Beginning the writing lesson

I started my journey towards a persuasive essay about the colonial regions by teaching the students how to first write a solid persuasive essay.  I used the district resources, focusing on analyzing counter arguments and using higher level transition words.  When I was happy with the kids' progress, I started to plan out how I was going to bring the colonies into the mix.   I have never enjoyed teaching about colonial life.  I usually jam through it.  I am glad this assignment made me do something different this year.  I had the students jigsaw the three regions and it made all the difference.  They enjoyed it, learned more than my previous classes, and I was proud of their learning.  It was a win-win and they were ready to write persuasive essays.