lookout and keep adding to our list of sources of information! F. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will be using student discussions, the worksheet and group work to measure student understanding. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. I will be walking around the room during discussions and research to lead struggling students in the appropriate direction. G. Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? I think the easiest part of teaching this lesson will be having the students think about opinions and how they are formed. 2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach? I think the most difficult part of teaching this lesson will be having the students differntiate between opinions and facts. 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? I want students to be able to write a R.A.F.T. type of story where they need to influence someone elses opinion using one of the forms of sources of information. 4. What will you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? I would allow students to work with me one-on-one to clarify any part of the lesson that may be causing confusion. For example, I would have students who may be struggling work with me to come up with a list of different sources of information. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change? I think I would want to break down this lesson into two days to give students a sufficient amount of time to grasp the concepts. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? The most difficult part was thinking about how I would word everything. Once I got started, everything went smoothly.
Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2013 Karen Powell- Instructor page 3

Title of Unit: The Basics of Politics Title of Lesson: Opinions Submitted By: Martha Rendon

Sample worksheet Sources of Information

Name:_____________________________ Date: ______________________________

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2013

Karen Powell- Instructor

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