What To Wear?
A Critical Look at School Uniforms
There has been much debate about whether public schools should require students to wear uniforms.
Several schools and school districts have implemented this policy with positive results.
This lesson is designed to challenge students to think critically about where information
comes from over the Internet and to use this information to help them form an opinion.
Lesson Plan
Subject: Writing
Topic: Persuasive Paragraph
Grade Level: 3-4
Lesson Duration: 5-6 days
Program Outcome: Students will compose in a variety of modes by developing content, employing specific forms, and selecting language appropriate for a particular audience and purpose.
Program Indicator: Locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accopmplish a purpose.
Student Outcome: The students will be able to locate and use information to write a persuasive paragraph.
Context for Learning
- This will be a whole class activity
- Students will have the background knowledge of organizing ideas into a paragraph and basic computer skills of word processing and using bookmarked websites
- Due to the nature of one of these activities where the students will write to a nearby private school, the project could take several weeks; once that information is received the lesson should take about 5-6 days
- The teacher will guide the students in writing a class letter to the principal of a nearby private school to learn how those students feel about uniforms
- The letter will ask the principal to give his/her thoughts and ask for several responses from students in each grade level to describe how they feel about wearing uniforms and if they would prefer not wearing uniforms
- All students will sign the letter and ask for information to be returned within two weeks so that the next part of the lesson may begin
Instructional Delivery:
Opening Activity: To engage the students' thinking of the topic, the teacher will begin by asking the students how they determine what they will wear to school. After some discussion, the teacher will present the question: "Should schools require students to wear uniforms?"
Procedure
Day One
- There will be a class discussion of the students' opinions and why they feel that way. They will receive more instruction about forming an opinion and supporting their ideas during the lesson.
- Students will pair up to read the responses from the private school they wrote to. Each pair will share with the class what they learned from the letters and what they think about the responses. The teacher will explain the activity that students will work on using Web sites and their background knowledge of uniforms.
Days Two and Three
- As a class, students will review a website with the teacher and complete an evaluation of the site together. The teacher will explain the importance of evaluating sites and that not all infomration on the web is accurate. The teacher will also demonstrate how to find out more information about the site, as in who created it and when it was updated. There will be much discussion with this as the teacher reviews several sites with the students and they complete the evaluations and checklists together. The students will share their "grades" of each of the sites and discuss how they determined the grade. This will be guided practice with the teacher before students evaluate one site on their own.
Days Four and Five
- The students will have a packet to complete over the duration of the lesson. First, they will visit the Time For Kids site and the Long Beach District's site about school uniforms and with a partner evaluate the site using the evaluation guide and the checklist. Using the sites reviewed with the teacher and the Time For Kids site, students will gather information if they judge the site as worthwhile. They will gather information about both sides of the issue of school uniforms to help them form their opinion. If they don't feel a site is worthwhile, they will explain why on the evaluation form and look at the other sites for information.
- After completing the evaluations and gathering information, students will then move to the writing organizer. They should form their own opinion using the information gathered to help them and be able to support their opinion with at least three details.
- The teacher will work with the class as they complete the organizer. Students will share their ideas with the class to help understand opposing views and other ideas about uniforms.
Days Six and Seven (if needed)
- When the organizers are complete, students will begin writing their paragraphs. The teacher will model how to use their opinion statement as the topic sentence and examples of how to include supporting details. The teacher will also review the rubric for the paragraph with the students before they begin writing.
Assessment: Students will be graded on their packet they hand in. This will include the website evaluations, writing organizer, and final paragraph. The writing rubric will be used to score their paragraphs. The website evaluations will be scored as to how thoughtful the students were in answering the questions and how accurate they were. Each student will turn in their own evaluations and should include their own opinions about the Web sites that may be different than their partner's. The Web site information should be correct the same.
Closure: The teacher will ask the students to review some of the information they gathered from the websites and what they thought of the evaluations. Then the teacher will review the importance of being critical of websites and to continue evaluating sites at home as well.
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