Structure and Organization Teacher Resources

How do writers use evidence from literary texts to support analysis and reflection? With instructional activity 17 of 20 from the Grade 8 ELA Module 1, Unit 2 series, learners gather resources to prepare for an end-of-unit assessment....

Learn to write right. Scholars analyze the model essay Adversity Faced by Townspeople in the Middle Ages. They discuss the essay and make annotations working with an elbow partner. Learners then take another look at the essay using a...

It's an easy transition. Scholars identify transition words in the Pygmalion model essay and record definitions in the Transitions anchor chart. They then begin to look at the tone of the model essay. Finally, individuals begin writing...

Preparation is the key to success! Using the guiding resource, scholars plan their end-of-unit analytical essays' introductory and concluding paragraphs based on their reading of Inside Out & Back Again. To prepare, they complete a...

In conclusion ... this essay is the best! Scholars continue working on their painted essays by creating the conclusion. They work in groups to analyze the concluding paragraph in the model painted essay, The Electric Motor. After...

Is that your final answer? Scholars discuss the terms, edit, and revise. They then complete their final drafts as the end-of-unit assessment of Unbroken. Writers use their graded draft essays from a previous instructional activity to...

Inspire essay organization with this handout and exercise about outlining. Writers read through a brief outline model and then practice writing their own outline by completing a second model. Scholars not only complete the outline, they...

Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...

Scholars write the draft of their essays about Atticus's decision to defend Tom Robinson in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. They support their claims with reasons, details, and quotes from the novel.

This is a formal affair. Scholars take a look at using formal writing in essays. They analyze the model essay Are We Medieval?: Opportunities in the Middle Ages and Today? They then begin working on the first draft of their own...

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...

Here is a resource intended for a social studies class, but great no matter the subject. It's a complete outline for an essay. It includes space to write ideas related to the thesis, supporting details, transition sentences and words,...

Take your pick of 16 graphic organizers, all designed for persuasive writing. Some provide space to prepare an entire essay or speech, while others provide space for brainstorming and organizing ideas before settling on...

Help your pupils organize their thoughts, gain a greater understanding of a topic by laying it out clearly, or plan for writing with this graphic organizer. Learners can write in three larger topics and then two subtopics for each.

Using the analogy of the human body, writing an essay is described in these slides. An overall look at writing, the analogy is meant to have writers consider how their paper functions as a whole. Details and instructions for writing are...

Organization is key in essay writing. The two organizational charts included in this resource model the block approach and the point-by-point approach to organizing a compare and contrast style essay. After examining the...

Your class just completed a graphic organizer as a prewriting strategy, but how do they take what they've recorded on their sheet and turn it into a five-paragraph essay? Help your novice writers with this 23-slide PowerPoint. An example...

Connect Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate to student experience with this how-to narrative essay. Writers weave the instructions from their own family recipe into a narrative using sensory details. This assignment sheet includes...

Use this brainstorming organizer to help writers organize their song ideas. Starting with the name of the song, they will use bubbles to brainstorm various elements of a song from lyrics to meaning.

Close the unit on Esperanza Rising with an in-class analytic essay on how Esperanza changes over the course of the novel. Writers can use any of their notes and work from the unit as well as their drafts of the first two paragraphs of...

The strength of this essay outline template is its specificity. By the time your young writers fill in the requested information, they are well on their way to compiling their multi-paragraph essay. Learners craft topic sentences,...

Read like a writer. Scholars read a model literary analysis in preparation for a similar writing assignment before annotating each paragraph for the gist. Next, pupils devise a list of qualities of a strong literary analysis essay. 

Class members look again at the end-of-unit essay prompt for A Mighty Long Way. After reviewing the requirements of the essay, they use their Gathering Evidence note-catchers and color-code the evidence that matches the two questions in...

Writers examine the elements of an informational essay, identify them in several essay snapshots, and then craft their own to demonstrate what they have learned.