Curated OER
A Day at the Beach: How to Keep Our Planet Clean
Students write a persuasive essay based on cleaning up the coast and other philanthropic values. In this writing instructional activity, students determine what is needed in order to keep the planet clean, and offer solutions to the...
Curated OER
Texas in the Mirror
Students research their own and others' perceptions about Texas and become familiar with various symbols from other cultures. In this Texas in the Mirror lesson plan, students write a web page with a picture of a Texan symbol. Students...
Curated OER
Thomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library
Students examine the need for a national library. In this Library of Congress lesson, students analyze primary sources to investigate the persuasive techniques that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter meant to show his...
Curated OER
Are You For Real?
Young scholars try to find newspaper and magazine articles that are informative or persuasive. They practice determining the differences between the two types of articles. They identify the devices authors use to persuade the audience.
Curated OER
Analytical Essay
What is an analytical essay? Introduce this type of thinking to your young writers. First, discuss what it means to analyze something. Then, identify the different components of an essay and what details are embedded in each component....
Curated OER
Invent a Holiday
Who wouldn't want to create their own holiday? Use the 12 elements of a holiday to have learners of all ages create their own holiday. These days, it seems like we make any excuse for a holiday! Consider having some fun with your kids...
My Access
“Banning Books” Lesson Plan
To Kill a Mockingbird, Hunger Games, Brave New World. Welcome to Banned Books Week. As part of a study of censorship and book banning, class members investigate censorship, the purposes of censorship, and First Amendment rights,...
Jackson Public Schools
Summer Reading Activities
Provide parents with the tools they need to bridge the summer learning gap with this collection of fun activities. Whether it's creating an alphabet poster with illustrations for each letter, playing a game of sight word concentration,...
Gourmet Curriculum Press
Author's Purpose
Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.
Santa Ana Unified School District
The Power of Point of View
Sometimes a whole story can change based on the perspective of the person telling it. Practice identifying and analyzing point of view in various reading passages and writing assignments with a language arts packet, complete with Common...
Curated OER
Opinion Writing: Live at Home or Move Out?
In this opinion writing worksheet, students write a piece expressing their opinion on whether or not they want to live at home or move out after college.
Curated OER
Persuasive Paper: RFID
Students write a persuasive essay. In this persuasive writing lesson, students argue either for or against RFID technology. Students research RFID both as a class and individually, and follow paragraph-by-paragraph instructions to...
Curated OER
Focus on Writing a Persuasive Letter
In this persuasive writing worksheet, students combine sentences to help them write a persuasive letter. Students complete three activities for sentence combining.
Jen London
Julius Caesar Funeral Speech Essay Assignment
"Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause." "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" As part of a study of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, individuals as asked to compare the funeral speeches of Brutus and...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 25
After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence they have recorded on their argument outline tool, writers draft their essay's first body paragraphs, ensuring they have properly cited their source material.
Curated OER
Women’s Suffrage Movement
Though the movement for Women's Suffrage stretched over several decades and across two centuries, the final few years were the most difficult hurdle in many ways. Use a document-based question writing exercise to make inferences about...
Curated OER
Main Idea
What could you pack for a trip if you don't know the destination? After writing a list of items they would want to bring, fourth graders learn that the "trip" is to the South Pole - revealing the need to understand all available...
Curated OER
Using Aphorisms to Help Dealing with People
Here's a formal plan for what many effective teachers already do: Provide a week's worth of aphorisms and have learners choose one to write about in their journals each day. They reflect on the meaning of each aphorism and project how it...
Curated OER
Do Heroes Have to Wear a Cape?
Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...
Curated OER
School Day
Students participate in a lesson that involves writing a persuasive essay. They use the prompt of "extending the school day". The paper should contain correct elements of sentence structure with clear purpose that is supported with...
Curated OER
The Crucible: Act 2, Scene 2
In this persuasive writing worksheet, students determine whether Act II, Scene II of The Crucible should be included in a production of the play.
Curated OER
Letter to a Leprechaun
Students write a persuasive writing paper telling a Leprechaun why they should share their gold with the student. In this persuasive writing lesson plan, students write about what they would do with their pot of gold.
Curated OER
Should Voting in the United States be Mandatory? Research Activity
Eighth graders research how many voters actually vote in the U.S. and nine other nations. They create a spreadsheet using this information and write a persuasive essay.
Curated OER
Is Evolution Just Monkey Business?
Students examine the presentation of the theory of evolution in the science classroom. They define and discuss aspects of evolution, evaluate the presentation of evolutionary theory, and write a persuasive essay.