Persuasive Writing

Learning to write a high-quality opinion piece can enrich learning across

content areas. With such skill, students can develop substance for
conversations about literature and art; they can deliberate meaningfully
about topics in science and health; and they can begin to take a stance
on social issues that are important to them. In fact, instruction in
opinion writing develops some of the most critical skills necessary for
active participation in a democratic society. If young people grow up
learning to participate in logical, reasoned, evidence-based arguments,
this will mean that they are give a voice. Our democracy is dependent
on an educated, concerned citizenry, exercising the right to be heard
(Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman 2012, 136).

Day One:

Have students look at samples of persuasive writing from the Being a

Writer Student Handbook: (share each article with students on Google)
Warning: Too Much TV Is Hazardous to Your Health
Television: The Most Disparaged Resource of the Information
Age
Animal Experimentation Saves Lives
Animal Testing: Here Is the Truth

Divide the class in half. Have half of the class read the set of articles
about television and the other half of the class read the set of
articles about animal testing.
Television Group:
As this group finishes, direct them to pick a side of the television issue.
After the group has split into sides - have each side take their article
and create a paragraph together that they will use to convince the
half of the class that has NOT read the television article to come
around to their way of thinking. This will occur on Day Two.

Animal Testing Group:

As this group finishes, direct them to pick a side of the animal testing
issue. After the group has split into sides - have each side take their
article and create a paragraph together that they will use to convince
the half of the class that has NOT read the animal testing article to
come around to their way of thinking. This will occur on Day Two.

(The four articles are included on the next pages. However, these
articles are also individual Google Docs shared with you that can be
shared with the students)
Television: The Most Disparaged Resource of the Information Age
by: Salmaan S., Westford, MA
adapted from www.teenink.com

Almost every day one can hear some mention of The TV generation
of the 90s. Many harshly label television as a drug, claiming that
millions of children every day waste their time in front of this electronic
altar. Well, I strongly disagree with the viewpoint that television is a waste
of time.
Today, there are many different ways to transfer thoughts and ideas.
Of these, television, with its combination of audiovisual stimuli, is one of the
quickest to present an idea clearly and completely. To say that television is
not important is to say that learning about other cultures thousands of miles
away by seeing and hearing is a waste of time. In this age of information
television is one of the most efficient means of mass communication
available to man.
Where else could billions of people have (seen) the horrors of the
Tiananmen Square incident or witnessed firsthand mans first steps on the
moon? In what other way could people have simultaneously experienced
the fall of the Berlin Wall or Vietnam?
Television unites mankind because people separated by
distance, skin color, language and wealth can all relate to some of the
things they see on TV. No other appliances of the information age is as
quick and widely used around the world as television. Failing to
acknowledge the positive value of this resource to mankind is an enormous
mistake.
Warning: Too Much TV Is Hazardous to Your Health
adapted from www.tvturnoff.org

More than four hours a day: thats how much television Americans watch
on average. As an abundance of evidence makes clear, our television
habit has serious negative consequences. Excessive TV-watching cuts
into family time, harms our kids ability to read and perform well in school,
encourages violence, and promotes sedentary lifestyles and obesity.

TV Undermines Family Time

Many people feel that they do not have enough time to spend with their
families television plays a crucial role. In the average American
household, the TV is on for 7 hours, 40 minutes a day, and 40 percent of
Americans report always or often watching television while eating dinner.
Families who watch little or no television often find that they have more
time to spend with one another.

TV Harms Reading and Academic Performance

Excessive television-watching harms reading skills researcher(s) (found)
more than a decade ago that reading scores diminished sharply for those
students watching more than four hours a day. Researchers such as Jane
Healy of Harvard argue that watching TV instead of reading may actually
(change) the physical structure of the brain as it develops, making learning
and working in the schoolroom environment difficult.

TV Encourages Violence
The evidence is overwhelming: violence on TV promotes violent behavior
in real life. Of more than 3,500 research studies on the effects of media
violence over the past 40 years, 99.5 percent have shown a positive
correlation between watching violence on TV and committing acts of
real-life violence.

TV Promotes Sedentary Lifestyles and Obesity

Americans, by and large, do not get enough physical exercise. We spend
most of our free time watching television, which promotes obesity and its
related illnesses. According to Dr. William Dietz at the Centers for Disease
Control, The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set.
Almost anyting else uses more energy than watching TV.
Animal Experimentation Saves Lives
by: Giovanny P., San Gabriel, CA
adapted from www.teenink.com

It may not be common knowledge, but animals save lives each and

every day. Animal experimentation has existed since ancient times to

contribute to human life and survival. These experiments became the

building blocks of health and medicine, (including) research of diabetes,

vaccines, cancer, AIDS/HIV and open-heart surgery. As a result, many

people have been saved. The use of animal experimentation should be

recognized and accepted as a tool in saving lives.

In the 1940s and 1950s, a polio epidemic crippled and killed children

and newborns. Without animal experimentation (to develop a polio

vaccine), polio would still be claiming thousands of lives each year. Many

would not be alive today without it.

Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, helped save animals as well as

humans when he developed a vaccine for rabies (using animal

experimentation). Today, animal-lovers everywhere do not have to put

their pets to sleep if they (catch) rabies. Instead they can just go to their

veterinarian and get this preventive vaccine.

 Nobody I know of in biological research, who has to sacrifice

animals, likes it, Richard Jones, a biology professor at Colorado

University. It is a matter of priorities. You work for the greater good.

(Millions of) animals are used (in experiments), of which 90% are rodents.

So its not as if scientists experiment on endangered species; they use

animals with a fast reproduction rate that are abundant.

Humans have vast intelligence, and through this intelligence, they

have a moral duty: to protect all living things and make sure they survive

and flourish. Animal experimentation helps humans help themselves, as

well as the animals around them.

Animal Testing: Here Is the Truth
by: Emma H., New York, NY
adapted from www.teenink.com

Almost every major company that sells detergents, body washes, or cosmetics

tests their products on animals to assure the public that there will be no side effects

when using their product. Even though animal testing is advantageous to humans, I

believe humankind should not test products on animals. (It) is cruel and unnecessary.

Every year thousands of animals are killed, tortured, or left with burns, broken

bones, and other terrible conditions. According to the National Anti-Vivisection Society,

these are some of the most common yet horrifying tests used on animals: In the D test,

solutions are dropped directly into the eyes of rabbits and in seven days of testing, the

rabbits experience excruciating pain and most are blinded. Then there is the LD-50 test

(which forces animals to inhale, swallow, and digest chemicals). In this test, 50% of the

animals die.

What will scientists test products on if not animals? With modern technology,

many alternatives have been found by caring scientists (including computer tests and

tests on cloned human cells). These are only a few of the alternatives, but they show

that animals are not the only choice for experimentation.

The Food and Drug Administration (urges) companies to conduct tests to ensure

the safety of their products. As a result, animals continue to be the victims of harsh

treatment and risk death. There are many alternative to know if a product is safe.

Animal testing is immoral and wrong.

Day Two:
Start with the animal rights group first today. Have each side get up
and present their paragraph. Once both paragraphs have been shared,
students who read the television articles have a decision to make.
Depending on their response to the evidence provided by each group,
they will:
Move to the back right corner of the room if they strongly
agree that animal testing is acceptable.
Move to the back left corner of the room if they slightly agree
that animal testing is acceptable.
Move to the front right corner of the room if they strongly
disagree that animal testing is acceptable.
Move to the front left corner of the room if they slightly
disagree that animal testing is acceptable.
Take a moment to unpack what made the paragraphs written by each
group successful, and what might have been added to make the impact
even greater.

