Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 15
To conclude the study of the play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, class members craft an in-class essay comparing Doescher's adaptation to George Lucas's film, Star Wars: A New Hope.
Mission Valley Ambulance
The Crucible
Prepare readers of Arthur Miller's The Crucible for a timed, in-class essay assessment with seven graphic organizers that ask individuals to note conflicts, both internal and external, characters' actions, possible motives, and changes...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 8: Nonfiction Close Reading
As part of their study of Things Fall Apart, class members conduct a close reading of a section of Chinua Achebe's essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Jigsaw groups then compare the voice in the essay...
Curated OER
Reaction Essay
Go through the process of writing with your class. Focus on in-class essays and how to form an outline with clear body paragraphs. A sample topic is given with the outline modeled in detail.
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Reading and Writing to a Prompt (English III Reading and Writing)
Learning to read and write in response to a prompt is an essential skill. Users of this interactive learn how to analyze a writing prompt to determine the many facets that must be addressed, how to plan and structure a response, and how...
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Narrative Essay
To conclude their study of Out of the Dust, the 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, individuals craft a narrative essay based on one of the themes in Karen Hesse's novel.
Curated OER
Oh, I Believe in Yesterday
Who is Aimee Mann? Read the New York Times article "P.S. I Loved You," included here, and have your readers answer a series of reading comprehension questions. Afterward, encourage your class to brainstorm ways in which they were...
Scholastic
Lesson 3: Essay Organizer
A three-minute exercise warms-up scholars' writing abilities in order to follow a writing process that ends in an essay. The essay's topic is a barrier and the values used to break it. Four steps include choosing a topic, jotting-down a...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature: Nature in the Writings of John Muir and Emily Dickinson
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 "The...
Poetry4kids
Twenty Fun Writing Prompts for Kids
Twenty prompts reinforce scholars' writing skills of essays and poems. Prompts cover topics such as superpowers, holidays, the weather, and more!
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Narrative Essay
Finish a unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a narrative essay. Based on Santiago's harrowing adventures, the essay prompts readers to think about a time when they were faced with a challenge, overcame a disability,...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 12
Ninth graders demonstrate their understanding of a central idea in Oedipus the King with a mid-unit writing assessment. Writers formulate a claim about the connection between prophecy and Oedipus's actions and craft an in-class essay...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Writing Prompts for Middle School
Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...
McGraw Hill
Writing Prompts, Student Rubrics, and Sample Responses
Whether you are teaching mainstream, advanced, or intervention language arts classes, you will find something helpful in a thorough writing packet. It includes prompts, rubrics, responses, helpful hints, graphic organizers, and many...
Curated OER
The Use of Language in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
Readers of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are asked to craft an essay in which they compare how Maya Angelou uses figurative language to depict herself and Mrs. Flowers.
Curated OER
Studying The Catcher in the Rye
What's the difference between being a phony and being a conformist? At what point does conforming to alleviate loneliness lead to insincerity? These are the questions at the heart of this unit plan that uses The Catcher in the Rye as an...
Oklahoma State Department of Education
Narrative Prompt
Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...
K12 Reader
Historical Perspective: Two People in History
Open-ended and intriguing, a writing prompt about two people from history is sure to get your young scholars thinking. Have them choose two historical figures, and after brainstorming their similarities and differences, successes and...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Conflict in Alabama in the 1830s: Native Americans, Settlers, and Government
To better understand the Indian Removal Act of 1830, class members examine primary source documents including letters written by Alabama governors and the Cherokee chiefs. The lesson is part of a unit on the expansion of the United...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment, Part 1: Best First Draft of an Informational Essay
This is just the beginning. Learners take the first step toward their end-of-unit assessments of Unbroken. They use their tools and knowledge gained from the unit to create first drafts of their informational essays. Writers then respond...
EngageNY
Informational Essay Planning: Analyzing and Selecting Evidence
Class members look again at the end-of-unit essay prompt for A Mighty Long Way. After reviewing the requirements of the essay, they use their Gathering Evidence note-catchers and color-code the evidence that matches the two questions in...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Analyzing Impact of Word Choice and Figurative Language in "Barbie Doll"
After a close reading Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll," class members craft an AP®-style explanatory essay in which they analyze the diction and other figurative literary devices the poet employs to deliver her commentary on modern...
The New York Times
401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing
Sometimes the hardest thing about an argument essay writing assignment is coming up with a question. A four-page list of prompts includes a range of topics, from social media and smart phones to video games and sports. The list is a...
College Board
2010 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions
Three free-response prompts provide scholars an opportunity to practice for the AP® English Literature Composition exam. Using released prompts from the 2010 free-response section, writers craft an essay about the experiences of a...