Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write Literary Text That Develops Interesting Characters
A learning module that teaches students how to write an literary text with good characterization in four lessons: Introduction, Two Types of Characterization and Two Types of Characters, Choosing Your Characters, and Your Turn.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Writing Literary Text With an Engaging Story Line
A learning module that teaches students how to write an engaging literary text in six lessons: Introduction, The Narrative Hook, Setting, Conflict, Plot, and Ending.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway:writing an Engaging Story With Literary Strategies to Enhance Plot
A learning module that teaches students about writing a short story with a strong plot in seven mini-lessons: Introduction, Choose the Point of View, Figure Out What to Say, Suspend Readers in Midair, Write about a Central Theme, Read A...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Writing a Short Story With Interesting and Believable Characters
A learning module that teaches students about writing a short story with believable characters in six mini-lessons: Introduction, Imagine 3-D Characters, Show and Tell, Build Your Main Character Read about a Main Character, and Draft...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Writing a Short Story With Well Developed Conflict and Resolution
A learning module that teaches students about writing a short story in six mini-lessons: Introduction, Understanding the Essence, Getting an Idea, Structuring Plot, Building Conflict, and Outlining Your Own Story.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass and American Non Fiction
This lesson plan serves as an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing and focuses primarily on teaching some basic approaches to recognizing rhetorical strategies adopted for persuasive effect in essays and non-fiction. The...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Sum of Its Parts
Inspired by Julianna's understanding (from the novel Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen) that "A painting is more than the sum of its parts," students will describe a memorable place that evokes a certain feeling or emotion. Students will...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Problem Solving [Pdf]
A graphic organizer students can use to think about or solve a problem from three different points of view. A blank copy and a completed sample are both provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Picture Book Writing Lesson: Start With What Isn't There
In this instructional activity, learners will describe a setting, attempting to set a mood for their readers in two paragraphs. Borrowing a technique from Stephen Kramer's two-page introduction to Caves, they will begin with a paragraph...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Creating a Second Person Choice Story
This lesson plan is designed to help students understand plot dimensions and literary devices while writing a multi-faceted short story that has many possible outcomes. For inspiration, students will analyze songs that tell stories for...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Chapter Book Writing Lesson: Creating a Parallel World
Inspired by the opening events in The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, students are asked to create an original parallel world that is similar to ours but different in certain ways. They will focus on the similarities and differences...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Small Moment With an Important Person
A writer's workshop idea where students brainstorm a list of people who are important to them as well as one or two times they remember being with each person. Students then use these ideas to write about a small moment with someone who...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Telling Your Story
A lesson in which students gain empathy for people who lived during a historical time period by writing a first-person story with experiences that would have happened during that time.
University of Victoria (Canada)
The U Vic Writer's Guide: Literary Term: Point of View
From the University of Victoria's writing tutorial site, this section provides a multiple-paragraph discussion of point of view.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Elements of Literature: Narrator Chart [Pdf]
Provides an overview of the importance of a narrator in a text and some brief exercises for analysis. Helps students learn more about the role of the narrator in literature, his/her voice, and influence on other characters and events.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Counting Up or Down Stories
The writer will brainstorm situations where individuals or people in a group count up or count down out loud together. Using the ending of chapter 5 of Wringer by Jerry Spinelli as a model, the writer will plan a story where someone (or...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Exploring Perspective in Narrative
Interactive lesson which allows students to determine the perspective or point of view of a story character by imagining actually spending a day in their "shoes." Based on Atticus's statement in "To Kill a Mockingbird." W.11-12.3, 3a,...
E Reading Worksheets
E Reading Worksheets: Narrative Essay Topics and Story Ideas
A collection of 101 narrative essay topics, short story ideas, and narrative writing prompts are provided on this site. Links to related narrative topics are also provided. W.11-12.3 Narratives, W.11-12.3a Narratives
Caro Clarke
Caro Clarke: What Is Conflict?
This is the sixth in a series of articles designed to help the new writer with their novel. This article focuses on conflict and how it effects the characters and the plot of the story. W.11-12.3a Narratives
Caro Clarke
Explaining Too Much: Why More Is Less
This is the eleventh article in a series that is designed to help the new novel author. This article focuses on how to eliminate needless information in your novel. The key is to not explain too much about the action.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Workshop 2: Making Writing Meaningful
Workshop 2 demonstrates how teachers use authentic sources and topics to prompt students to write about things that matter to them, subjects that relate to their lives, relationships, and communities. The topic may be the students -...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Literature: Exploring Point of View
Use these brief explanations to help you determine the narrator and point of view in any piece of literature. W.11-12.3a Narratives
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Conflict Map
This graphic organizer focuses on conflict: identifying the conflict, listing possible resolutions, and determining the cause of the conflict. It can be used as a reading tool, a writing organizer, or solving a real-life conflict.
Caro Clarke
Caro Clarke: Pacing Anxiety, or How to Stop Padding and Plot!
This is the seventh installment of a series giving advice to the author who is new to writing novels. This article focuses on how to take your characters and use them and their conflicts to develop the plot of your story. W.9-10.3b...