This Lesson's Title:

A President's Perspective

researching and voicing facts about a president in journal form

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Corbett Harrison.You can access all of Corbett's on-line lessons by clicking here.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book My Tour of Europe by Teddy Roosevelt, Age 10 by Ellen Jackson. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out My Tour Of Europe: By Teddy Roosevelt , Age 10 at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Ellen Jackson has authored (with young Theodore Roosevelt's actual help) a picture book that shows us that presidents--like students--keep journals to record important moments in life; Jackson's picture book presents the actual words from a boyhood journal kept by young Teddy Roosevelt. For this writing assignment, students are to choose one of the U.S. Presidents and to research momentous moments from their lives that didn't happen while they served as U.S president. Basing their written assignments on facts, students are to write an imaginary journal that might have been written by their president. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; students are to translate research into their own words, correctly conveying facts they have learned about a president in these fictional journals.   The support trait in this assignment is voice; students will attempt to realistically capture another person's perspective as they create their journal entries in the voice of a president.