Wondering how to respond to the age-old question when will I ever use this? The answer is very simple when discussing technical writing. Teachers and administrators gain an understanding of using technical writing in the classroom....

Lights, camera, action! Math educators consider how to improve their instruction by examining a model of the five-practice problem-solving model involving a movie theater. Participants examine cognitive demand in relation to problem...

What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...

You'll C-E-R a difference in classroom achievement after using a helpful lesson. Designed for economics, civics, government, and US history classes, participants practice using the CER model to craft arguments about primary and secondary...

Is a college education necessary for success in today's world? The class investigates the question, along with others at the end of the sixth workshop in a 15-part series. The instructional activity has four parts with multiple...

How have educational standards evolved? Educators of adults examine expectations in the 10th workshop out of 15 to better determine how standards have grown. Participants respond to a variety of sample questions to determine how they...

Are video games sports? Pupils investigate this question as well as various nonfiction selections to learn more about claims and the support that defines them. All of the selections mimic the rigor on state tests and encourage close...

Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Imagine seventh graders developing a school wide plan to promote respect in their school. That's the vision behind the second lesson in the R-E-S-P-E-C-T series. In preparation for designing a school-wide media campaign, class members...

Reading and Writing Project provides a benchmark document for oral reading to help assess students word recognition and comprehension abilities.

In this lesson, writing partners work together to develop a plot and characters. The lesson emphasizes the use of dialogue to develop the characters and plot of the story.

The National Writing Project site offers online articles as well as abstracts and reviews of books on such topics as teaching writing, teaching reading, encouraging writing, being a writer and standards and assessment.

In this lesson, Ralph Fletcher's writing style is introduced to student writers. Learners will write a rough draft about a time they ate, or a time when they saw someone else eat, something unusual. Then students will read and analyze...

In this instructional activity, students will engage in revising their writings to incorporate sensory images. Students will brainstorm topics of places, away from their home, that are special. Then students will choose and then write a...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will develop a brochure for a school during this writing unit. Students will learn functional writing and how to apply the associated conventions.

This resource is an archive of the Minnesota Writing Project Newsletters.

For this lesson plan, students will learn about the season through decriptive words and phrases incorporated in two different books, Have You Seen Trees? by Joanne Oppenheim and The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons. They...

After reading song lyrics to Brad Paisley's "A Letter to Me" and the personal essay "A Letter to My Younger Self" by Brian Elroy, students write a poem, lyric, or letter from George Washing to his younger self. Then students write a...

This site comes from the Scholastic website and provides a teacher's guide to writing poetry. This lesson plan is put together very well and provides an outline of the project, learning objectives, assessment information and much more.

After giving students the writing topic "A Special Day that I Remember, give students ten to fifteen minutes to write on the topic. Then tell them they will be revising their "Special Day" prompt writing, but first they will listen to...

After learners are given time to think about the topic -"Alone Time with an Adult I Care about," they are given ten to fifteen minutes to write between five and ten sentences on the topic. They ten are told they will revise their...

This instructional activity, inspired by the novel Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes is a fabulous classroom mentor text that helps teach a very powerful revision strategy: rewriting an idea in a completely different genre. Grimes' book...

Based on Northern Nevada's 6-traits of writing, this lesson plan focuses on teaching students how to revise a rough draft. Links to the 6-traits are included.