Curated OER
Bucket List Poetry
What is on your pupils' "Bucket Lists" - the list of things they want to do before they die? Their choices of activities for this list could be very revealing, and is a great source of inspiration for a personal poem. The lesson prompts...
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Student Opinion: Who Inspires You?
Inspire your class to write about role models and personal heroes with this resource from The Learning Network. Class members read a New York Times article excerpt about basketball star Jeremy Lin and how he inspired the author. After...
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What Is Your Favorite Place?
Good writing can come from personal places. Budding online authors read an excerpt from a narrative-style newspaper article and then respond to several related writing prompts. They compose blog responses that use vivid imagery to...
Curated OER
Student Opinion: What Teacher Do You Appreciate?
This online resource is composed of a writing sample about teacher appreciation and a writing prompt for learners. You could use this as an in-class journal activity or you could have class members post their responses on the New York...
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Student Opinion: When Did You Have a Great Conversation?
Conduct a classroom conversation about communication using this resource as a jumping-off point. For this The Learning Network activity, learners read an excerpt from The New York Times opinion piece, "The Flight From Conversation," and...
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"The Charge of the Light Brigade": Writing Prompt and Pre-writing
Inspire your learners to experience poetry in an entirely different way with this resource. A writing prompt that goes along with "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, learners craft a reflective piece in the voice...
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Using Dreams in Writing
C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength provides the model for using dreams in narrative writing. After a discussion of the purpose of dreams in Lewis’s tale, class members craft a story in which their dreams play an essential role.
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Writing Fiction: Using Older Characters
Out with the old and in with the new? Not so in this lesson plan, which explores the idea of writing older characters in fiction. Students learn the value of varying their characters, exploring different perspectives, and avoiding...
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Photographic Memories
Explore how photographs can represent a whole story to a viewer. Middle schoolers work on narrative writing techniques in this lesson, focusing on photographs from the New York Times to write first-person descriptive narratives....
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Using Artwork to Develop Personal Narratives
Students use a work or art as a springboard to a personal narrative or descriptive writing. They represent an idea in an artistic product which connects to composition.
Nosapo
Family Titles, Pronouns, Writing about a Person
How is your grandmother related to you? How is your cousin related to your grandmother? Learn about family relationships and pronouns with an activity that guides pupils to write two short narratives about members of their families.
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Positive Experiences
Ask your learners to reflect and write with this learning exercise. This activity asks pupils to write about positive experiences - times when they have displayed positive qualities such as courage, kindness, wisdom, and determination....
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"I Never Knew That!"
Incorporating To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, narrative writing, and friendly letters, this lesson is ideal for any number of units in your classroom. First, read chapter 10 of the novel, noting Scout and Jem's reactions to their...
The New York Times
Making Do: Learning and Growing Through Adversity
What is it that makes people keep going when they face challenges in life? Ask your class to consider this question in relation to their own experiences and as they read material from The New York Times. Using personal experiences and...
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Sequencing
Are you looking for a way to teach sequence of events in your narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your middle school class, as it prompts young writers to create a narrative sequence map of events that have happened at school...
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Picture This - Stars Over Hoke
The classroom becomes a safe and inclusive place for your ELLs as they create documents about their lives. Learners create, read, and present story books based on their own personal experiences. They use digital cameras to take...
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Revising Pronouns and Antecedents
Students choose better pronouns to use in their writing. In this pronouns in writing lesson, students identify pronouns in their writing, then replace second person pronouns to improve their writing.
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A Great Beginning
Check out this detailed resource for some beginning of the year activities. After examining examples, class members uses the computer lab to create a personal brochure enhanced with clip art or photos to introduce themselves to the...
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Water: Narrative vs. Expository Texts
A reading of vignettes written by Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Lesotho and Madagascar launches a study of the difference between narrative and expository texts. As final products, young writers craft both a narrative and an...
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Narrative Peer Editing Worksheet
Need a template for a narrative peer editing worksheet? Reviewers use this worksheet to record their responses to a classmate’s story, commenting on the effectiveness of the story’s introduction, conflict, character development, etc.
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"Take my Advice": Poems with a Voice
Discuss the meaning of the phrase tone of voice with the class. They respond to a variety of scenarios where a particular tone would be prevalent. They then read "Mother to Son" without knowing the title and answer some questions about...
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Lesson: A Fitting Situation
In the Enemy's Country is a painting that depicts several Native Americans dressed and ready for war. Youngsters analyze the artistic and storytelling elements the artist used to convey his idea. They then write a creative piece from the...
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CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: EXAMINE EXPRESSIONS THROUGH PORTRAITURE
Students use a work or art as a springboard to a personal narrative or descriptive writing, create a collage to identify tone through art, and use inference to discern what might have caused an individual to feel the emotion that is...
Curated OER
Correlative Conjunctions
Students identify correlative conjunctions in sentences and then rewrite pairs of sentences as a single sentence with correlative conjunctions. They practice diagramming sentences of various sentence patterns and then write a personal...