Teaching note

Welcome aboard guys. I am honored to hold our first meeting in such an unusual but meaningful
way. Last week, I have received your application letters and appreciating your kindness, I am here
to officially announce that now you are an indispensable part of the relief society in our school.
The society is intended to help those in trouble and relieve their anxiety and stress. Since the
lockdown started in March, we’ve heard so many students are struggling. On your handout there
are four letters from the students, Now you have 1 minutes to read. After you finish reading,
please vote on which one do you feel most echoed with

Now I have sent you the vote box, did you receive that?
There are three questions, you can just tick the box
Whose problem you are most echoed with?
1. Joy
2. Juliana
3. Kate
4. Steve

Can you identify what changes are they going through?

Joy is going through the changes of…
Juliana is having trouble in…
Kate is struggling with….
Steve has difficulty in…

Follow up question
What makes you feel echoed with xx?
In which aspect do you think your life has undergone huge changes?
1. Nothing has changed
2. Studying (supervision, workload, online lectures, lack of face-to-face interaction, too many
distractions, boring learning environment, don’t have a good internet connection, don’t have a
quite place to study, without a printer)
3. Relationship with their family ( increasing conflicts, mistrust between each other, parent work
on the frontier)
4. Friendship (miss friends very much)
5. Emotional wellbeing (frustrated, anxious, bored, lonely, less motivated, procrastinated, less
confident,scary)

How these changes make you feel? Can you rate the frequency at which you are experiencing
particular emotions related to the changes of your life?
Joyful, hopeful, proud, frustrated, angry, anxious, ashamed, relieved, hopeless, bored

Changes of life happen all the time. 2022 might be one of the most challenging years in our life.
Since now we have taken on the role of relief helper, what should we say to help these fellows in
trouble? What’s your opinion? XX
(Write a letter to encourage and comfort them)
Who would you like the most to write a reply letter to?
1. Joy
2. Juliana
3. Kate
4. Steve

We will save the result for later. At the beginning of the writing, we must clarify what is the
controversial issue we are writing about? What do you think is the issue we are discussing?

So now you must have realized what our task is today. In this meeting, we won’t have enough
time to finish writing, but I am gonna guide you to write an outline of your letter in reply to
their trouble on the topic of “Changes of LIfe in Lockdown”., in which you should include your
opinion regarding what we should do facing the changes of life in lockdown and list your reasons.
In the end, share some practical suggestions with them. (presenting assignment requirement)
Are you clear? All right~

Before writing, there are something else we should pay attention to?
1. Stick to our writing purpose. (To persuade)
We need to guide them to think about the positive sides of these changes happening around,
that is, to persuade them out of thinking the troubling things instead of complaining together
with them.
2. Pick a perspective (you)
Moreover, what about the perspective? The first person or second or the third, which do you
think will be the most powerful one?

3. Clarifying your main message

It is time for you to picck a stand, that is, state your opinion. Where is it usually located? Yes, at
the end of the first paragraph and we can use some signal words to highlight it.
Phrase and sentence bank
In my opinion/view
From my perspective
As far as I am concerned
It seems to me that
The way I see it is that
Personally, I think that

What constitutes a good opinion?

A thesis statement has two part, a topic and and a controlling idea. The topic is our interpretation
of the question, which is already listed in the requirement. The controlling idea is the message
you want to convey. If you are still uncertain about what to write, paraphrasing the question
might be a nice try. When facing the changes, some choose to be drowned in their bad feelings
while other look at a brighter side, which will you choose?
Modify it: Changes of life are unavoidable, so we just have to face them.
After modification: Since we can’t escape changes of life, no matter where and when, the only
thing we could do is to face up to them , make proper adjustment and be a stronger man.

Tips for stating your opinions(personal thoughts, beliefs or feelings)

More precise words
More clarified ideas
Add some quotes
Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
Things don’t go on forever, and the quicker you accept that change is inevitable, the happier you
are gonna be.
Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.
Looking back isn’t going to help you. Moving forward is the thing you you have to do.

Now I will give you 2 minutes to write down your opinion and reasons on the handout.
What follows up should be your reasons backing up your opinion. Now I will give you two
minutes to work on your first draft of your reasons on your handout.

Would you like to share your opinions with us? (ask two to share)

Before we revise the reasons part, now we actually have the basic frame of our writing. To make
our reasons more convincing, we need to add some fillings in it to make it taste better. What are
the fillings? Now the frame is something like an argumentative, which is commonly applied in
academic paper writing. What are usually taken as supporting details in these papers? Right,
figures, research outcome, rational reasoning. But what we are writing today is not a paper with
absolute objective evidence. Think about the question, are these enough for you to kindle the
flame of hope in these students’ heart? Not enough, what you write is more personal, closer and
more touching, so you can call it opinion writing, persuasive writing or narrative argumentative
writing. It is necessary to add our personal feelings and anecdotes in it. Before I explain it, let’s
read an anecdote and match the best claim with it.

