What happens next? Use a Valentine's Day writing prompt to encourage kids to create a story that identifies the secret admirer who has left a gift on the doorstep. What is the gift and who is it for? 

Beginning with a quick writing prompt, young historians write about what they will remember most about President Obama's legacy. The activity opens up a larger discussion and exploration of his accomplishments, milestones, and...

What is the biggest issue facing young people today? Class members consider the question—along with other provocative pieces from the New York Times—and then try to write their own arguments and back them up with evidence. Once complete,...

Teenagers get the real information about marijuana use based on the history of tobacco legislation and research. As they read an educational passage about marijuana laws, science, and changing attitudes, they address their preconceptions...

Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom may keep postal workers from delivering the mail, but is their livelihood sustainable? A question about the USPS makes up one of the three items in a series of free-response questions from the...

After discussing the narrative structure, intended audience, and purpose of Chapter 1 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, class members draft their statement of purpose for a Common College Application prompt that distinguishes them from...

Zoot suits, the Lindy hop, and conks. Readers carefully examine the rhetoric of chapter 4 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, analyze the effectiveness of using slang to develop a narrative, and consider how they might incorporate Haley's...

You can't publish a story until after it has been revised and edited! Budding authors investigate the writing process while drafting an original story. They select a topic, complete a rough draft, edit it, revise it, and finally publish...

Explore how the informality of electronic correspondence has affected communications in the workplace. Writers develop pages for a basic writing guide that contains rules and examples to help correct common writing errors. A great way to...

A three-day assessment challenges scholars to read a passage from an informational text then complete two activities that lead to a writing assignment. Day one and two begin as readers independently read a passage and tag the most...

Over three days, scholars listen to and read the poem, "Covers" by Nikki Giovanni. Learners complete a graphic organizer by sketching their visualizations from each stanza then discuss their pictures with a peer. Pupils answer...

Assess scholars' reading and writing capabilities with an exam that challenges learners to respond to an informative text. Through note-taking and peer discussion, pupils analyze a passage from the story, Follow the Water from Brook to...

As an assessment of their skill in crafting a compare and contrast essay, class members read and compare the portrayals of nature in excerpts from naturalist John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra and from poet Emily Dickinson's...

A creative way bring autobiographical writing to your poetry unit or back-to-school curriculum, this lesson plan guides you through a bio poem activity. Kids use the graphic organizer to describe themselves using adjectives, things...

Both the writer and the reviewer contribute to this editing worksheet. Before handing the paper to a partner, the writer lists specific areas of concern for the reader to address. The editor addresses these concerns and offers detailed...

Here's a fresh take on a writing prompt. After a reading of Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Zoo, primary graders imagine a creature for Dr. Seuss's zoo, write a description of their animal, give it a name, explain what it eats, how it...

The final lesson in this narrative writing unit asks class members to craft a multi-paragraph essay reflecting on the structural elements Leslie Marmon Silko employs in her "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit."

In "How We Researched and Wrote this Book," the final essay in Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, authors Aronson and Budhos discuss their research methods and purpose in writing the text....

In this writing learning exercise, students write a scary story after they read the writing prompt. Students have 3 pages that they can write their story on.

In this writer's workshop writing prompt worksheet, students write a response to the a prompt, "Aga Panthis invited Mr. Watson to smell the two roses. He sniffed the first one slowly and said, "

In this writer's workshop writing prompt worksheet, students respond to the prompt, "Edward found a four-leaf clover and said, "I'm going to be very lucky!" And for the rest of the day he..." They see a picture at the top of the page...

Should researchers be able to excavate, examine, and remove Native American artifacts from historic sites? Should companies be permitted to build on sacred Native American land? After watching West of the West's documentary, The Lone...

Learn all about your new students' exciting summer breaks with this simple writing exercise. Young learners complete a series of three sentence frames about their summer vacation and their hopes for the new school year before...

Get historians writing about the American Revolution using this short-answer activity! Three big-picture prompts are intended to guide deeper thinking and prepare students for later discussion and application. They consider the influence...