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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Dust: Narrative Essay

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
To conclude their study of Out of the Dust, the 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, individuals craft a narrative essay based on one of the themes in Karen Hesse's novel.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing to Inform: Analyzing a Model Using a Rubric

For Teachers 6th Standards
Learn to write right. Scholars analyze the model essay Adversity Faced by Townspeople in the Middle Ages. They discuss the essay and make annotations working with an elbow partner. Learners then take another look at the essay using a...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing an Analysis Essay: Introducing the Writing Prompt and the Model Essay

For Teachers 7th Standards
A model analysis essay provides writers with an opportunity to examine a response to the end-of-unit assessment writing prompt. Scholars define key words in the prompt and discuss how the model essay meets the demands in the prompt....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing the Essay

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Shooting An Elephant": George Orwell's Essay on His Life in Burma

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High school readers examine George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" for examples of symbolism, metaphor, connotation, and irony. They analyze how these literary tools convey the writer's main point and contribute to the persuasive...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyze Model Position Paper with Rubric

For Teachers 6th Standards
It's time to choose a position! Scholars read a model position paper about fracking to practice identifying the topic and argument. Then, working with a partner, they use a rubric to assess the essay. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Qualities of a Strong Literary Analysis Essay

For Teachers 6th Standards
Read like a writer. Scholars read a model literary analysis in preparation for a similar writing assignment before annotating each paragraph for the gist. Next, pupils devise a list of qualities of a strong literary analysis essay. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Painted Essay for Opinion Writing: Writing Proof Paragraphs

For Teachers 5th Standards
It's time to proof read! Pupils read and analyze proof paragraphs from a model essay. They then practice writing their own proof paragraphs to express an opinion about offshore oil drilling. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing an Argument Essay: Analyzing the Model

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members analyze the model essay to determine the given claim and the evidence to support it. They use an Analyzing Evidence in the Model Essay sheet to help guide their work. They then begin to analyze the structure of the essay by...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing the Model Essay: Studying Argument

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars begin writing an argument essay based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. They read and analyze a model essay, considering the author's thinking before writing it.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing and Argument Essay: Peer Critique with Rubric (Chapters 29-31, Including Synthesis of Scenes in Previous Chapters)

For Teachers 8th Standards
Hungry? Try a quote sandwich! Writers discover the concept of using a quote sandwich to introduce and analyze a quote in an argumentative essay properly. Additionally, pupils engage in peer critiques, analyzing each other's drafts and...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing an Analysis Essay: Planning the Essay

For Teachers 7th Standards
Writers work on creating a plan for their end-of-unit essay of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass using a Frederick Douglass Essay Planner to help guide their thought process. They then regroup as a class to discuss the use of...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Painted Essay: Developing a Conclusion and Adding Linking Words

For Teachers 5th Standards
In conclusion ... this essay is the best! Scholars continue working on their painted essays by creating the conclusion. They work in groups to analyze the concluding paragraph in the model painted essay, The Electric Motor. After...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Painted Essay: The Introductory Paragraph

For Teachers 5th Standards
Mimic the model for the perfect essay. Scholars work in groups to analyze a model painted essay The Electric Motor. They compare the structure of the model essay to the painted essay template they created in the previous activity. The...
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Analyzing Impact of Word Choice and Figurative Language in "Barbie Doll"

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
After a close reading Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll," class members craft an AP®-style explanatory essay in which they analyze the diction and other figurative literary devices the poet employs to deliver her commentary on modern...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analysis, Reflection, and Introduction to the Painted Essay: The Invention of Television

For Teachers 5th Standards
Paint me a picture. Scholars complete a painted essay after examining the author's note in The Boy Who Invented TV. Learners identify various parts of the essay by using different paint colors and then complete task cards, using evidence...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing the Structure and Content of an Essay to Inform

For Teachers 6th Standards
Outlines are a great asset to essay planning. Scholars read and analyze a model essay about the importance of daily reading and consider how it would look in an outline format. Next, they outline their own informative essays about rules...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading for Gist and Analyzing Point of View: Moon Shadow

For Teachers 6th Standards
Character analysis isn't always earth-shattering. Using a graphic organizer, pupils analyze Moon Shadow's point of view following the earthquake in Laurence Yep's Dragonwings. Also, scholars co-create an anchor chart showing the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment, Part 1: Drafting Body Paragraphs of an Essay to Inform

For Teachers 6th Standards
Anybody can write a body paragraph! Pupils analyze the development of ideas in a body paragraph from a model essay. Next, using what they've learned, they draft the body paragraphs of their My Rule to Live By informative essay. 
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Lesson Plan
1
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EngageNY

End-Of-Unit 2 Assessment: On-Demand Analytical Essay About How Esperanza Changes Over Time

For Teachers 5th Standards
Close the unit on Esperanza Rising with an in-class analytic essay on how Esperanza changes over the course of the novel. Writers can use any of their notes and work from the unit as well as their drafts of the first two paragraphs of...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Painted Essay for Opinion Writing: Developing a Conclusion and Adding Linking Words

For Teachers 5th Standards
Let's get colorful! Scholars use the Painted Essay technique to analyze and color code the conclusion of a model essay. Working in small groups, pupils then write a conclusion paragraph for their draft editorials about offshore drilling. 
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

“Twelve Years a Slave”: Analyzing Slave Narratives

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Readers of Solomon Northup's brutally frank slave narrative Twelve Years a Slave examine passages that support the argument that slavery "undermined and corrupted" the institution of marriage. Background information is provided by a...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing a New Narrative about a Natural Disaster, Part II

For Teachers 5th Standards
See it through my eyes. Scholars complete mid-unit assessment part II by writing an essay describing how the narrator's point of view influences how the story is told in the text In the Middle of the Storm. Pupils also complete a...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Painted Essay for Opinion Writing: The Introductory Paragraph

For Teachers 5th Standards
The answer is blowin' in the wind. Using the resource, scholars read and analyze a model essay about wind power. Next, they work in groups to write an introductory paragraph that expresses an opinion about the topic.