Students write an essay or letter that gives three or more specific reasons to persuade the audience.

Young scholars read "Chasing Vermeer," and then study the author's writing process. They make connections between the book and the author's real life experiences. They then write an original mystery story, following the writing process.

Pupils write their memoir. In this memoir lesson, students study the differences between an autobiography and a memoir. Pupils construct an outline as the basis for their memoir.

Students explore the American dream. In this contemporary music lesson, students analyze the lyrics of songs by Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and David Massengill. Students create 3-D representations of the American dream and write...

Students research and create an aspect of a war. They practice on writing a bibliography and essays.

Students use a primary source document from the Civil War period of history in order to derive meaning for an essay question. The essay is based completely on the document with no other research to support the content.

Fifth graders use a class garden as inspiration for a specific writing assignment. They conduct research into different types of flowers in photo images taken with a digital camera. Students write a creative essay and draw a picture to...

High schoolers use a five-step process to write a persuasive essay about an issue that is related to the Mississippi River. Students build an argument based on prior knowledge and information from a variety of sources. High schoolers...

High schoolers meet with an older adult to complete a writing assignment. Using a topic suggested by the teacher, they each write a story about their own lives and compare and contrast their perspectives. They share their viewpoints...

Fifth graders use the internet to research a plant or animal they read about in "The Talking Earth". Using notes, they develop a graphic organizer and use the main topics to create a HyperStudio stack. Using all of this information,...

Students write a short story set in a selected period of history. They conduct research on a selected period of history, write and edit a rough draft of their short story, and submit a final draft of their story that includes details...

Students participate in the iEARN Project by completing a questionnaire about values and lessons they have learned. They read sample essays by other students in the project about their views on the laws of life. They then write and post...

Students write with controlled and/or subtle organization. They learn three ways to arrange a formal outline. Students demonstrate this knowledge by creating an outline as class. They cover the concepts of anticipation, investigation,...

Learners discover police procedures by filling out crime reports.  In this government lesson, students discuss the benefits of historical reports pertaining to criminals and victims.  Learners listen to an officer of the law...

Students develop a strategy for combining various ideas into well formed sentences which then combine to produce effective descriptive paragraphs.

Students define questions and issues to be investigated through the photo essay. They practice interviewing skills and write questions defining the topics they want to investigate in their photo essays.

In this literature worksheet, students respond to 25 short answer and essay questions about The Return of the Native. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the novel at the bottom of the page.

Use this lesson to reinforce the importance of a strong thesis statement. After viewing samples, middle schoolers identify the three parts to a thesis. Additionally, they create their own thesis including and labeling the three parts and...

Compare and contrast two topics with your class. They will pick a topic of their choosing, create color-coded Venn diagram to visually organize their information, share diagrams with classmates, and write well-organized essay on...

Scholars analyze the role of women in the military in United States history. Using group research, debate, and diary entries, they explore various military activity in America. To complete the lesson, young historians write an essay...

Laurie Halse Anderson tackles challenging topics for teens. An educator's guide shares activities for many of her novels such as Prom, Shout, and Wintergirls. Questions, perfect to use as either discussion or as essay prompts, accompany...

Deter, detect, defect. Pupils watch a PowerPoint presentation and video about identity theft and credit card safety, taking notes to use later. Next, they develop a plan for maintaining credit safety and write an essay about the...

Students read articles and write an essay about three college students who wanted to see what it felt like to get high. Students discuss legal and ethical questions of illegal drug use, and stealing medication from someone else. Students...

The strength of this peer editing worksheet is that it addresses all the elements that should appear in a well-written essay. In addition, editors are encouraged to avoid one-word responses and instead, to make specific suggestions for...