Sixth graders use short reading passages to identify, explain, and discuss the author's purpose for writing. After a lecture/demo, they utilize a graphic organizer embedded in this plan to organize their writing ideas.

Show a Powerpoint presentation about descriptive writing. Fourth graders brainstorm a list of writing topics and place them in graphic organizers. Then they write their own paragraphs describing topics of their choice and create...

Young scholars identify the title and author of stories. They create a database that supplies both graphic and written information to identify a book.

How is that relevant? Scholars gain an understanding of the words relevant and compelling. They then go back to the End of Unit 1 Assessment Prompt: Adversity in the Middle Ages and look at the second bullet that pertains to relevant and...

It is, and it is not. Scholars examine how these words impact Eleanor Roosevelt's speech, in which she tries to persuade the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Readers note rhetoric and figurative language. They then...

Scholars take a close look at "The Vietnam Wars." They answer questions and discuss in groups to conclude that the author respects the Vietnamese. They participate in a modified jigsaw discussion and end the exercise with a quick writing...

The second module in a series for high school seniors focuses on tracking the central idea of a text across genres and from multiple author and character perspectives. Twelfth graders read a speech by Benazir Bhutto entitled "Ideas Live...

Not all compare and contrast assignments have writers compare and contrast in the same way. Some only ask for comparisons, others only ask for contrasts, and many require more focus than a simple list of similarities and differences....

Listen to the low, stifled sound that arises from the souls of your ninth graders when overcharged with awe. Inspire them with a captivating instructional activity about "The Tell-Tale Heart." Learners analyze how Poe uses the story...

Continuing from the previous lesson plan in the 28-part series, learners write equations to model problem situations. They then solve the problem by applying the properties of equality. In contrast to the previous lesson plan, they do...

It's time to prove it! Scholars now must ensure that all claims are based on evidence. Learners write detailed claims for each inquiry path using several evidence-based claims tools. At the end of the lesson plan, pupils respond to a...

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...

How do film adaptations differ from their literary counterparts? Scholars watch and analyze the 2011 Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Pupils complete a Quick Write analyzing how the RSC production...

What was life like for William Shakespeare's sister, Judith? Scholars continue reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own to find out. They complete a Quick Write to explain how Woolf's comparison of the siblings develops a central...

While preparing for the end-of-unit assessment, scholars look at Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" speech and identify the terms he used in the argument. They also identify the relationship between the claims presented in the speech and...

For every action there is a consequence. Scholars continue their work on creating a cascading consequence chart about DDT using Welcome Back, The Exterminator, Rachel Carson: Sounding the Alarm on Pollution along...

Letters ... a lost art or good resource? Scholars add letter writing to their informational text chart and describe the features of a letter. They then look at page 38 in Promises to Keep and complete a Perspectives Venn...

In this graphic organizer, students write in a KWHL chart. They fill in what they know in the first column, what they want to learn in the second, how they will learn in the third, and what they learned in the fourth.

Students use digital resources to learn about the life of Ann M. Martin, her writing process, and how she develops story ideas. They record notes and observations that might be useful in developing characters and a storyline for a...

Middle schoolers write an essay comparing and contrasting their school experiences. Through guided practice, they create an outline of their elementary school experience and middle school experience. Using their outlines, students...

That's just the style. Learners begin with a mini-lesson about formal writing style. They then use what they learned about formal writing to begin the body paragraphs for their End of Unit 1 Assessment Prompt: Adversity in the Middle...