Now move to the television group. Have each side get up and present
their paragraph. Once both paragraphs have been shared, students
who read the animal rights articles have a decision to make. Depending
on their response to the evidence provided by each group, they will:
Move to the back right corner of the room if they strongly
agree that television is beneficial.
Move to the back left corner of the room if they slightly agree
that television is beneficial.
Move to the front right corner of the room if they strongly
disagree that television is beneficial. .
Move to the front left corner of the room if they slightly
disagree that television is beneficial.
Take a moment to unpack what made the paragraphs written by each
group successful, and what might have been added to make the impact
even greater.

Day Three:
Using ELMO, project the standards rubric for persuasive writing.
Briefly introduce each of the categories listed. The point for this is
NOT depth of understanding, but rather a birds eyes view. Students will
have experienced some good examples of persuasive essays on Days
one and two to serve as models of this type of writing. We will now
be pre-testing their ability to write a persuasive piece.

Tell students that recently there has been a debate about whether or
not the United States should discontinue the minting (production) and use
of the penny. Over the course of the next two days you will be
reading information about this debate. Following that, each of you will
make an informed decision about your opinion regarding the
discontinuation of the penny. Finally, you will use text evidence
supporting your opinion to write a persuasive piece that will be used to
pre-assess your writing.

There are a total of 3 articles to be read over the course of the

next two days. Students may work singularly or in pairs to read the
articles. Today will be the first day of reading/research time.
Persuasive Essay Rubric

Beginning Progressing Meeting Exceeding

I can clearly
introduce a
topic

I can state an
opinion

I can create a
structure that
logically groups
ideas

I can provide
logically
ordered
reasons to
support facts
and details

I can use linking

words and
phrases

I can write a
conclusion

I can correctly
use
capitalization

Should America Get Rid of the Penny?
There isnt much use for the one-cent coin. So why do we bother with it anymore?

BY JUSTIN O'NEILL | FOR STORYWORKS

In the early 1900s, you could treat yourself to a candy feast for just a few cents. Many
sweetssuch as Tootsie Rolls, hard candies, licorice, and bubble gumcost just one penny
per piece. (Yes, there really was such a thing as penny candy.)

Now, finding a penny on the sidewalk might be good luck, but it wont do you much good
otherwise.

These days, theres nothing you can buy for a penny. Few vending machines accept them, and
using them to pay for pretty much anything is just a hassle. (Imagine hauling a thousand
pennies to the movie theater for a ticket instead of a $10 bill.) Do we really need pennies at
all?

PINCHING PENNIES

The part of the government that makes all of our coins is called the U.S. Mint. The Mint
makes sure that Americans have enough coins to carry out our daily buying and selling.

It now actually costs the Mint more than a penny to make a penny. Theres the cost of the
metal (pennies are made of zinc and copper). Then there are the costs of running the Mint,
including paying the people who work there. Add it up, and making a single penny costs about
two cents. Doesnt make much centser, sense, does it?

Canada stopped making pennies in 2012.

So what are we waiting for?

PRETTY PENNY

Theres a downside to the penniless life. All prices would have to be rounded to the nearest
nickel, so costs could go up. For example, if a store had to round the price of a pizza slice that
costs $1.97, it might be more likely to charge $2.00 than $1.95so youd be paying three
cents more than you used to. That might not sound bad. But those little extra costs would
quickly add up.

Plus, many Americans just love the penny. Old and rare pennies are prized collectibles. And
some cherish the penny because of whos on it: the 16th President, Abraham Lincolnone of
our countrys most beloved leaders. Indeed, a 2012 survey found that two thirds of adults want
to keep the coin.

Theres no denying the old saying: Every penny counts. Many charities, for instance, profit
from pennies. Penny drivescampaigns that ask for donations of penniesare often big
successes.

So, a penny for your thoughts: Should the U.S. get rid of the penny?

This article originally appeared in the February 1, 2014 issue of Storyworks. To find out
more about Storyworks' great resources, click here.
One Cent Coin (Penny)
The Story

Every penny you've ever spent probably had Abraham Lincoln on it. That's because his
picture has been there for more than a hundred years! But when the United States Mint
was created in 1792, one of the first coins it made was the one-cent coin, and it looked
very different from a modern cent.

The image on the first cent was of a lady with flowing hair, who stood for liberty. The
coin was larger and made of pure copper, while today's penny is made of copper and
zinc.

In 1857, Congress told the Mint to make the cent smaller and to mix the copper with
nickel (12 percent). People found the smaller cent easier to use. The new cents showed a
flying eagle on the front and a wreath on the back.

At the same time, Congress stopped people from using money from other countries,
though we had used foreign coins for many years. But the Mint could melt them down
and make them into United States coins.

One foreign currency we were using was British money. The British pound was not
divided into 100 cents like our dollar, but its smallest part was called a penny, and that's
why we call our cent a "penny" today. But for more than one, the British called them
"pence" while ours are called "pennies."

The man on our pennies today is Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. During the time
the Lincoln design has appeared on the obverse (front), several different designs have
been used on the reverse (back): first a wheat design, then the Lincoln Memorial. Four
designs were used in 2009 (see below), and the union shield design first appeared in 2010.

As a 2005 law directs, the shield design symbolizes President Abraham Lincoln's
preservation of the United States as a single country. The familiar portrait of Lincoln
remains on the front of the coin.
The union shield used in the design dates back to the 1780s. This symbol was used widely
on coins and medals made during the Civil War, such as the 2-cent coin and the 5-cent
"Shield Nickel" (see the May 2002 Coin of the Month). The shield is also featured on the
walls of the US Capitol Building, whose halls are decorated with frescoes painted in the
mid-1800s.

In the current coin design, a banner inscribed "one cent" is draped across the shield. The
13 vertical stripes on the shield represent the states joined in one union to support the
federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above. The bar is inscribed with
the national motto "E Pluribus Unum" ("out of many, one").

The 2009 Pennies

Abraham Lincoln's image has been on the front of the penny since 1909. That image
remained in place for all four coins in the 2009 program. On the back, four different
images highlight four parts of Lincoln's life. These coins were issued about 3 months
apart in the order they happened.

His birth in Kentucky (1809 to 1816)

His youth in Indiana (1816 to 1830)

His professional life in Illinois (1830 to 1861)

His presidency in Washington, DC (1861 to 1865)

Learn all about this program and see the designs on the 2009 Lincoln Cents page!

Besides the regular circulating version of these coins, a special version was made for
collectors. This version contained the same metals as the original 1909 cent (95 percent
copper, 5 percent tin and zinc) instead of the modern cent's normal mix (2.5 percent
copper, the rest zinc).
 Should We Get Rid of the Penny?

8 Reasons to Keep It vs Eliminate It

According to an old superstition, its good luck to find a penny on the sidewalk. But
whether or not you believe picking up that penny will bring you luck, one thing it
definitely wont bring you is wealth. Pennies are worth so little now that by taking five
seconds to pick one up, youre earning just $7.20 an hour less than the federal
minimum wage.

