Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 3: Writing a News Story

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Start a writing lesson by examining a news video that explains writing clearly, concisely, and correctly. Learners consider the importance of writing news properly to avoid breaking the law, then write their own weekend news stories.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Follow the Directions

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students listen to a confusing poem about baseball. In this clear writing lesson, students write a set of directions for a game.  Students rewrite their directions until they are clearly understood.   Students make a game and...
Handout
University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin: Writing Center: Improving Your Writing Style

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
If you are looking for ways to make your writing clearer and more concise, check out this site. Many helpful hints are given here. Information can be downloaded in PDF format. L.11-12.3a Syntax
Handout
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

Purdue University Owl: Improving Sentence Clarity

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A good resource that lists many ways to improve upon the clarity of a sentence. Includes examples and exercises for students.
Handout
University of Missouri

University of Missouri: Clear Writing: Ten Principles of Clear Statement

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This page features a list of ten principles that lead to writing clearly and concisely, such as avoiding unnecessary words, writing like you talk, writing to express and not to impress, and the like. It also discusses "fog indexes" to...
Handout
Other

Canadaone.com: Sailing the Seven Cs of Effective Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Interesting article from Canadaone.com that outlines the author's seven C's of effective writing. Each of the concepts (all beginning with the letter "C") includes an explanation that demonstrates why the concept is important to the...
Handout
University of Illinois

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign: Toefl Practice Site: Coherence and Unity

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site discusses coherence achieved through major and minor connector transitions. Examples are given, and there is a link to an exercise meant for the particular class this site was designed for, still useful practice for anyone....
Activity
Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Doe: Curriculum Hub: Ela Guidebooks: Application Student Selected Task: Revise Your Work

For Students 9th Standards
Revise the organization of your work to make sure the structure is appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience. This will help develop work that is clear and coherent.
Handout
Other

Grammar book.com: Effective Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Brief list from The Blue Book with examples of how to take ineffective writing and transforming it into effective writing.