Explains nine methods for developing ideas for writing, including freewriting, brainstorming, clustering/mapping, maintaining a personal journal, responding to a text, maintaining a response journal, responding to a specific assignment,...

Editor Amy Ehrlich compelled ten well-known children's authors to write narratives, and she compiled these memoirs in her book, When I Was Your Age. The collection of narratives varies, but an underlying theme is the way in which...

This resource explains brainstorming and gives a sample idea list generated from brainstorming.

This instructional activity focuses on selecting a writing topic including your approach to the assignment, understanding the assignment, purpose of the assignment, strategies for finding a topic, and how to narrow a topic to fit the...

Contains plans for a poetry lesson that asks learners to write poems after brainstorming metaphors and other ideas as a group. Ideas are groups by different themes, like letters of the alphabet. In addition to objectives and standards,...

Contains plans for four 50-minute lessons that ask students to use their five senses for poetry prewriting. In addition to student objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and sites used in the...

Inspired by the embarrassing situation Byron finds himself in during chapter 1 of Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, learners will think of their own embarrassing moments they might write about. Using the...

In this lesson, students will listen to the book called The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang, but before reading, students will listen for the "different" way to solve the problem on each page. After reading, students will focus on one page...

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson makes readers think seriously about this question: "What if I had to spend an entire day with someone with whom I had a conflict?" This question presents young writers with a great launching pad for developing...

Teaching students to read well in areas other than language arts requires teaching and reinforcing the kinds of reading strategies taught here. There are 27 strategies, ranging from brainstorming to word mapping. The site includes PDF...

This site explores what graphic organizers are and why they are such valuable instructional tools. Five main types of organizers are addressed: webs, charts, trees, chains, and sketches.