Curated OER
Daily Lesson Plan for the Struggling Writer and Speller
Special educators know that it isn't all about the lesson plan, but rather the strategies and practices you choose to use. Here are a set of research-based practices and tips you can use to inform your choices when teaching learners who...
Curated OER
Poems and Resources for the Struggling Writer
The 11th resource in a 12-part poetry unit is a bonus lesson comprised of poems, activities, and resources that review the essential concepts of the unit.
EngageNY
Applying Research Skills: “Rachel Carson: Environmentalist and Writer”
It's important to cite sources! Scholars take a closer look at their research about DDT by examining how to cite sources. Learners take turns sharing information that would be used to cite sources to complement Rachel Carson:...
Curated OER
Effective Writing Prompts: Getting Beyond the Dark and Stormy Night
Help struggling writers with strategies to reach different learning styles and reduce anxiety.
EngageNY
End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 2: Revising the Informational Essay
Writers look at the End of Unit 2 Assessment: Best First Draft of an Informational Essay handout and use sticky notes to identify things in their work that need editing and revising. They reference their notes to finalize their...
EngageNY
End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 1: Drafting the Essay
Young writers use the class time to complete a draft argumentative essay. In answer to the Pygmalion end-of-unit prompt they discuss the change seen in Eliza's inner identity.
EngageNY
Scaffolding for Essay: Planning Body Paragraphs for Position Paper This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCom
Scholars begin creating a plan for their position papers using a Sustainable Water Management Position Paper Planner. They talk with partners about their claims and counterclaims for the essays. Writers then work independently to plan...
Curated OER
Creating a Writer's Notebook
Writer's notebooks are a way to unleash the "author" in all your students.
Curated OER
Persuade the Aliens!
Why do we do what we do? Imagine that people on a faraway planet came to visit Earth. Could you convince them to adopt a custom or behavior that we participate in here? Learners of all ages write persuasive essays. If you're using this...
University of North Carolina
Writing Anxiety
Oh, the dreaded writer's block! As part of a larger paper-writing series, an invaluable resource discusses obstacles and stresses writers face. Individuals learn to identify feelings associated with anxiety, as well as strategies for...
Curated OER
Writer's Notebook and Haiku
Students, after viewing various examples from students around the world, as well as writing in their Writer's Notebook, create, compose and revise a Haiku poem that sketches a "snapshot" or image in time. They incorporate the theme or...
Annenberg Foundation
Migrant Struggle
The American Dream is a goal that many pursue, but is it truly attainable for all people? An in-depth lesson explores the plight of migrants in twentieth-century America. The resource includes a video and author biographies and...
Trinity University
Explain Yourself: An Expository Writing Unit for High School
Introduce expository writing with a unit that asks writers to craft an essay to explain a belief, value, or priority that is important to them. Mini-lessons within the unit focus on crafting thesis statements and conclusions, selecting...
University of North Carolina
Qualifiers
A lot of writers really struggle very much with adding a lot of qualifiers and intensifiers in their writing. Part of a larger series to improve writing skills, a handout on the topic provides tips to help reduce a reliance on these...
Novelinks
Zach’s Lie: Multi-Genre Writing Assignment
How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...
Curated OER
Summarization Superstars
How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...
EngageNY
End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 1: Best First Draft of an Informational Essay
Writers work to create drafts of their end-of-unit assessments relating to A Mighty Long Way and Little Rock Girl 1957. Using computers to create the first versions of their essays, writers emphasize ideas and evidence before focusing...
EngageNY
Scaffolding for Essay: Planning Body Paragraphs for Survival Factors in A Long Walk to Water
Some things are complicated. Scholars continue to look at the model essay and rubric related to A Long Walk to Water. This time, they focus only on row three of the rubric because it is a more complicated portion. Writers think about the...
EngageNY
Scaffolding to Essay: Using Details to Support a Claim
Show me the evidence. Writers analyze the Command of Evidence row of the rubric for A Long Walk to Water essay. Pupils work in pairs to determine how the writer of a model essay meets the demands of the rubric. They then use a Forming...
Curated OER
How a Writer Conveys Descriptions With a Wallop Lesson 3 for Running (From River Town)
Young scholars examine strategies an author uses to provide qualitative and quantitative aspects of life in China. They apply the strategies to their own writing.
Teachnology
Paragraph Review
Writers are asked to examine four sentences that contain details and craft a topic sentence for a paragraph that encapsulates the main idea.
Crafting Freedom
Thomas Day's Letter to His Daughter, Mary Ann
Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to the Works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment: Writing Best First Draft of “Back Again” Poem
Team up! Scholars begin working with their research teams to review the components of an effective poem. They then move on to independent work by beginning the end-of-unit assessment. Writers complete the draft of their "Back Again"...