ReadWriteThink
Style-Shifting: Examining and Using Formal and Informal Language Styles
Your high schoolers are probably versed in two languages: formal language, and informal conversation. Help them identify the correct language style for their audience and context with a thorough lesson and examples of different speech...
K20 LEARN
The K20 Chronicle, Lesson 4: Putting It All Together - Layout and Final Product
Senior Spotlight! Read all about them! Young photojournalists put together their articles and photographs, craft a layout, and publish their interviews with a senior from their high school.
Nebraska Department of Education
Leaving A Job
Neither "You're fired!" nor "I quit!" make for leaving a job on good terms. As part of a career development study, job seekers learn to craft both a verbal resignation and a formal resignation letter.
California Department of Education
Hitting the Write Note: Writing a Proposal
To whom it may concern ... Scholars undergo the process of writing a letter to an authority figure. The instructional activity asks writers to compose a formal letter requesting a music therapy space. Pupils learn how to submit a project...
California Department of Education
Writing Right
Prepare high school seniors for the job search process with a lesson that teaches them how to craft four different types of business letters: the cover letter, the informational interview request, a reference request, and a thank you...
Teaching Tolerance
Truth to Power: Writing Letters for Change
Can letter writing really create social change? Pupils create and mail formal letters addressing a specific organization to promote social change they wish to see. Class members reflect on the process and responses they received in small...
New York City Department of Education
Grade 11 Literacy in Social Studies: Research Paper
The lesson guides young academics through the steps in producing a 10-page research paper on any topic in American history. Historians begin by formulating a thesis and gathering resources, then move on to creating an outline, and end...
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: January 2013
It's out of my control! Pupils read passages about characters in situations beyond their control. They answer comprehension questions to demonstrate understanding of their reading and answer short answer questions. Scholars complete the...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Comparing Excerpts from "Atlanta Compromise" and "The Souls of Black Folk"
Scholars analyze two excerpts and compare and contrast the author's points of view. Readers then annotate and determine how word choice supports the points of view. To finish, they participate in accountable talk and transition their...
Newsela
Mexico: Art, Food and Culture
What can we pick up from the culture of others? Scholars learn much about people of Mexico by completing a close reading of articles about the country's culture. After completing the selection, readers carry out tasks, complete quizzes,...
Open Oregon Educational Resources
Oregon Writes Open Writing Text
Are some resource books more confusing than helpful? The creator of Oregon Writes Open Writing Text thinks so. That is why the text remains a living document with input from teachers, librarians, and scholars. The eBook begins with...
British Council
Unit 8: Proofreading
Plagued by punctuation or stymied by spelling? Lesson eight in a nine-part series of career education and skills activities introduces the importance of proofreading. Learners categorize common writing errors and construct error-free...
University of North Carolina
Procrastination
Inevitably, whenever you give an assignment, at least one person won't start until the last minute. As the 13th handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series explains, procrastination sometimes brings consequences. It breaks down...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature: Nature in the Writings of John Muir and Emily Dickinson
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 "The...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Informational Text: The Dred Scott Decision
Looking for a performance assessment that asks individuals to demonstrate their competency in writing about informational text? Use Frederick Douglass' essay "On the Dred Scott Decision," and an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's 1857 speech...
National External Diploma Program Council
Abbreviations
When should you abbreviate a word, and when should you write it out? Practice abbreviation rules with a resource that provides guided examples before challenging young grammarians to correct ten sentences on their own.
Curriculum Corner
Observational Drawing
What shall we write about today? The opportunities are endless with a printable that offers space to write and draw a corresponding picture.
Pearson
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 7 ELA/Literacy)
Give your class a taste of the Common Core with a practice test that includes both literary and informational reading passages. Pupils respond to related multiple choice questions and longer written response questions. See the materials...
Curated OER
Formal versus Informal Language
Engage in an activity that focuses on the concepts of formal and informal language use. Middle and high schoolers compare and contrast each style by using a Venn diagram that includes some examples. They read and hear a passage of lyrics...
Curated OER
Following Instructions
Get scholars thinking about the scientific process with this fun experiment they can do at home. Learners practice reading directions as they underline each instruction in a procedural paragraph. They create a flow chart and record what...
Curated OER
Be Your Own Chief Editor
The value of this punctuation and grammar lesson is in the SMART board presentation, which takes pupils through the proofreading process. It would be a good way to introduce the idea of proofreading in your class before beginning a unit...
Curated OER
Writing Formal Letters
Help your young writers recognize the importance of composing formal letters. Middle schoolers read letters written by Thomas Jefferson and analyze the components that make it a formal letter. They will then compose their own letters.
University of North Carolina
Should I Use “I”?
Despite the formal nature of academic writing, personal pronouns frequently appear in high school and college papers. While your first instinct may be to cross them out, sometimes it's okay to use them, an idea covered in a handout that...
Curated OER
Letter Writing - Formal
Although rarely used these days, letter writing is still a form of writing reviewed in schools. After examining written letters, middle schoolers discuss characteristics of a formal letter and its parts. They choose a famous person to...