Pennies are so close to worthless that many people argue its time to do away with
them altogether. A nonpartisan organization called Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny
has attracted the support of economists from Harvard and Wake Forest University.
Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona has twice introduced bills in Congress to eliminate
the penny, and in February 2014, President Barack Obama argued during a YouTube
chat that pennies were obsolete and a symbol of U.S. government waste.

However, while many people are calling for the pennys retirement, others are working
just as passionately to keep the coin in circulation. A lobbying group called Americans
for Common Cents which represents Jarden Zinc, the company that makes the zinc
and copper blanks from which pennies are produced has conducted polls showing
that more than two-thirds of Americans favor keeping the penny. On its website, the
group marshals an array of arguments that eliminating the penny would lead to disaster
for consumers, charities, government, and the economy as a whole.

Each side in this debate refers to the other sides arguments as myths and offers up
facts to counter them, making it hard to determine just where the real facts lie. Heres
a summary of the arguments on each side, along with the evidence for and against
them.

Reasons to Retire the Penny

1. Theyre Useless

When the Baby Boomers were young, a penny still had some value. Economist Henry
Aaron of the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research group, reminisces in a 2013
anti-penny screed about paying a nickel for an ice cream cone as a boy. Even during
my childhood in the 1980s, there was a candy store not far from our house that sold
penny candy in jars one penny for a mini Tootsie Roll, or two for a Mary Jane.

Today, theres literally nothing you can buy with a single penny and you cant do much
else with it either. Vending machines dont accept them, and neither do most parking
meters. Even automatic toll booths wont take them except in Illinois, the home state
of President Abraham Lincoln, whose face adorns the coin.

And if a single penny is useless, a whole bunch of pennies isnt much better. If you try
paying for something in a store with a fistful of pennies, you can expect dirty looks from
both the clerk and the other customers if the store doesnt just flat-out refuse to take
them. Pennies are so hard to spend that many people dont even bother they just
store them all in jars, or even throw them away.

There are precedents for getting rid of coins that are too small to use. Back in 1857, the
U.S. Mint stopped producing halfpenny coins which, according to the historical
information calculator at MeasuringWorth.com, had a purchasing power of $0.14 in
2015 dollars. So at the time it was eliminated, the useless halfpenny could buy as
much as 14 pennies can today. If consumers in 1857 could get along without
halfpennies, then modern consumers can almost certainly manage without a coin thats
worth less than one-tenth as much.

2. They Waste Time

As useless as pennies are, most of us cant avoid them. Often, when we pay with cash
at a store, the total amount doesnt end in a multiple of $0.05 so to pay the exact
amount, we have to either hand over some pennies or receive some in change.

This not only weighs down our pockets, it also holds up the line while we mess around
counting out coins. Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny cites a study done by Walgreens
and the National Association of Convenience Stores showing that handling pennies
adds an average of two seconds to each cash transaction. That doesnt sound like
much, but a 2012 study by three Federal Reserve Banks shows that the average
consumer makes 23 cash transactions in a single month and according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, there are over 316 million consumers in the country. Add it all up,
and it comes to more than 48 million hours wasted each year.

To save time at the register, some businesses have experimented with rounding all
transactions to the nearest nickel. The stores decided to simply round all bills down to
the nearest $0.05, since losing a cent or two on most transactions was cheaper than
paying clerks to count out pennies.
3. Theyre Bad for the Environment

Despite what the old song says, pennies dont really come from heaven. They come
from mines in the earth zinc mines, mostly, because pennies are more than 97% zinc.
As the U.S. Mint explains, the copper surface of a penny accounts for only 2.5% of its
metal content. Zinc itself is harmful in high doses to both humans and animals. All these
toxic metals can contaminate water, soil, and plants in the area surrounding the mine.

Producing pennies also uses a great deal of energy. It takes energy to extract the zinc
from the ore, to roll it out and stamp it into coins, and to transport the coins to banks. In
fact just transporting pennies to banks not even counting any of the other stages of
their production puts about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the
atmosphere each year.

4. They Cost the Government Money

Anti-penny advocates are fond of pointing out that pennies now cost more to produce
than theyre actually worth. According to the 2014 Annual Report from the U.S. Mint, it
now costs about $0.017 or 1.7 cents to make one penny. The Mint has researched
the possibility of making pennies from cheaper materials, but it found that theres no
way to bring the cost of producing them below their face value. In 2014, the Mint
shipped out more pennies than nickels, quarters, and dimes put together over 7.9
billion coins. That adds up to a loss of over $55 million for that year alone.

Many anti-penny activists think the ideal solution to this problem is to eliminate the
nickel as well, making the dime the smallest coin in circulation. Dimes cost only $0.039
to make, so the Mint could produce more of those without losing money. Aaron notes in
his Brookings Institution editorial that eliminating both pennies and nickels would round
off all cash transactions to the nearest $0.10, making for easier math and less stuff in
our pockets.
Reasons to Keep the Penny

1. They Keep Prices Low

Penny supporters point out that that if pennies are eliminated, all cash transactions will
have to be rounded off to the nearest nickel. According to Americans for Common
Cents, this will lead to a rounding tax, as stores manipulate their prices to ensure that
transactions are always rounded up instead of down.

Another piece of evidence comes from Canada, which stopped minting its penny in
2013. Prices there are now rounded up or down to the nearest $0.05 for cash
transactions, while payments made with credit, debit, or old-fashioned checks are still
settled down to the cent. In Canada, eliminating the penny has not led to a widespread
increase in prices.

2. Charities Rely on Them

Pro-penny groups argue that even if pennies seem worthless, they actually add up to
hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable donations each year. Charities such as the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Salvation Army, and Ronald McDonald House
raise funds through penny drives, encouraging people to donate their unwanted
pennies for important causes. The very fact that pennies have so little value makes
them useful to charities, because people are happy to give them away. Citizens to
Retire the U.S. Penny points out that in countries that have retired their one-cent coins,
charities have not reported a significant drop-off in donations.
Finally, small-change drives arent a very cost-effective way for charities to raise funds.
It takes a lot of time for volunteers to pick up, clean, sort, and count all those coins, and
the more pennies there are in the mix, the less value the charity gets for each coin it
handles.

3. They Honor Lincoln

Some supporters of the penny point out that its the only coin bearing the image of
Abraham Lincoln, probably our nations most revered president. Eliminating the penny,
they argue, would be disrespectful to his memory.

Anti-penny activists scoff at this argument, pointing out that Lincoln would still remain on
the $5 bill, which is actually useful to consumers. The bills, according to the Federal
Reserve, cost only $0.11 to print, far less than their $5 face value, making them a much
more cost-effective way to honor Lincoln than a penny.

4. Americans Like Them

Despite all the arguments for retiring the penny, as of 2014, the majority of Americans
are in favor of keeping it. A YouGov poll from January 2014 shows that 51% of
Americans favor keeping the penny, while just 34% think we should eliminate it.

President Obama, in his 2014 YouTube chat, suggested that Americans are attached
emotionally to the penny because it brings back happy childhood memories of saving
pennies in piggy banks and seeing them eventually turn into dollars. What do you think?
Should the penny remain legal tender, or should it be scrapped?
Day Four:
Today is set aside for students to continue reading the articles
providing background knowledge about the penny debate. They may do
this singularly or in partners.

