Virginia Department of Education
Editing and Proofreading
This task is best utilized after a rough draft revision is completed. Writers pair-up and identify when the author uses the passive voice, clichés, and wordiness. Basic examples for the revision points are provided for the instructor to...
Edmond Public Schools
The Modes of Writing: How to Write for Different Purposes
Do your pupils know the difference between varying types of writing? This 57-slide presentation is made up of four sections: narrative writing, descriptive writing, expository writing, and persuasive writing. Split it up and use the...
Curated OER
Concepts of Beauty Put Into Words
Studying haiku poetry with your English class? Delving into Japanese history with your world history class? Here is an authentic and creative way to explore Japanese culture more deeply. Pupils will compare and contrast two tea caddies...
Curated OER
Common Transition Words: Grades 4 - 12
A practical guide to transition words and phrases, this handout could be a useful addition to any pupil's notebook or binder. Transition words are placed in a chart and labeled by type. For example, words that show comparison are grouped...
Virginia Department of Education
Synthesizing to Support a Thesis- Big Picture Emphasis
Help your researchers as they begin to develop a topic for research with these worksheets. Included are two nicely designed graphic organizers that assist students in narrowing and researching their topic, and an efficient evaluation...
Tech Coach Corner
Understanding Sentences
Go over how to read complex sentences. Learners work on identifying key ideas, examining sentence structure, looking up new vocabulary, and paraphrasing. An overview of methods to help class members read difficult texts, half of the...
Bright Hub Education
How to Write an Essay Introduction
Clichéd and repetitive introductions got you down? Try this lesson on for size! Start off by instructing your class members on techniques for writing introductions and what types of introductions they should avoid. Several general lesson...
North Carolina State University
Understanding Plagiarism
Introduce budding scholars to the many types of academic plagiarism. Potential plagiarizers develop a definition of the infringement and determine how it has been committed. The instructor provides the writing examples and resources....
Virginia Department of Education
Developing an essay: Using specific nouns, strong verbs, and vivid adjectives
Feeling bored and unimpressed with word choice in your class? If so, consider this activity, which focuses on using specific and precise language. Pupils use highlighters, brainstorm independently and in small groups, and create a poster...
Curated OER
Writing and Reading Center #3: Subjects and Predicates
Do your young grammarians need practice identifying subjects and predicates? The 20 sentences included in this packet could be used for drill or as a check for understanding.
Curated OER
Writing and Reading Center #1: Sentence Combining
Plagued with a horde of short, choppy sentences? Banish simplistic patterns from the writings of your pupils by modeling for them how to combine sentences to create lively, more interesting prose. Then provide them with a sentence...
Curated OER
Writing and Reading Center #2: Sentence Combining
Still plagued by short, choppy sentences in the writings of your class members? Here's another practice set that asks learners to combine a series of short sentences into a single, more interesting one. Could be used as an in-class drill...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Cause to Effect
Focus on logical paragraph writing and ask your class to write cause and effect paragraphs. To get started, learners read information about the format as well as an example. While there is some basic information about how to structure...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Contrast
After reading an example, writers compose a paragraph that focuses on contrasting ideas. The resource starts out with some information about topic ideas and functional ideas, but there could be more explanation. Use this as a warm-up...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Problem to Answer
Paragraphs need structure, and here is one possibility! Ask writers to begin their paragraph with a problem, explore several possibilities in the middle of the paragraph, and end the paragraph with the solution. A sample paragraph is...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Chronological Order
People use time to organize their days and structure their lives. Why not use it to structure a paragraph? Chronological order is logical and fairly straightforward. Ask class members to first read the provided example and then write...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Comparison
Teach class members how to use comparison in their writing to clarify and enrich ideas. Referring back to the brief description and the sample paragraph, writers develop a paragraph that uses comparison effectively. More scaffolding and...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Specific to General
Details, details, details. That's what comes first in this style of paragraph. Writers think of supporting details, list them, and then compose a general statement that encompasses all of the details. A fairly basic resource, use this to...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Climactic or Emphatic Order
Exercise paragraph writing by focusing on the impact of each statement or idea. For this organizational pattern, writers compose their paragraphs by increasing the force of each idea so that the most important idea is the concluding...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Simple to Complex
Looking for an organizational writing pattern to teach your class? Consider showing them how to structure a paragraph using the complexity of ideas as a guide. Provide the example included here to give them an idea of what is expected.
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Illustrating the Idea
How can young writers make their writing engaging? They might paint a picture for the reader through specific examples or illustrations. A sample paragraph is provided here. Class members can use this as a model as they compose a...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development Exercise: Analogy
Apply analogy to paragraph writing. After reviewing what an analogy is and how it can be used, show your class the example. Writers can use the sample as a model as they compose their own paragraph that explains an idea through an analogy.
Appalachian State University
What Are Graphic Novels?
To do this engaging and pleasurable activity, your learners should have already read a graphic novel, and produced a piece of writing that can be reproduced into the format of a graphic novel. This exercise provides a script that...
jc-schools
The Persuasive Writing Graphic Organizer
A variation of a standard graphic organizer for a five-paragraph essay, young writers may find this style of organization helpful while drafting their writing. Some key features of this particular organizer are sections for transition...