There are some historical events that may warrant greater reflection and more in-depth analysis, and the decision to intern Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, as well as to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and...

Class members practice their writing skills by completing a prompt about maturity. They develop a constructed response about something they once thought was important, but may not be as important now. 

Writers work on a plan for their argumentative essays using a Pygmalion Essay Planner to help develop a claim and counterclaim for their essays. They determine what information from the Eliza Character Tracker to incorporate and write it...

Silly journal and essay prompts may be fun to write, but they don't model the kind of writing needed for college papers and standardized tests. The 15th part in a series of 24 covers the concept of reading to write—during and after...

Nearly every president has had the opportunity to name a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. But what makes someone an ideal candidate to become a Supreme Court justice? High schoolers test their prior knowledge about the...

Learners discuss the subject and meaning of examples of visual art. They analyze various paintings found on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website, answer discussion questions, complete online interactive activities, and write an essay.

A three-minute exercise warms-up scholars' writing abilities in order to follow a writing process that ends in an essay. The essay's topic is a barrier and the values used to break it. Four steps include choosing a topic,...

How is an essay like a hamburger? Detailing the "meaty" parts of a well-written essay, this presentation takes students through the process of using a strong thesis statement to write a thorough and engaging response to a Document Based...

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...

Moving on up ... Scholars take a look at how the author of the model essay Elements of Mythology and Theme of Cronus moved up in the writing process from a graphic organizer to an essay. After walking through the writing process of the...

Ready to introduce your young writers to the multi-paragraph essay? Here’s an illustrated presentation that models how to use the pre-writing notes on a graphic organizer to craft a personal essay. Color codes help viewers identify the...

Preparation is the key to success. With the help of an informative resource, scholars complete a writing improvement tracker to identify their writing strengths and challenges. They also meet with partners to plan an argumentative essay...

Writing the conclusion of an essay can often seem like a superfluous or daunting task. Support your young writers in understanding the various types and purposes of a conclusion paragraph, such as summarizing key points of a paper or...

Pupils use a helpful resource to begin a Writing Improvement Tracker, developing awareness of their writing strengths and challenges. Additionally, they continue planning their argument essays about Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's...

With the help of a prewriting activity, scholars reserach a topic and compose an expository essay to show what they know about a topic of their choice. 

Scholars use the model essay from the previous instructional activity to create their own argumentative essays. Readers make a claim about Atticus defending Tom in To Kill A Mockingbird. They then use graphic organizers to develop and...

It's time for a quote sandwich! Using the resource, pupils learn about the three parts of an effective quotation: introduction, quote, and analysis. Scholars use the model to peer critique each others' writing to show what they learned.

As scholars prepare to craft their essays based on Katherine Paterson's Lyddie, they learn about using compelling reasons in their writing. Next, they develop a claim about whether Lyddie should sign a petition to speak out against...

After viewing a Prezi presentation on Toulmin’s argument, (claim, reason, warrant, backing, grounds, qualifiers, rebuttals), groups re-examine the format, and then individuals craft an argument essay in response to Lord Chesterfields...

Discuss your class' vision of the future. Learners create materials for use in a time capsule. They write letters to explain their contribution and provide photos.  Afterwards, they use higher-level thinking skills to reflect on why...

Never again will you need to worry about coming up with a writing prompt! This packet contains, as it says, 501 prompts that are suitable for fourth graders on up. The prompts are paired into four categories (persuasive, expository,...

Encourage your class to revise their writing and check over their work by requiring them to complete an organization checklist. The checklist, created specifically for a accordion-style essay, asks writers to look over their formatting,...

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. 

Create a five-paragraph essay easily with the bing, the bang, and the bongo method! Learners write an introduction with the thesis containing three parts. Your three body paragraphs then expand upon each part of the thesis. An example is...