Day Five:
As writing class opens, tell students: You have had two days to
research information about the penny debate. Today you will be
finishing that research and choosing the side of the debate that fits
your informed opinion.

You also have shared with you a document that links to other articles
about pennies. Feel free to use these articles to supplement your
piece with additional interesting information and show an desire and
ability to exceed fifth grade standards.

Once you have selected your opinion, you will be using an organizer
entitled Mapping Out a Great Opinion Piece to create a template for
your show what you know persuasive essay.. This template will contain
thoughts that you will later put into your own words to share as a
persuasive essay on the use of pennies.

Your topic will be Should the United States Stop Using Pennies?
Your opinion statement will either be
The United States should keep using pennies OR
The United States should stop using pennies
Next you will find at least 3 reasons that support your opinion and
would persuade others to come around to your way of thinking.
Go back to your articles to find these reasons, as well as the
facts and/or details that support them.
 Finally, you will write ideas down that you would want in your
concluding statement.

You will have three days to write your show what you know
persuasive essay. This essay will be used to assess your pre-existing
skill at writing a persuasive essay and help me personalize your
mini-lesson experience as we continue to write persuasively!
 Additional Penny Links

Today's penny was featured as the February 2001 Coin of the Month.
The first penny made by the United States Mint was featured as the
March 2003 Coin of the Month with the first half cent, dime, and half
dime.
There were white cents: Fun Fact.
Heads, it's Lincoln; tails, it's Lincoln: Fun Fact.
How much was that first batch? Fun Fact.
Washington wasn't the first president on a circulating coin: Fun Fact.
Honest, you'd be lucky to have a silly head: Fun Fact.
Which Revolutionary War hero also helped make coins? Fun Fact.
This penny is almost as big as a half dollar: Fun Fact.
 Mapping Out a Great Opinion
Piece
Introduction to Topic

Opinion Statement

Reason #1 Reason #2

(supporting facts and details) (supporting facts and details)

 Reason #3 Reason #4

(supporting facts and details) (supporting facts and details)

Conclusion
Day Six:
Students will have this entire class period to craft their persuasive
pieces. Direct students to hand in their pieces as soon as they are
complete so that you can begin analyzing them. A sheet for recording
information follows.
 Small Group Mini Lesson Evaluation
I can I can I can I can use I can write I can
clearly create a provide linking an correctly
introduce structure logically words and effective capitalize
a topic that ordered phrases conclusion words
and state logically reasons to
an opinion. groups support
ideas facts and
details

I can I can I can I can use I can write I can
clearly create a provide linking an correctly
 introduce structure logically words and effective capitalize
a topic that ordered phrases conclusion words
and state logically reasons to
an opinion. groups support
ideas facts and
details

Day Seven:
Students will have this entire class period to craft their persuasive
pieces. Direct students to hand in their pieces as soon as they are
complete so that you can begin analyzing them.

Day Eight:
Students will have this entire class period to craft their persuasive
pieces. Direct students to hand in their pieces today as it is the final
day slated for writing.

Day Nine:
Today you will focus on a whole group lesson which will help students
pick a topic for their essay. In general, allowing students to choose
their own topic will yield the most engaged writing and therefore the
best opportunities for teaching - provided the students choose
meaningfully. During Unit 4, however, our standards are best met if we
tie persuasive essays into our social studies curriculum, which will allow
us to gain a data point for social studies, as well:
RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak
about the subject knowledgeably.

RI.5.6 Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities
and differences in the point of view they represent.

RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are
described.
Students will be writing another persuasive piece in Unit 6, which would
be a great time to employ choice!

*Share a copy of the Loyalist and Patriot chart with each student
electronically.
 OtherPersuasiveWritingOptions

- TheBostonTeaParty:
Was the Boston Tea Party the best option for protesting OR chooseaside
youagreewithanddefendyourposition
- Resources:
- Events leading up to the Boston Tea Party (Timeline):
http://www.boston-tea-party.org/timeline.html

- https://docs.google.com/a/ankenyschools.org/document/d/
1Z95cYBVpTn9JInB-hBX1nRotdhaOSwMO4gdXTlN-whM/edit?u
sp=sharing

- https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/boston-tea-party-facts

- Video:http://mrnussbaum.com/history-2-2/boston-tea-party/

- http://ebooks.infobasepublishing.com/View.aspx?ISBN=97814
38138381&InstID=3032

- http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/results?sid=81d3adc0-9904-4
6cc-ac01-73f698d5ce76%40sessionmgr4009&vid=0&hid=4211
&bquery=boston+tea+party&bdata=JnR5cGU9MCZzaXRlPWV
kcy1saXZl

- Samuel Adams and the Boston Tea Party- I have a copy of

thisbookonmyshelf.

- Useyourtextbookasaresource.

- PickYourBattles:
Choose one battle that took place duringtheRevolutionaryWarthatyou
feltwasthemostimportantoraturningpointinthewar.
- BattlesandResources:
- http://www.revolutionary-war.net/battles-of-the-revolutionary
-war.html

- http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/battles.aspx
 - TheIntolerableActs:
The Coercive Acts, also known as The Intolerable Acts (Stamp, Sugar,
Currency, and Quartering Acts), angered many colonists because they
felt that Parliament was taxing the colonies with proper representation.
Stateanddefendyouropiniononwhetherornotyoufeeltheseactswere
fair.
- Resources:
- Go to the following website and then in the search bar, type
inintolerableacts:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/command/detail?sid=97243
4d5-d239-41cc-a600-2d81ff3bdb0b%40sessionmgr101&vid=12
&hid=108

- Useyourtextbookasaresource.

- http://www.facts4me.com/login.php
- Username:crocker password:student

- https://docs.google.com/a/ankenyschools.org/document/d/
1aJfu-GOscgxnIXA7B4G7rYNoxf55oagbDf-F5KqWJdo/edit?us
p=sharing

PERSUASIVE WRITING UNIT

Loyalists Patriots
A person in the American colonies A person in the American colonies
who opposed independence and who wanted the colonies to become
wanted the colonies to remain under independent from Great Britain.
the control of the king and Great
Britain. *George Washington **
*Thomas Jefferson **
*Lord Dunmore *Thomas Paine **
*Jonathan Boucher *** John Adams **
*Thomas Hutchinson *Samuel Adams **
John Malcolm Abigail Adams***
Sir John Johnson *Benjamin Franklin
Andrew Allen *John Hancock **
 Nathaniel Green **
John Butler (leader of the loyalists troops *Patrick Henry
Butler's Rangers) Ethan Allen
Paul Revere **
David Mathews (mayor of New York City) * Mercy Otis Warren **

Benedict Arnold (general in the

Continental Army who went to fight for the
British)

Directions: Choose one of the historical figures above to research.

You will be writing a persuasive essay from the point of view of your
historical figure using the organizer provided. You will include his/her
opinion on whether or not America should be an independent nation and
will include at least 3 supporting pieces of evidence from your
research that helped you understand the opinion of the historical
figure you chose to represent.

