Learning Express
501 Writing Prompts
Never again will you need to worry about coming up with a writing prompt! This packet contains, as it says, 501 prompts that are suitable for fourth graders on up. The prompts are paired into four categories (persuasive, expository,...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1
Focus on writing argument essays with your high schoolers. The lesson suggested here focuses on The Jungle, by Sinclair Lewis; however, the idea could be adapted for other texts. Check out the quick quiz provided at the end of the...
EngageNY
Claim, Reasons, and Evidence: Planning the Body Paragraphs
Planning is the key to success. Scholars continue planning their essays by adding reasons to their Planning My Argument graphic organizers. Additionally, pupils analyze a body paragraph from a model position paper, identifying the...
EngageNY
Analyze Model Position Paper with Rubric
It's time to choose a position! Scholars read a model position paper about fracking to practice identifying the topic and argument. Then, working with a partner, they use a rubric to assess the essay.
Odell Education
Building Evidence-Based Arguments: "Cuplae poena par esto: Let the punishment fit the crime."
Should a criminal's punishment match the crime? An argumentative writing plan explores this question as class members investigate a variety of mixed-medium sources by experts in the field, form evidence-based claims, and support them...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 5: The Tragic Hero
Should identifying a tragic hero be based on a universal definition or a definition based on the morals and values of a specific culture? As part of a study of Things Fall Apart, class members read Sylvia Plath's "Colossus" and then...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Free Speech
How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Opinion: Is Pride Good or Bad?
Does pride really goeth before the fall, or can it be essential to one's development? Second graders read two of Aesop's fables that refer to pride in their morals, and write a short essay about whether pride is good or bad, based on...
EngageNY
Writing an Argument Essay: Planning the Essay
It's time for a quote sandwich! Using the resource, pupils learn about the three parts of an effective quotation: introduction, quote, and analysis. Scholars use the model to peer critique each others' writing to show what they learned.
Louisiana Department of Education
Out of the Dust
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
ReadWriteThink
Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues
Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...
California Education Partners
Vincent Van Gogh
Living in someone's shadow would be difficult for anyone, including one of the most talented artists of the modern age. Middle schoolers read an excerpt from Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan...
EngageNY
Examples from Life Today
Does that happen in real life? Scholars look at their Themes of Adversity graphic organizers and think of examples in today's world for each type of adversity. They determine if today's world has the same struggles as those in the Middle...
Aspen Institute
The Voice That Challenged a Nation
Included here are step-by-step instructions for conducting a close reading of The Voice That Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman. After an individual and class reading, class members read carefully through the text excerpt,...
University of Delaware
Constructing Text-Based Arguments About Social Issues
Eighth graders take a stand on a variety of controversial topics with a lesson on argumentative writing. As they view an informative presentation and work with collaborative groups, they decide which side of each argument they want to...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Completing My Draft Position Paper
What's the difference? Scholars analyze the similarities and differences between introductory and concluding paragraphs. Then, using a model essay as a guide, they write their draft position papers.
EngageNY
Planning the Argument: Writing the Claim and Reasons
Step up! Using the resource, scholars discover the six steps to writing an effective position paper. Next, they work on a graphic organizer to begin planning their argument-based essays.
Anti-Defamation League
Sexism and the Presidential Election
Young historians investigate how sexism impacted the 2020 United States presidential election. They examine media coverage of the six women candidates, engage in a four-corners debate reacting to statements about gender and the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Big Bang Theory: An Evidence-Based Argument
What evidence supports the big bang theory? Individuals analyze scholarly resources about the the theory and develop arguments backed by evidence. They brainstorm, share ideas, watch a video, and read articles to complete a graphic...
EngageNY
Pitching Your Claim with Best Evidence
Does Bud use his rules to survive or thrive? That is the driving question of a lesson plan following the reading of Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. In an argument essay prewriting activity, pupils use textual evidence to...
EngageNY
Selecting Evidence to Logically Support Claims
It's time to make a rule sandwich! After exploring the writing assignment's rubric and analyzing a model essay, learners are guided through the prewriting phase using the sandwich technique. Pupils create their sandwich addressing the...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Opinion Requiring Voting
Challenge writers to compose an essay detailing their stance on, and the history of, voting. Three assignments, each broken down into three parts, requires fifth graders to take notes, read and complete charts, write paragraphs, compare...
Curated OER
Unit 2: Post-Revolution: The Critical Period 1781-1878
The post-Revolutionary Period of 1781-1787, also known as the Critical Period, is the focus of a series of lessons that prompt class members to examine primary source documents that reveal the instability of the period of the Articles of...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Is Electronic Communication Helpful or Harmful?
Technology has undoubtedly improved the lives of people around the world—but has it improved communication? Seventh graders read two informative passages about the rise of texting and emailing versus in-person conversations before...