How do you like the anecdote? A warm and interesting story,which can be used as evidence to
suppport your reason, but it is a little bit different. The major evident distinguishing factor
between them is their volume or length. The stories are much more detailed and require a higher
level of commitment.
Which do you think is the ideal claim?
When we state reasons, the reasons should be closely connected with your opinion, there is a
direct cause-and-effect connection. B is a general idea of the paragraph while A is a fact, which
should be taken as a supporting detail and C sounds like a restatement at the end of the
paragraph.
So you can put your opinion and reasons into the sentence to check if your reasons are conning
enough. _________(your opinion) because ____________.Then take 2 minutes to revise your
reason.
So the structure of the body paragraph should be like a topic sentence+supporting
details+restatement. When we connect the three parts, using the signal words would be
preferable.
Now that you have polished your reasons, let’s see how to write an anecdote. What do you think
qualify for a good anecdote? Compare the toilet paper birthday cake story with what you have
written in the past? Yes, details, details of when, who, where, what and how, the five elements of
a story. Now select a moment telling how you felt when something suddenly happened to you or
to people you are familiar with, or the experience of someone you have never met but have
learned about online.. I will give you 2 minutes to discuss with each other.

First, ask yourself the question, the moment you want to write is _________
Exciting, enlightening, encouraging, inspirational, moving,
Frustrating, dark,
It is a __________ moment when___________
Guidance: some examples I saw
1. My parents volunteered to work at the frontier of the battle against the virus.
2. I helped a stranger…
3. I became the leader in charge of group-purchasing.
4. The moment I received my online test score.
5. The moment when I was informed that I would be quarantined for 14 days as the close
contact.
6. The moment when I was informed that my neighbours became the confirmed cases and
haven’t been transferred to the makeshift hospital
7. The moment when I found there was a lack of food in my fridge!
8. The moment when I was in school and was informed that we were going to have online class.
9. The moment when I was afraid that I was infected because I had some symptoms.
10. The moment when I shared my learning tips with my classmate.
11. The moment when I came up with the idea of writing a class shared journal.
12. The moment when I chaired the costudy room and called for my classmates to join me.
13. The moment when I had a long and deep conversation with my parents.
14. The moment when I made contract with my friends to be more self-disciplined.
15. The moment when I helped my mum place orders online in the early morning.
16. The moment when I take out my dusted instrument and enjoy playing it.
17. The moment when I exchange my stuff for some snacks I want with my neighbor.
18. The moment when I started work out every night with transfer Liu.

Now look back at the sample story, what other details did it have. Descriptive details such as
feelings and thoughts or sensory details, right? Such as depressed, hilarious, exhausted,
surprised, happy.

Now work on the graphic organizer and add more details of your story.

Now if anyone would like share your story with us? Thanks for your sharing.
As long as you settle your mind and explore it more deeply, those moments no matter they’re
good or bad help you learn something. This will be an unforgettable experience in your life.

By now you have completed drafts of the component of an argument essay and a narrative. Now
comes the fun part—combine them to make an outline of this letter. Here I give you a OREO
template to fill in what you have written just now, which respectively represent your opinion,
your reasons, your evidence and restate your opinion. How were you changed by the experience?
What advice would you give others facing the same situation?

Have you finished your outline? Now I would like to invite 2 of you to share it with us.
Since time is limited, I will make it as today’s first homework. When you finish the outline, please

Checklist of the outline

Have I introduced my topic to my audience?
Have I stated my opinion toward the issue precisely and clearly?
Have I listed strong reasons backing up my opinion?
Have I told an anecdote as the supporting detail?
Have I included key actions and sensory details in my anecdote?
Have I restated my opinion in the end?

I believe during this lockdown, you must have learned new things about yourselff and the world.
Let’s use this time to progress, so that we don’t just lay down, but make changes. Make sure you
have a healthy mindset when seeing and dealing with every situation. No matter how good
something is,, it will look wrong if you face it with bad thought.

Follow-up question
1. Which of these changes have been positive and which have been more difficult?
2. Which change has had the most impact on your day-to-day life?
3. What have you enjoyed about learning at home? (the autonomy to plan their own time, more
time to study, being with family, not having to travel, review the recorded online class often,
being able to sleep more, not having to go to the school is less stressful “I don’t feel I am
constantly drowning”)
4. What haven’t you enjoyed or found difficult about learning from home?
Unstructured schedule that prolongs studying to the whole day, lack of motivation, difficulty
distinguishing between free time from study and method of evaluation, difficult for them to
concentrate at home, it’s hard to study on their own without interaction, discussion with teacher
and classmates. ”Time just disappear somewhere and the midnight comes, and nothing is done. ”
(5. What parts of being at school have you missed when learning at home? )

The Checklist for Your Product

Have I started with a hook?
Have I introduced my topic to my audience?
Have I introduced the event to be narrated?
Have my anecdote included key actions and sensory details?
Have I applied clear and appropriate transitions?