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 charts, writers...

Peer reviews can offer insight and guidance for emerging writers. This peer review worksheet is structured so that the reviewer answers a yes or no question and then elaborates. Reviewers look at the number of paragraphs, the persuasive...

Is your essay coherent? Does it make sense? Is it formatted correctly? Does it adhere to standard English conventions? This helpful and informative slide-show walks learners step by step through the editing and proofreading process. Each...

While reading A River Runs Through It, have your high schoolers work on their final project, a multi-genre research paper. There are 10 clear steps for completion but not much additional help. For early high schoolers (or lower-level...

Using a constructivist approach and a graphic organizer, small groups work together to begin a paper, comparing and contrasting the novella Night and the movie Life is Beautiful. Assuming that your learners have studied both of these...

Who are the great artists of the past? Middle and high schoolers conduct research on an artist, living or deceased, and write a brief essay summarizing their life and work. The reproducibles mentioned in the summary and materials section...

Assess your new learners' writing abilities and knowledge of literary terms with these diagnostic activities. Part of a back-to-school unit, this is meant to provide the teacher with information about the ability levels of their class....

Novice writers often struggle to determine what style of essay to write when given a prompt. This worksheet helps to identify an appropriate form based on the language of the question. For example, key words like prove or justify...

What do you think the American Dream might be? After watching a Barbara Walters interview, class members work together to generate good interview questions. Armed with this list of questions, young journalists interview someone in their...

Who? Pairs are assigned a species owl to research using information gathered from webpages. They collect images and information for a written report and present their findings to the class. Consider posting images around the room and...

Sometimes the conclusion of an essay can be the most important part. Whether your writers are ending with a proposition, lesson learned, or persuasive argument, teach them how to "end with a bang" with this helpful PowerPoint! This...

Are you a first year AP Spanish teacher? Will you be teaching literature this year? Read this article for some professional development; what can you do to ensure your Spanish learners build their skills and master Spanish literature?

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...

How do you determine what you need to say about a subject in an essay? Young writers can oftentimes feel lost at the prospect of writing an essay and not have any idea where to begin. By illustrating the use of a SAP...

Evidence is needed to back up claims in your writing, but are you sure your evidence is sufficient? Encourage developing writers to study their evidence as they write their analytical essays. They consider whether their sources are...

What are the necessary components of a five paragraph essay? How does one interest their reader? These questions are answered with this 12-slide PowerPoint which details components of the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion....

A good thesis is hard to craft. Model for your writers how to develop and refine thesis statements with a series of slides that discuss the purpose and format of this all-important sentence. Viewers following along as the process is...

Using PowerShow.com, this presentation focuses on how to write basic introductions including four main points: create an opening sentence that sizzles, identify a clear, central idea, relate the topic's importance, and write a solid...

Whether introducing the structure of expository essays or reviewing the format with your high schoolers, take the time to check out this resource. Examples of seven common forms of introductory paragraphs and six types of conclusions, as...

Guide your writers in the pre-writing stage of a research project. Print this sheet to help each writer select an appropriate research topic. They practice narrowing and broadening two different options provided. A natural follow-up...

Introducing your class to essay writing? The gentle tone, concise explanations, and clear examples provided by a 17-slide presentation introduces young writers to the expository essay format. All that's missing is a complete essay with...

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...

This worksheet helps novice writers learn to embed analysis in summary information, rather than write a summary followed by commentary. It increases efficiency, sophistication, and is more reader-friendly. To practice, class members...

Give your WWI study collaborative energy using a group research project. Groups are assigned one of the six main themes (included). Each group has an outline to guide research but will need an assignment guide. Consider supplementing the...