Are you looking for a way to teach sequence of events in your narrative writing unit? Bring this instructional activity to your middle school class, as it prompts young writers to create a narrative sequence map of events that have...

Mastering techniques from the resource, pupils give life to their writing, revising their storyboards to include sensory details and transitions. To finish, they participate in a peer critique process and use the feedback to further...

Hear ye, hear ye, it's time for a writer's roundtable! Scholars clarify their thinking about their narrative writing project by engaging in a fishbowl discussion about their plans. As members within the inner circle discuss the topic,...

You can cover literary elements, writing organization, and proofreading skills in this SMART board lesson. Using student paragraphs from a previous assignment, the class reviews the best examples of writing. A SMART board activity guides...

Put it in your own words. Scholars work independently on their mid-unit assessments by responding to a writing prompt. They write about Miné Okubo’s life and the moments when Okubo became visible again.

Young scholars write a letter.  In this irrigation instructional activity, students review how humans and the environment can interact with each other, learn new vocabulary words having to do with Mesopotamia, learn about irrigation...

Readers take another look at  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass to determine the purpose of the text. They use Frederick Douglass’s Purpose: Text and Questions handout and a close reading guide to direct their thinking. To...

Read a sample of creative descriptive writing to your science class. Discuss how writing can be used to record and communicate observations that scientists make. Reading selections and thought-provoking questions are suggested. Also...

Create a class anthology with your young writers. In this personal narrative lesson, each writer reflects on actions and events from their own lives and chronicles them in a three-part written sequence. They create a table of contents...

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,...

When would two paws up denote a blockbuster film in your classroom? Only when young writers create movie reviews from a pet's perspective in this imaginative expository writing practice. This engaging topic begins with a class discussion...

Writers have 30 minutes to add the final touches to their end-of-unit assessments for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Those finishing early review their work. After the 30 minutes, learners use the time to review their...

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...

What does is take to be a role model? Through grand conversation, and the use of books and a graphic organizer, scholars find out and apply the requirements to identify a role model within their family. They then journey through the...

Young historians practice in-depth, quality analysis of primary source texts in this three-lesson unit, which examines excerpts from the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Caleb...

Put another set of eyes on your class's historical fiction narratives with one of the final lessons in the unit. Fourth graders use feedback from their peers to annotate their drafts for revision, particularly their bold beginnings and...

Writers learn about using sensory details as they revise bland sentences with more vivid language. Next, they begin writing the first drafts of their children's books, completing storyboards to effectively plan their writing. 

Here is a good interdisciplinary project that combines creative and narrative writing with studies of the Holocaust. Your young historians will compose a diary of experiences from the perspective of an individual living during the time...

Writing is a craft. Scholars take a mid-unit assessment where they answer questions about the author's purpose and craft in Douglass's narrative. After completing the assessment, pupils look continue with their independent reading text.

Give your class a taste of the Common Core with a practice test that includes both literary and informational reading passages. Pupils respond to related multiple choice questions and longer written response questions. See the...

Designed to help writers strengthen their elaboration, revision, and proofreading skills, this 48-page workbook is packed with information about and exercises in personal, narrative, persuasive, and report writing.

How do the narrative and play versions of the myth "Pyramus and Thisbe" affect meaning? Scholars reread Act 5, Scene 1 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and compare its structure to "Pyramus and Thisbe." Next, they use a...

Upper grade and middle school writers study the art of parody. For this language arts lesson, learners study the work of Lewis Carroll, read and discuss parodies from the book, Alice in Wonderland, and construct their own parody based on...

Discuss the meaning of the phrase tone of voice with the class. They respond to a variety of scenarios where a particular tone would be prevalent. They then read "Mother to Son" without knowing the title and answer some questions about...