Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...

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...

High school readers examine George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" for examples of symbolism, metaphor, connotation, and irony. They analyze how these literary tools convey the writer's main point and contribute to the persuasive...

After viewing a Prezi presentation on Toulmin’s argument, (claim, reason, warrant, backing, grounds, qualifiers, rebuttals), groups re-examine the format, and then individuals craft an argument essay in response to Lord Chesterfields...

Research and write a 500-word essay. Pupils research a topic and write an essay based on their research. They use the given directions and examples to help them research, organize, format, and write their essay. There's a short chart...

The Grapes of Wrath. The Jungle. Native Son. The Things They Carried. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. To address a current social, political, economic, or environmental issue, class groups pair the reading of a...

Emerging writers observe and demonstrate the process of writing an essay. As a class, they read and discuss the writing steps, read a sample essay, and write an outline for a three-paragraph essay. Then they write a final version of...

Are your learners working towards their GED? First they study the GED essay rubric, and then they read a sample essay as a group. After studying the basic elements, they write an essay of their own. After peer editing, they revise their...

Students explore the basic steps of writing an informative five paragraph essay. Using a hamburger as an analogy, students discuss the five part method of writing and, given blank hamburger sheets, they fill in the main parts of the...

Upper graders explore equality by writing an essay. They read the story Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco, and discuss the meaning of the story and its relevance to Civil War events. Learners investigate the five writing process steps and...

What is an analytical essay? Introduce this type of thinking to your young writers. First, discuss what it means to analyze something. Then, identify the different components of an essay and what details are embedded in each component....

Young scholars analyze the impact of human activity (e.g., population density, pollution) to a country where the target language is spoken. They prepare a three paragraph essay and describe the impact of pollution on the environment...

Third graders relate the concept of individuality of geometric shapes to the individuality of topic sentences. They write and revise a persuasive argument essay using an established rubric.

A traditional syllabus for a traditional expository writing course that produces the traditional five paragraph essay.

Students explain the steps to making a sandwich to their teacher while he/she completes the steps. After the demonstration, they identify any part of the process that could use clarification. They are introduced to the practice of...

Fifth graders gather facts about the circulatory system and write an essay.  In this circulatory system writing lesson, 5th graders read their science book and take notes.  Students organize their notes and write and outline...

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...

This lesson, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a list of things...

Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...

Celebrate Black History Month with this lesson, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas, text, and graphics...

Junior ecologists examine Arizona's biotic communities and research an animal or plant that is found in this community. In this lesson plan, learnerss write a narrative essay about their assigned animal or plant. They research online and...

How did the women in France feel about their country’s involvement in World War II? Class groups are assigned a country involved in WWII, and individuals within the group adopt the point of view of leaders, laborers, businessmen, women,...

After brainstorming, middle schoolers write an expository essay for a writing project. They focus on supporting points, organization, and writing conventions to develop a well-integrated paper. In addition, they revise, proofread and...

Reinforce persuasive and argumentative writing skills with this lesson, which utilizes SchoolNet News Network's website/SNN Monthly magazine. Young writers review journalism writing styles that help them explain that writing a persuasive...