Formative feedback should be kind, specific, and helpful. Pupils engage in a peer editing process, using a rubric to critique a partner's writing. Next, scholars use the feedback to create the final version of their informative consumer...

Get those red pens ready! Using the Peer Critique protocol, scholars provide and receive feedback on their editorial essay drafts. They then use class time to work on revisions. 

The perfect resource for a beginning journalism teacher or someone designing a journalism unit, this activity prompts students to write a newspaper article. It covers all aspects of the writing process, such as a guided warm-up...

Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...

Learning to edit copy using correct grammar and mechanics is an essential skill in school—where scholars are called upon to edit their peers' writing—and in business. Class members practice this skill by first editing a provided article...

Answering questions is the best way to hone and revise your argument. Foster receptive writers with a workshop activity that promotes peer editing and argumentative writing skills. Given lists of both friendly and skeptical...

As the unit on research writing draws to a close, class members continue to revise and edit their papers, this time focusing on grammar, spelling, and punctuation (colon and semicolon).

Sharpen persuasive writing skills while trying to solve a community problem. Learners choose a burning topic and then write letters to persuade others to come around to their views. The provided procedures walk through how to guide the...

How do scholars determine if a scientific claim is true? Learners investigate scientific misinformation by watching video clips and reading false advertising claims. They engage in discussion in both class and small group settings to...

Young orators demonstrate what they have learned about persuasion and persuasive devices throughout the unit by analyzing a persuasive speech and then crafting their persuasive essays. Class members engage in a role-play exercise, use...

Finish your unit on Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation with a two-part written assessment. As ninth graders refer to their notes, annotations, and discussion guides from the first part of the unit, they prepare for a writing prompt...

Young journalists learn how to prepare for an interview, conduct an interview, and craft good interview questions with follow-up questions. After they watch and analyze several interviews, class members select a senior to interview,...

The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...

It's all in the technique. Scholars revisit the model narrative they covered in lesson four to analyze the author's writing techniques. Readers compare techniques they spot in the narrative to those in the essay rubric. They then work to...

Encourage class members to become engaged citizens by researching an issue they are passionate about and then producing a video to present to policymakers, the public, and their peers. Everything needed for the unit is contained in...

What is a megalomaniac? Scholars discover the word's meaning as they read and analyze paragraphs seven and eight from Julia Alvarez's essay "A Genetics of Justice." They also read Mark Memmott's article "Remembering to Never Forget" and...

Entrance essays are the ultimate sales pitch! Show your seniors how to market themselves in the first of six college and career readiness lesson plans. Pupils discover the do's and don'ts of writing personal statements through research,...

What exactly does make life worth living? In preparation for a fishbowl discussion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, readers of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel highlight sections that show a character grieving, coping, or suffering...

What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class...

Ever wonder how to memorialize World War I heroes in the classroom? Activities in a high-quality social studies resource prompt middle schoolers to research Internet sources, complete a graphic organizer, and write an editorial feature...

Should countries use their militaries to stop humanitarian crises in other countries? Learners make claims, organize their reasoning, and provide evidence for their arguments with this rich resource.

Describing a problem efficiently doesn't solve it, but a well-crafted argument can move readers to action. High schoolers focus on structuring problem statements by reading examples of strong essays and working in groups to create...

Sometimes explaining an argument can lead to confusion and miscommunication. Narrow down the details in written arguments with a group activity in which learners pretend to be aliens from another planet, struggling to understand each...

Using research notes on feudal roles in medieval Europe, learners work cooperatively to write a play about one day in the life of a boy or girl in the Middle Ages.