*Social Studies Text:

This may be useful as one source if you pick any of the following
historical figures:
*Thomas Hutchinson (page 149) - Loyalist
*Jonathan Boucher (page 150) - Loyalist
*Lord Dunmore (page 151) - Loyalist
*Ben Franklin (page 152) - Patriot
*Mercy Otis Warren (page 153) - Patriot
*Samuel Adams (page 154) - Patriot
*Patrick Henry (pages 156-159) - Patriot
*Thomas Paine (page 163) - Patriot
*John Hancock (page 165) - Patriot
*Thomas Jefferson (pages 168-171) - Patriot
*George Washington (pages 178-179) - Patriot

**Shmoop Editorial Team

This information may be helpful as you set out to research your
historical figure:
**George Washington
**Thomas Jefferson
**Thomas Paine
**John Adams
**Sam Adams
**Ben Franklin
**John Hancock
**Nathaniel Green
**Paul Revere
**Mercy Otis Warren

***Fact4Me
Follow this link and click on Revolutionary War on the left sidebar to
access loads of information about famous Loyalists and Patriots!
http://www.facts4me.com

Username: crocker
Password: student

George Washington (1732-1799) was commander of the Continental Army during the
American Revolution and the first president of the United States of America. A Virginia
planter, surveyor, and land speculator, he sought a commission in the British Army
before the Revolution, but in the 1770s, he became an early advocate for separation
from Great Britain. During the war, he became synonymous with the cause of
independence.

In 1775,JohnAdamsnominatedWashingtonforgeneralandcommander-in-chiefofthe
Continental Army, and the Second Continental Congress unanimously agreed.
Washingtonone of the most experienced American officers after his service in the
French andIndianWaracceptedontheconditionthathereceivenosalary.Toadvance
the colonial cause, Washington engaged in a bloody war on the frontier. In September
1778, he sent General John Sullivan and an expedition force of 4,000 soldiers out
towards western New York, to see that the (British-allied) Iroquois country be "not
merely overrun but destroyed." Washington'sgreatestvictory,however,cameduringthe
brutal winter of 1776-7 at Valley Forge. On Christmas night, George Washingtonquietly
crossed the Delaware River with a force of 2,400 troops. They arrived at Trenton, New
Jersey at dawn and surprised the garrison of 1,500 HessiansGerman mercenaries
hired by the Britishwho were still recovering from a night of holiday celebrations and
plenty of rum. Washington led the Continental Army in a complete rout of the enemy,
leaving only about 500 of them alive and uncaptured. Only six of Washington's men
werewounded,amongthemLieutenantJamesMonroe,thefutureU.S.president.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "George Washington in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop
University,Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the

United States of America for the central role he played in drafting the Declaration of
Independence. During the American Revolution, Jefferson was elected governor of
Virginia and, after the war, he was appointed minister to France. He also served as the
nation'sfirstsecretaryofstate,itssecondvicepresident,anditsthirdpresident.

Jefferson helped to found the Virginia Committee of Correspondence in 1773.Hewent

on to make one of themosteloquentargumentsagainstParliament'sauthorityoverthe
colonies, asserting that the colonists were only united with England through their
voluntary allegiance to the king. Jefferson was a delegate to the Second Continental
Congress from 1775 to 1776, when he drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Afterwards, he returned home to Virginia and vigorously campaigned for democratic
reforms and religious freedoms in the new state government. Though a supporter of
democracy and freedom for whites, Jefferson's policies were altogether differentwhen
it came to the African-Americans he owned and the Indians his fellow colonists had
been battling for land on the frontier. In 1779, Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry as
Governor of Virginia but only served one term. During that period, he urged a war of
extermination against the Shawnees in Ohio. The Kentucky militia repeatedly crossed
theOhioRivertoburnShawneevillages.4

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Thomas Jefferson in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop
University,Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was a radical writer who emigrated from England to
America in 1774. Just two years later, early in 1776, Paine published CommonSense,a
hugely influential pamphlet that convinced many American colonists that the time had
finally come to break away from British rule. No other figure played a greater role in
movingtheAmericanpeoplefromaspiritofrebelliontooneofrevolution.

In Common Sense, Paine made a persuasive and passionate argument to the colonists
that thecauseofindependencewasjustandurgent.Thefirstprominentpamphleteerto
advocate a complete break with England, Paine successfully convinced a great many
Americans who had previously thought of themselves as loyal, if disgruntled, subjects
of the king. In his pamphlet, Paine associated the corrupt monarchy with the despised
taxation policy, persuading many readers to become proponents of the world's first
republican government. Importantly, Paine was a master of transforming the
complicated philosophical and scientific principles of the Enlightenmentindividuality,
reason, and libertyinto plain words that the masses could comprehend and rally
around. Just as George Washington and his soldiers retreated across the Delaware
River to the bitterwinterencampmentatValleyForge,Painewrote,"Thesearethetimes
that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis
shrink from the service of his country; but he thatstandsitNOW,deservestheloveand
thanks of man and woman." Washington had this piece read aloud to his cold and
starving soldiers. Paine went on to publish fifteen other Crisis pamphlets, participatein
the French Revolution, and write his controversial work, The Age of Reason,inwhichhe
attacked organized religion. As a result of his atheism, Paine returned to America in
1802toscornandridicule,anddiedinobscurityin1809.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Thomas Paine in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop University,
Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

John Adams (1735-1826) was, along with Thomas Jefferson, one of only two signers
of the Declaration ofIndependencelatertobecomepresident.Hewasaneruditelawyer
from Massachusetts and an ardent supporter of the Revolution, serving on thedrafting
committee of the Declaration of Independence, where he offered a few subtle but
important changes to Jefferson's draft. Adams was also one of the negotiators who
draftedtheTreatyofParisin1783toendtheRevolutionaryWar.

Adams was a strong proponent of reasoned appeals for justice and formal protest,
rather than mob action. Because he disapproved of the angry crowd that precipitated
the so-called Boston Massacre in 1770in which five colonists diedAdams defended
Captain Thomas Preston and the eight British soldierswhowereindictedformurder.In
his defense, Adams argued that the British soldiers were just victims of circumstance,
provoked by what was "most probably a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes and
mulattoes, Irish teagues [immigrants] and outlandish Jack tars [sailors]."2All of the
soldiers were acquitted except two, who were convicted of manslaughter and branded
on their thumbs. Later, when the movement for independence had reached its height,
Adams helped Virginia pass its stateconstitutioninthesummerof1776.Virginia'snew
government included a bicameral legislature with a house and senate. In his Thoughts
on Government (1776), Adams wrote that the purpose of governmentwasthe"greatest
quantity of human happiness." Adams derived that notion from Cicero, the ancient
Romanphilosopherwhosaid,"Thepeople'sgoodisthehighestlaw."

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) was a political leader in the American Revolution and a
signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was unsuccessful as a businessman in
Boston, but found his calling as a colonial activist, a member of the Massachusetts
legislature, a protestor of the Stamp Act of 1765, and an organizer of the 1767
non-importation agreement. Adams succeeded James Otis as the leader of the
extremist Patriots, and he wrote a Circular Letter condemning the 1767 Townshend
Actsastaxationwithoutrepresentation.

