High schoolers examine the First Great Awakening and how it affected religious belief in colonial America. They read and analyze primary source documents, explore various websites, and write a five-paragraph essay examining the beliefs...

E. E. Cummings' "Spring is like a perhaps hand" offers young scholars an opportunity to try their hands at analyzing a simile. After a warm-up activity and a close reading of the poem, class members discuss what they think the poem is...

Fourth and fifth graders try their hand at persuasive writing. They listen to well-written persuasive articles so they can get a sense of what good persuasive writing is. Then, they brainstorm topics they'd like to write about and are...

Refuse to alienate your scientific-minded young scholars during your creative writing unit. Learners explore how literary writing can reflect observable fact, and be based in actual science. The links include examples of fiction and...

Young scholars write an expository paragraph about the uses of the Nashua River for the Native Americans and the European Colonists. In this river uses lesson plan, students determine the causes and effects of both parties using the river.

Learners determine the elements of a review.  For this writing lesson, students investigate the parts necessary for a critic to write a review.  Learners write their own review based on a film or production they have recently...

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...

After reading on the topic of their paper, high schoolers work in pairs to assess how to write powerful, precise thesis statements. The introduction contains three statements: a universal statement, a bridge statement, and a thesis...

Include this writing activity in your lesson about essay organization. After anwering five questions regarding their culture, middle schoolers use their responses to form the basis of a five paragraph guide to their culture. Each...

Language arts is made up of many parts. Learners review the parts of a sentence, as well as how to make a simple sentence into a complex sentence, before examining full paragraphs and identifying the topic, body, and concluding sentence...

Prepare class members for the SAT Writing and Language exam with a practice test that prepares students for the types of questions and the kind of language used in the exam. Test takers must select the best way to fix poorly...

What does it mean to come undone? Scholars consider the author's use of the phrase as they read paragraphs 12–15 from Julia Alvarez's autobiographical essay "A Genetics of Justice." They complete a quick write to analyze how Alvarez...

After completing three body paragraphs of an argument essay about life's rules to live by from Bud, Not Buddy Christopher Paul Curtis, it's time to begin writing the introduction and conclusion. Independently, pupils draft the final two...

Rafael Trujillo was president of the Dominican Republic in the 1930s. Pupils read and analyze the first six paragraphs of Julia Alvarez's autobiographical essay "A Genetics of Justice," in which the author describes Trujillo's impact on...

Writers continue looking at the rubric for their A Long Walk to Water essays. This time, they analyze the demands for the introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Pupils compare the rubric to the opening and closing of the model...

Hunkering down in the trenches of World War I, Leland Linman decided to write a journal about his experiences. By reading Linman's entries in the fourth installment of an eight-part lesson series, scholars get a firsthand look at life in...

The opening exercise in this instructional unit introduces class members to the writing process they will follow to craft an informative, expository research paper that addresses their research question. To begin, writers are asked to...

Can you please clarify? Scholars continue to work on their argumentative essays about selling human tissue by clarifying and adding cohesion. Writers begin by looking at model paragraphs and then begin improving their writing. They...

Explore reading comprehension and child safety in this young adult literacy lesson. High schoolers practice using context clues to figure out word meanings after observing a teacher model this process. They read an article about child...

What is a megalomaniac? Scholars discover the word's meaning as they read and analyze paragraphs seven and eight from Julia Alvarez's essay "A Genetics of Justice." They also read Mark Memmott's article "Remembering to Never Forget" and...

How do authors develop the main ideas in their writing? Pupils consider the question as they read and analyze paragraphs 27–31 from Julia Alvarez's essay "A Genetics of Justice," in which Alvarez describes her decision to become a...

A final assessment marks the end of a unit that takes a close look at a variety of informational texts all about frogs. A graphic organizer aides scholars in planning an accordion paragraph using their recorder forms from previous...

How do people's relationships with their parents impact their lives? Scholars read paragraphs 23–26 from "A Genetics of Justice" by Julia Alvarez, in which the author details her relationship with her mother. Pupils discuss how the...

After a peer review of their outlines, class members examine a model of an effective, engaging introduction and then craft the first draft of the introduction to their research paper.