Curated OER
Practice Makes It Better
Use the Internet to expand the audience for portfolio writings and motivate young writers to edit their work. Have your class members select a piece of writing from their portfolios to be polished and published on the World Wide Web....
Curated OER
Persuasive Elements
Investigate letters to the editor and their persuasive qualities. Break your class into reading groups and give each one a different article. As they read, they complete a graphic organizer to record their thoughts and opinions. There is...
Curated OER
Front Page News
Students write original earthquake articles typically found on the front page of a newspaper. Each student has the freedom to write in a variety of writing styles (lead story, human interest story, editorials, etc.). They research...
Curated OER
I Have a Dream Podcasts
Students write dream speeches and record them as Mp3's. For this speech lesson, students watch Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have Dream Speech." They use the writing process to develop a dream speech which they rehearse. They record...
Teaching Tolerance
Journalism for Justice
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
Curated OER
Setting Goals for Success
Students construct SMART goals. In this goal-setting lesson, students discover how to write a SMART goal for their student portfolios. Working in pairs students write short-term goals that will build towards a long-term goal.
Curated OER
Interview! Magazine
Young scholars interview a subject and write a biographical sketch for a fictional magazine. In this interview lesson plan, students choose a person to interview and create two sets of questions. Young scholars conduct the interview....
Curated OER
Mardi Gras Madness
CStudents create a sensory chart in on the topic of Mardi Gras. They design a brainstorm web using Inspiration and complete creative writing assignment. Students write a poem about Mardi Gras that is presented to the class at the final...
Curated OER
The Witch of Goingsnake
Students write an essay comparing and contrasting Frank Parris and George Ballad. In this The Witch of Goingsnake lesson, students brainstorm vocabulary used to show comparison and create a model thesis statement. Students write their...
Curated OER
Writer's Chair
Students peer edit and present a piece of writing to the class. In this writing lesson plan, students work in groups of three to peer edit their favorite piece of writing. Students take turns sitting in the "Writer's Chair" and...
Curated OER
Sidewalks to Success in Middle School
Students write a brochure that educates incoming middle school students on how to succeed.
Curated OER
Theatre: Meaningful Monologues
Students perform dramatic monologues. In this drama instructional activity, students write their own monologue and perform it in front of their peers.
Curated OER
Culture Universals Lesson Plan
Learners perform research on specific cultures. They write a short paragraph on each of the universals and explain how each universal relates to their home culture.
Curated OER
Comparative Paper – Biblical Texts
In this Biblical texts activity, learners read and complete the narrative for the assignment that requires them to prepare and write comparative papers on Kings and Chronicles, Legal Collections, and Prophecy.
Curated OER
Student Autobiography
Students complete an organizer listing five important events in their lives, use the dates to create a timeline of their life using Timeliner program, print and save their timeline and write a paragraph based on the timeline too.
Curated OER
Suspense-Around
Students participate in round-robin cooperative writing groups to develop a variety of possible stories around a single prompt.
Curated OER
Birthday Buddy
Students explore an Internet web site and/or the Groliers Encyclopedia to investigate a famous person who shares their birthday. They write a five paragraph comparison and contrast essay on their findings and utilize ClarisWorks to publish.
Curated OER
Guess the Author-Using Pseudonyms
Students study about descriptive writing. They write a descriptive paragraph about themselves without revealing their physical description and sign their writing with a pseudonym.
Curated OER
Looking Back to 1980
Students use clustering/mind mapping techniques to generate ideas, graphically represent inferences, organize their conclusions and write a report that presents conclusions the writer has reached, and facts substantiating those conclusions.
Curated OER
Proofreading: Lesson 9
Eighth graders participate in writing a descriptive paragraph with a main idea and supporting details. They generate correct mechanics and spelling while writing this paragraph. When finished, they complete a rubric (that is included...
Curated OER
Space and Science Fiction
Use the Franklin Institute's exhibition "An Inquirer's Guide to the Universe" to have students research ideas for a science fiction story. After completing their research, writers will compose science fiction stories that incorporate...
Curated OER
Keeping Yourself Organized During Writer's Workshop
Writer's Workshop can be a wonderful way to develop a classroom of authors.
Curated OER
"A MLA Style of Life"
Learners effectively research using the internet, encylopedias, magazines and newspapers. They desegregate into needed and un-needed information based on their research findings. Pupils recognize and appropriately site sources using a...
Curated OER
Rockin' Picture Books
Learners demonstrate their knowledge of the rock cycle by creating picture books.