Adams was a prolific propagandist against British policy throughout the

pre-revolutionaryperiod.AlongwithJohnHancock,AdamsformedtheSonsofLiberty,a
colonial activist coalition. He also took the lead in forming colonial Committees of
Correspondence to foster inter-colonial communication and mobilization, and then
served in the Continental Congress from 1774-1781. By the spring of 1775, Adams
joined Hancock in hiding in Lexington, Massachusetts, where Paul Revere found both
men on the night of April 18 to tell them and the townspeople that the British troops
were marching the next day to seizecolonialgunpowderstores.AftertheRevolutionary
War,Adamslostmuchofhisinfluenceasmoreconservativeleaderstookpower.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "John Adams in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop University,
Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was one of the most celebratedofAmerica'sFounding

Fathers, a man who enjoyed success as an inventor, scientist, printer, politician, and
diplomat. He helped to draft both the DeclarationofIndependenceandtheConstitution
oftheUnitedStates.

It was Franklin who first devised the unsuccessful Albany Plan for intercolonial
government in 1754, to coordinate colonialeffortsduringtheFrenchandIndianWar.By
the time of the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, Franklin was living in London. He
misunderstood the colonial mindset when he reassured theEnglishofAmericanloyalty
to the King, and that the colonistswouldhavenoobjectionto"external"taxes(customs
duties). Still, like most Americans, once he became persuaded by the argument for
independence, he became one of the monarchy's fiercest opponents. Franklin was the
most famous American in the world at the time, and when he returned to the colonies
on 5 May 1775just a few weeks afterthefirstshotsofthewarwerefiredatLexington
and Concordhe immediately found himself elected as a delegate to the Second
Continental Congress. There Franklin proved that he had already moved past most
Patriots by considering colonial petitions to the King as useless. He believed that
independence was inevitable, and he correctly predicted that achieving it wouldrequire
alongwar.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Benjamin Franklin in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop
University,Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

John Hancock (1737-93) was one of the preeminent Founding Fathers, a president of
the Continental Congress and later governor of Massachusetts. Hancock's substantial
wealth afforded him a great deal of independence,allowinghimtopursueaneducation
and gain prominent status in Boston as a leaderofcolonialresistancetoparliamentary
policy. When Britishauthoritiestargetedhimforhisactivism,BostoniansandotherNew
Englanders quickly rallied to his side and tensions heightened throughout the region.
Hancock's name has become a synonym for "signature" thanks to his famously large
flourishasthefirstsigneroftheDeclarationofIndependence.

Hancock's trade as a prominent Boston merchant predisposed him to oppose the

Stamp Act of 1765. In 1768, British authorities seized his ship, the Liberty, for
smuggling. Suchaseizurewasarareoccurrenceatthetimeandwasclearlyanattempt
to assert British authority over one of the colonies' most outspoken dissidents. A riot
ensued, and several British Customs officials in Boston barely escaped with their lives.
By the time Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride to warn the colonists of the
British advance, Hancock was in hiding in Lexington along with fellow patriot Sam
Adams (Royal Governor Thomas Gage had ordered both men's arrest). Hancock later
risked his life by agreeing to become the only known signatory (besides Charles
Thomson) of the Declaration of Independence, as all other signers kept their identities
secretformonthstoavoidbeingchargedwithtreason.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "John Hancock in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop University,
Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Nathanael Greene (1742-1786) was a general in the American Revolution who also
served in the Rhode Island assembly. He fought with George Washington atthebattles
of Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Valley Forge. In 1780, after General Horatio
Gates was defeated at Camden, Greene took command of the Carolina campaign and
helped to turn the tide of the war by winning a series of battles in the South. Greene, a
master military strategist, was known as "the fighting Quaker" for his paradoxical
combinationofmilitaryskillandpacifistfaith.

Greene reorganized the southern contingent of the Continental Army, and with the help
of guerilla bands in the mountains, he waged a successful war of attrition against the
British. The AmericansinflictedheavylossesontheBritishinskirmishesthroughoutthe
first half of 1781. By fall of1781,GreenereducedBritishcontrolintheSouthtoonlythe
cities of Charleston and Savannah, while savage fightingcontinuedbetweenWhigsand
Toriesinthebackcountry.In1782,theBritishevacuatedCharleston.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Nathanael Greene in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop
University,Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Paul Revere (1735-1818) was a silversmith and colonialactivistinBostonwhoplayeda

key role in mobilizing the colonial activism that led to the Revolution. Revere was a
veteran of the French and Indian War and led anti-British agitation after the passageof
the Stamp Act in 1765. He was an early member of the SonsofLibertyandtookpartin
the Boston Tea Party. Then, in April 1775, Revere won his role in history and legend by
making his midnight ride to Lexington and Concord to warn the Patriots there of the
BritishadvancefromBoston.

In 1770, Revere engraved a propagandized and widely circulatedaccountoftheBoston

Massacre, an exaggerated version of the story that nonetheless proved influential on
the colonists' impressions of the British and the incident. During his famous midnight
ride on the night of 18 April 1775, Revere was captured by the British in Lexington
before he couldreachConcord.HenryWadsworthLongfellowlaterimmortalizedRevere
by focusing on himinsteadoffellowridersWilliamDawesandSamuelPrescottinhis
popular poem depicting the event. Revere went on to designthefirstsealfortheunited
colonies and the first Continental bonds. His military career during the Revolution was
not nearly as distinguished (he was arrested and later acquitted fordisobeyingorders),
andhewentbacktoaprofitablecareerinsilversmithingattheendofthewar.

Shmoop EditorialTeam."PaulRevereinTheAmericanRevolution."Shmoop.ShmoopUniversity,Inc.,
11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) was an American poet, historian, and dramatist whose
brotherJamesOtiswasanimportantactivistintheAmericanRevolution.ThoughMercy
received no formal schooling, she benefited from her proximity to political leaders and
managed to glean some knowledge from her brothers' tutors. She married James
Warren, who was speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Her 1773
play, Adulateur, satirized Massachusetts Governor ThomasHutchinsonandforetoldthe
War of Revolution. Her second work, The Group (1775), targeted the Tories. She also
publishedessaysrepresentingfemalesupportforthewareffort.

Mercy corresponded with her friend Abigail Adams, to whom she conveyed her belief
that women suffered not so much from inferior intellect as from insufficient
opportunities to develop their capacities. She urged, unsuccessfully, that equal rights
for women be included in the U.S. Constitution. Her Observations on the New
Constitution ... by a ColumbianPatriot(1788)outlinedherobjectionstotheConstitution,
mostofwhichweresatisfiedwithpassageoftheBillofRights.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Mercy Otis Warren in The American Revolution." Shmoop. Shmoop
University,Inc.,11Nov.2008.Web.13Jan.2016.

Jonathan Boucher, (born March 12, 1738, Cumberland [now Cumbria],Englanddied

April 27, 1804, Epsom, Surrey), English clergyman who won fame as a loyalist in
America.

In 1759 Boucher went to Virginia as a private tutor. After a visit to London in 1762 for his
ordination, he became rector of Annapolis, Maryland, and tutored George Washingtons
stepson, thus becoming a family friend. His loyalist views cost him his position: by 1775
he was keeping pistols on his pulpit cushion while conducting services, and he was
forced to return to England. He nevertheless dedicated to Washington A View of the
Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution (1797), consisting of 13 of the
eloquent sermons that he had preached in America urging loyalty to England, and he
received a friendly acknowledgment.

"JonathanBoucher".EncyclopdiaBritannica.EncyclopdiaBritannicaOnline.
EncyclopdiaBritannicaInc.,2016.Web.13Jan.2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Jonathan-Boucher>.

Biography: Abigail Adams

Where did Abigail Adams grow up?

