Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Write Literary Text That Develops Interesting Characters

For Students 7th - 9th Standards
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.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Writing Literary Text With an Engaging Story Line

For Students 7th - 9th Standards
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.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway:writing an Engaging Story With Literary Strategies to Enhance Plot

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Writing a Short Story With Interesting and Believable Characters

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Writing a Short Story With Well Developed Conflict and Resolution

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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.
Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass and American Non Fiction

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: The Sum of Its Parts

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Graphic
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Problem Solving [Pdf]

For Students 1st - 9th Standards
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.
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: A Picture Book Writing Lesson: Start With What Isn't There

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Creating a Second Person Choice Story

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: A Chapter Book Writing Lesson: Creating a Parallel World

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: A Small Moment With an Important Person

For Teachers 1st - 9th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Education: Telling Your Story

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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.
Handout
University of Victoria (Canada)

The U Vic Writer's Guide: Literary Term: Point of View

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
From the University of Victoria's writing tutorial site, this section provides a multiple-paragraph discussion of point of view.
Graphic
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Elements of Literature: Narrator Chart [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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.
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Counting Up or Down Stories

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Exploring Perspective in Narrative

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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,...
Article
E Reading Worksheets

E Reading Worksheets: Narrative Essay Topics and Story Ideas

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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
Article
Caro Clarke

Caro Clarke: What Is Conflict?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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
Article
Caro Clarke

Explaining Too Much: Why More Is Less

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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.
Professional Doc
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Workshop 2: Making Writing Meaningful

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
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 -...
Handout
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Literature: Exploring Point of View

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Use these brief explanations to help you determine the narrator and point of view in any piece of literature. W.11-12.3a Narratives
Graphic
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Conflict Map

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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.
Article
Caro Clarke

Caro Clarke: Pacing Anxiety, or How to Stop Padding and Plot!

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
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...