Ah, the dreaded college application essay. Here's a unique approach to crafting a powerful personal essay. Class members read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit, analyze the...

Students consider the benefits that so-called disruptive technology can have in the classroom, then design class activities that feature such technology prominently. They write essays responding (as students) to their classmates'...

 Students describe the sensory experience of a character's journey in an essay.  In this precise details writing lesson, students explain the effects on the senses of weather, time of day, landscape, and other...

High schoolers investigate the dilemma of a proportional response with a lesson about the history of terrorism and militant extremists in the United States. As they examine memos from the FBI and speeches from President Bush and Obama,...

Poetry or prose? That is the question facing middle schoolers as they begin a month-long poetry unit by examining the characteristics that differentiate poetry and prose writing. Pupils learn about poetic devices and different types of...

Twenty-eight lessons make a unit that focuses on skills practice. Lessons explore r-controlled vowels, past tense verbs, nouns, adjectives, and two-syllable words. Pupils read a story, answer questions, and draft a descriptive essay...

Students use strong verbs in their writing. In this verbs in writing lesson, students locate the verbs in their writing, then identify the verbs that are weak and make revisions.

Twelfth graders examine the five step prewriting process used before writing essays. They select a common topic and determine the purpose,and audience for the essay. They list examples in daily life where planning and organizing are...

Stop the regurgitation of history facts that your writers submit to you as a report by presenting this PowerPoint that reveals how history essays should be done. The presentation covers topics from pre-writing to endnotes, and...

This site provides a guideline for writing a comparative essay for the AP World History Test. It also provides practice exercises and samples.

A great student reference tool and graphic organizer in one worksheet! Young writers can read a detailed description of each section of a standard five-paragraph essay before completing a graphic organized with their own writing. The...

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...

To practice pre-writing techniques your class will re-read the book George vs. George and complete a T-chart along with brainstorming ideas on how to organize their essay.

Sometimes the conclusion of an essay can be the most important part. Whether your writers are ending with a proposition, lesson learned, or persuasive argument, teach them how to "end with a bang" with this helpful PowerPoint! This...

Get those middle schoolers ready for writing excellent reports. This outline provides instructions and organized space to help learners gather information in a thoughtful and useful way. They research the life and works of an artist....

Students evaluate a video about Nellie Bly, a famous reporter from the 19th century. They consider what makes a high-interest news article, write an essay in pairs and present it a literary tea.

After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...

Turn your passive readers into active readers with an engaging activity on reading informational text. Focused on compare and contrast structured essays, the activity prompts elementary learners to jot down questions and think-aloud...

Assessing a variety of skills using numerous item types is a great way to collect data for formative and summative use. Using a challenging exam, scholars prove their comprehension and reading skills through multiple choice, task, and...

Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...

Fifth graders prepare for their end of the unit essay assessment by continuing to look at what makes an earthquake a natural disaster. They complete a graphic organizer and write a topic sentence. To finish, they view a model essay and...

Consider various aspects of world hunger in this writing lesson. After taking a pre-test, middle and high schoolers play a map game, analyze and discuss world statistics, and write a report on an assigned country. The lesson can apply to...

Bring art and society together with this highly creative and interesting lesson. Learners research various uses of masks in ceremonies. They then create a ceremony of their own and a mask to go along with it. They film themselves...

Pupils work in groups or as individuals to read about and then discuss the Federalist Papers. To finish, they write essays about an assigned topic dealing with the Federalist Papers and the federal judiciary.