Abigail Adams was born Abigail Smith in the small town of Weymouth, Massachusetts.
At the time, the town was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Great Britain. Her
father, William Smith, was the minister of the local church. She had a brother and two
sisters.

Education

Since Abigail was a girl, she did not receive a formal education. Only boys went to
school at this time in history. However, Abigail's mother taught her to read and write.
She also had access to her father's library where she was able to learn new ideas and
educate herself.

Abigail was an intelligent girl who wished that she could attend school. Her frustration
over not being able to get a better education led her to argue for women's rights later on
in life.

Marrying John Adams

Abigail was a young lady when she first met John Adams, a young country lawyer. John
was a friend of her sister Mary's fianc. Over time, John and Abigail found they
enjoyed each other's company. Abigail liked John's sense of humor and his ambition.
John was attracted to Abigail's intelligence and wit.

In 1762 the couple became engaged to be married. Abigail's father liked John and
thought he was a good match. Her mother, however, wasn't so sure. She thought
Abigail could do better than a country lawyer. Little did she know that John would one
day be president! The marriage was delayed due to an outbreak of smallpox, but finally
the couple was married on October 25, 1763. Abigail's father presided over the
wedding.

Abigail and John had six children including Abigail, John Quincy, Susanna, Charles,
Thomas, and Elizabeth. Unfortunately, Susanna and Elizabeth died young, as was
common in those days.

Revolutionary War

In 1768 the family moved from Braintree to the big city of Boston. During this time
relations between the American colonies and Great Britain were getting tense. Events
such as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party occurred in the town where
Abigail was living. John began to take a major role in the revolution. He was chosen to
attend the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On April 19, 1775 the American
Revolutionary War began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Home Alone

With John away at the Continental Congress, Abigail had to take care of the family. She
had to make all sorts of decisions, manage the finances, take care of the farm, and
educate the children. She also missed her husband terribly as he was gone for a very
long time.

In addition to this, much of the war was taking place close by. Part of the Battle of
Lexington and Concord was fought only twenty miles from her home. Escaping soldiers
hid in her house, soldiers trained in her yard, she even melted utensils to make musket
balls for the soldiers.

When the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought, Abigail woke to the sound of cannons.
Abigail and John Quincy climbed a nearby hill to witness the burning of Charleston. At
the time, she was taking care of the children of a family friend, Dr. Joseph Warren, who
died during the battle.
Letters to John

During the war Abigail wrote many letters to her husband John about all that was
happening. Over the years they wrote over 1,000 letters to each other. It is from these
letters that we know what it must have been like on the home front during the
Revolutionary War.

After the War

The war was finally over when the British surrendered at Yorktown on October 19,
1781. John was in Europe at the time working for the Congress. In 1783, Abigail missed
John so much that she decided to go to Paris. She took her daughter Nabby with her
and went to join John in Paris. When in Europe Abigail met Benjamin Franklin, who she
did not like, and Thomas Jefferson, who she did like. Soon the Adams packed up and
moved to London where Abigail would meet the King of England.

http://www.ducksters.com/biography/women_leaders/abigail_adams.php
Day Ten:

In My Opinion
Begin the lesson by sharing the OPINION definition sheet included below.
Project on ELMO and spend time covering synonyms for the word to
help round out student understanding.

Today students will use a firsthand experience to compare two

different drawing tools. You will need stencils, paper, pencils, erasers
and cartooning books for this lesson. Students will be tasked with
comparing two different drawing tools and coming up with an opinion
about which of the tools is most effective.

Begin by telling students that they have a job to do. They will be
creating landscapes using two different types of drawing tools. One
of the landscapes they will create using stencils. The second landscape
they create will include the use of a cartooning book. When both
drawings are done, students will be responsible for reporting back
regarding which of the drawing tools works better in their opinion.

Divide the group in half. Allow half of the class to begin drawing their
landscape with stencils and the other half to begin drawing with the
cartooning book. Give students about 10 minutes to work with their
first tool - then have students switch with each other so that they can
work an additional 10 minutes with the opposite tool.

When the drawing time has passed, bring students back together. Use
these prompts to guide discussion:
Which tool did you find to be most effective in drawing a
landscape?
(Record the overall consensus on chart paper. Continue writing down
student thoughts as they cover the following questions:)
 What was effective about stencils?
What was ineffective about stencils?
What was effective about the cartooning book?
What was ineffective about the cartooning book?

Show students the words you have been writing as they share. Have
them identify words that best describe an opinion. Highlight these
words.

As time allows, create a paragraph about stencils, the cartooning book,

or both. Use effective descriptive words to share an opinion about the
tool, and model using linking words and phrases (BECAUSE, ALSO,
THEREFORE, SINCE) to elevate the quality of the paragraph.

 Opinion
Noun
A view or judgment formed about something.

Synonyms:
belief, judgment, thoughts, (way of) thinking, (point of) view, viewpoint, outlook,
attitude, stance, position, perspective, standpoint
Day Eleven:

Today you will be showing students how to use words to express an

opinion. This mini lesson is tailored to meet the needs of students who
did not show proficiency on the Penny pre-assessment persuasive
essay.

You will be using online reviews to help students start noticing

effective words that can be used to state an opinion for or against a
particular product. Because online reviewers could use especially
colorful, unpredictable words, use the pre-sorted reviews that follow
on the next pages for your students to study. You will find two
reviews on a vacuum for pet hair, and two reviews for an Android
Smartwatch.

Work through the first product (WindTunnel T-Series Pet Rewind Bagless
Upright) together as a small group, recording effective words on the
Words That Express an Opinion chart included on the following pages.
Discuss how these words help build a case for either purchasing or
not purchasing this particular vacuum.

Next, put students in pairs to work through the article on

Smartwatches in the same manner. After about 10 minutes or so, pull
them back together to share the words they recorded. Discuss how
these are words that help build a case for either purchasing or not
purchasing a product. We are writing a persuasive piece on either
adopting or not adopting a way of thinking about independence. Which
words on the chart we completed would work for our purposes?
(Have students highlight those words and bring them back to their
writing folders to use as a tool while they craft their Patriot or
Loyalist piece.
 WindTunnel T-Series Pet Rewind Bagless
Upright

Five out of Five Stars:

By ScotchyScotchScotch on May 14, 2011
Like most "dudes", vacuuming is way low on stuff I like to do but wallowing in my
own entropic filth is even lower on the list so this puppy seems to fit the bill quite
well.

The goods:

1. Good suction power. Some stuff like threads that tend to get entangled in the
rug fibers don't get sucked in by the brush (which is not surprising) but easy
enough to pick up with the hose attachment.

2. Automatic cord rewinder. Seriously - all vacuums should have this - totally wicked awesome.

3. No bags. Frankly it's much easier and less messier than the bags used in my old vacuum.

4. Filters can be easily accessed and rinsed out - nice.

5. Easy to clean other parts. After all the years of vacuuming, my old one was nasty. You had to play Joey
Mechanic and unscrew stuff - big PITA especially since it's not something you can drive on the road.

6. Pretty light. Had a 6+ year old Hoover that was a beast since it had power assist - which broke - and
became like pushing a rock all over the place - not fun. Most people probably should have no problem
with the weight.

