Students write a first draft of an essay reflecting their opinions of Things Fall Apart. They complete their circle diagrams, have them approved by the teacher, and write their essays. They write in their dialectical journals as they...

Students brainstorm in preparation for writing an expressive essay. They review their responses to 'Writing from Experience' and write notes and brainstorm other ideas or details for their essays. They take turns illustrating their life...

Readers examine the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio to determine how characters respond differently to situations and events. Readers annotate and analyze the text and carry out group discussion using accountable talk. They work in small...

Crafting a personal statement for college admissions, job applications, or other post-high school programs does not have to be a nightmare. The "Telling My Story" packet describes the key components of successful essays and includes...

The focus of the day's instructional activity is methods for creating a formal style and objective tone in an argument essay. After examining models, pairs engage in peer review of their essay drafts and continue to revise while...

Two activities encourage high schoolers to learn about asthma. In the first lesson, learners watch two videos that feature individuals talking about how they manage their condition. Groups then craft videos about how pupils can support...

Young historians learn how to make generalizations based on primary sources in a lesson that uses the autobiographies of two women born into slavery. The class watches a historical re-enactment of scenes from the lives of Harriet Jacobs...

As part of a study of crafting compelling arguments, class members tackle the problem presented in Lawrence Kohlberg's "The Heinz Dilemma." After discussing the dilemma with classmates, writers draft an essay with a claim, support...

Chapter 12 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X discusses Haley's narrative techniques, mainly how he uses point of view and foreshadowing to build interest and suspense. Class members read and annotate chapter 13 of the text as homework...

In this first activity of the unit, class members continue to work on their draft of a narrative essay response to a prompt found on the college Common Application.

As an end-of-unit assessment, class members complete the final drafts of their Common Application narrative essay and then meet in pairs to discuss the independent reading selection.

After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence they have recorded on their argument outline tool, writers draft their essay's first body paragraphs, ensuring they have properly cited their source material.

Can budding writers accept constructive criticism? Learners work with their peers to gain feedback about their argumentative essay drafts. Peers give one another constructive criticism to revise their work better. Using a Peer Review...

This activity is better utilized as a peer-editing exercise and not as an activity on how to write counterarguments. Writers take their argumentative rough drafts, peer edit in groups of four, and review the author on common essay...

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...

Fifth graders reflect upon different concepts of Language Arts while reading literature. In the novel Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, the characters discover a spring of eternal youth. After reading the first several chapters of...

Young historians examine the lifestyle changes and cultural changes that occurred as a result of the challenges posed by World War II on society in general. With regard to American History and culture, pupils write an essay on the...

Seventh graders examine the internal and external conflicts that Jonas faces in "The Giver" in an essay. Students use SMART Board and Inspiration to organize their ideas graphically before combining them into their paper.

After reading The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a homework assignment your class will complete a literary analysis.  Learners will analyze important element of the story and take notes to help support their...

Young scholars play a matching game to reinforce the retention of vocabulary words. In this geography activity, students watch a PowerPoint to define vocabulary words associated with geography, play a memory game with the words, and...

Follow this outline to write persuasive essays with your 11th grade college prep classes. Using the internet, they research a topic, citing their sources correctly. They work with a partner to peer edit their rough drafts, checking for...

Middle schoolers edit a draft of an essay, correct grammatical mistakes, and edit for unity and coherence. They answer 12 questions in 12 minutes in this SAT practice worksheet.

Pupils read articles and write an essay about three college students who wanted to see what it felt like to get high. Pupils discuss legal and ethical questions of illegal drug use, and stealing medication from someone else. Students...