7. Magic-rubber-treatment-pet-hair-stuff-thing. I guess the rubber on the attachments has some type of

super magic treatment that helps pick up pet hairs better. It does seem to work well on furniture so I
guess it's working.

8. Quieter than the my old Hoover monster. Not quiet like a mouse, but definitely not like a lawnmower -
very tolerable.
 WindTunnel T-Series Pet Rewind
Bagless Upright

One out of Five Stars

First Impression: Excellent. After one month:
Poor, March 16, 2012
By Don
I received my Hoover WindTunnel T-Series Pet Rewind
yesterday and have used it exactly twice, including a
whole-house cleaning on hardwood and low-pile carpet
today. So obviously this brief review is a first
impression. My impression is that this is very good,
powerful, feature-rich machine --- especially considering
the low-cost.

And it seems quite sturdy, though of course only time

will tell on that score.

I agree with others who have criticized the short wand length. Another reviewer
suggested using wands from an old vacuum. I tried using wands and
attachments from my old Kenmore and they work perfectly with the Hoover! So
now I can reach almost 10 feet, with tolerable loss of suction.

Overall, I am quite pleased so far. I will try to update this review as time goes
on.

UPDATE AFTER ONE MONTH: I've now used this vacuum numerous times.
Unfortunately, I must change my opinion to decidedly negative (one star)
because of a recurring problem. When the floor brushroll is shut off, the rubber
drive belt often falls off the drive shaft. When this happens, in order to use the
floor brushroll, I must turn the machine over, open the brushroll housing, and
slip the belt over the drive shaft. Obviously, this is unacceptable. I called Hoover
customer service and was told that they did not have any reports of this problem
from others. If that is accurate, then my machine was a lemon; probably the
brushroll shutoff pedal needed adjustment. However, when I called Hoover's local
service outlet, I was told it might take more than a month to get a new part to
fix the problem. Furthermore, the serviceman said this machine was built cheaply
and would likely fail again within a year or two. I returned the machine to
Amazon today.

 Samsung Gear S2 Smartwatch for Most

Android Phones - Silver
Four out of Five Stars
Very good smartwatch, but I returned it.,
October 3, 2015
By Rom
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I've come from the Android Wear platform, and several of
my friends have Apple Watches. I stopped wearing my AW
device after a while, because the UX is frankly, atrocious.
The constant swiping, and dismissal of card after card, just
made me eventually pull my phone out. In addition, the color scheme on AW is far too
bright and colorful for my liking - it is very cartoonish.

So when the Gear S2 was announced, I was very interested. Then I saw the rotating bezel
and thought "Genius!". Well, long story short - I picked one up from a local retailer
yesterday, and it has been incredible. The watch is light, and does not feel like a big gadget
strapped to my wrist. When I see AW offerings, I immediately think - "that's a gadget
strapped to your wrist". The same with the Apple Watch - it looks like a chunky box
strapped to your wrist. But this thing is the first reasonably proportioned Smartwatch I've
ever seen (something like Pebble Time is good, but the bezels on that watch make me think
of Weird Al's Tacky). It feels like a 21st Century Swatch.

The straps on this watch, even though they are rubber (silicone?) are very soft and feel
good. No irritation. Much better in real life than in pictures btw. Pictures don't do the watch
justice. The rotating Bezel is a great feature. The watch is very intuitive. The watch faces
are also very nice - they feel "authentically digital", and do not look like a Skeuomorphic
disaster (see some of the LG Watch and Huawei watch faces). I rather like the "whole
package" here.

So far, there are only a few apps in the store, and most of them are junk. It does come with
some very good stock apps - Weather, S-Health (is actually very good), CNN, Bloomberg,
Calendar, Alarms, etc. I was able to control my Spotify with this (play/pause/next track),
which made me very happy. I was able to respond to text messages, Facebook messages,
etc. So far, everything I need a Smartwatch to do it does well. I don't need a computer on
my wrist right now.

FINAL UPDATE: I ended up returning the watch because I couldn't live without Google Maps.
It was unfortunate, but Here Maps was driving me crazy, and S-Voice was ending up being
a bigger pain than I had realized. I still think this is a VERY good product (hence I still keep
it at 4 stars), but in the end for my particular uses I had to return it. I did so reluctantly.
So, even though I think Android Wear has a much worse UX I ended up with a LG Watch
Urbane 2nd Edition (with LTE so it can make phone calls). I'll review that product later.
 Samsung Gear S2 Smartwatch for Most
Android Phones - Silver

Three out of Five Stars

Cheap Quality Strap.
By Sri Haritha S Kalagaon October 21, 2015
I like the watch as an samsung phone user. Fits on my wrist very
well. No complaints about the piece. My complaint is about the
strap. The material is cheap quality.The straps do not stay well in
their position from the moment I put it on my wrist. One of the straps
constantly loosens on its own, and my watch nearly fell down a few times. Quite annoying . The other
strap was way too tight and got torn when I was trying to replace it with a longer strap. A tiny bit of piece
stuck in the watch. I cannot use this watch anymore.
Not sure what to do.
 Words That Express an Opinion
Words That Build Up a Product Words That Tear Down a
Product
Vacuum Vacuum

Smartwatch Smartwatch
 OtherPersuasiveWritingOptions

- TheBostonTeaParty:
Was the Boston Tea Party the best option for protesting OR chooseaside
youagreewithanddefendyourposition
- Resources:
- Events leading up to the Boston Tea Party (Timeline):
http://www.boston-tea-party.org/timeline.html

- https://docs.google.com/a/ankenyschools.org/document/d/
1Z95cYBVpTn9JInB-hBX1nRotdhaOSwMO4gdXTlN-whM/edit?u
sp=sharing

- https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/boston-tea-party-facts

- Video:http://mrnussbaum.com/history-2-2/boston-tea-party/

- http://ebooks.infobasepublishing.com/View.aspx?ISBN=97814
38138381&InstID=3032

- http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/results?sid=81d3adc0-9904-4
6cc-ac01-73f698d5ce76%40sessionmgr4009&vid=0&hid=4211
&bquery=boston+tea+party&bdata=JnR5cGU9MCZzaXRlPWV
kcy1saXZl

- Samuel Adams and the Boston Tea Party- I have a copy of

thisbookonmyshelf.

- Useyourtextbookasaresource.

- PickYourBattles:
Choose one battle that took place duringtheRevolutionaryWarthatyou
feltwasthemostimportantoraturningpointinthewar.
- BattlesandResources:
- http://www.revolutionary-war.net/battles-of-the-revolutionary
-war.html

- http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/battles.aspx


- TheIntolerableActs:
The Coercive Acts, also known as The Intolerable Acts (Stamp, Sugar,
Currency, and Quartering Acts), angered many colonists because they
felt that Parliament was taxing the colonies with proper representation.
Stateanddefendyouropiniononwhetherornotyoufeeltheseactswere
fair.
- Resources:
- Go to the following website and then in the search bar, type
inintolerableacts:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/command/detail?sid=97243
4d5-d239-41cc-a600-2d81ff3bdb0b%40sessionmgr101&vid=12
&hid=108

- Useyourtextbookasaresource.

- http://www.facts4me.com/login.php
- Username:crocker password:student

- https://docs.google.com/a/ankenyschools.org/document/d/
1aJfu-GOscgxnIXA7B4G7rYNoxf55oagbDf-F5KqWJdo/edit?us
p=sharing