MENSA Education & Research Foundation
The Writer’s Toolbox: What You Need to Master the Craft
Strengthen your high schoolers' writing with a series of steps for writing successfully. With sections on organizing an essay, choosing a topic, crafting a thesis statement, and revising a draft, the lesson encourages your class to...
Curated OER
Draft Dilemmas
Consider the possibility of a new U.S. draft with this lesson, which encourages class debate and persuasive arguments. Middle and high schoolers discuss how such a draft might be enacted and how they would feel about it. They write...
EngageNY
Revising: Strong Conclusions for My Accessing Books Around the World Informative Paragraph
It's important that writers leave their readers with a strong and satisfying conclusion. Help your young writers develop the skills to compose a concluding sentence with the steps outlined here. After class members have had a chance to...
EngageNY
Writing the Children’s Book: Day One
With a brief mini-lesson, scholars learn about using strong verbs, sensory details, and precise descriptions. Next, pupils continue working on their children's book storyboards before choosing their strongest pages for peer critiques.
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 24
How do central ideas build on each other in Shakespeare's Hamlet? Scholars begin the first part of an end-of-unit assessment. They complete a Central Idea Evidence Collection Tool worksheet to prepare for a writing activity to discuss...
EngageNY
Peer Critique and Revising: Formal English
Dear Sir or Madam: What's the difference between formal and informal language? Scholars focus on using formal English and transitions in their position papers. After revising their rough drafts, they engage in the peer editing process...
Poetry Class
Writing a Monologue
The works of Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet and Britain's 2009 poet laureate, serve as a model for a writing activity that asks class members to select a character card, brainstorm lists of words, phrases, actions, and items associated...
The Kennedy Center
Fairy Tale Variations
Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and...
Curated OER
Let Me Give You a Little Advice
Students use proper writing conventions to write two friendly letters. They use the steps of the writing process to draft, revise, and peer edit. Students publish their letters. They write the first letter to a person who is going to...
Curated OER
Stories of Our Lives!
Students write their own books based on a life experience that they have had. For this life experiences lesson plan, students practice the writing process along with illustrating their book.
Curated OER
Writing From Experience (Grades 7-12)
Students brainstorm in preparation for writing an expressive essay. They review their responses to 'Writing from Experience' and write notes and brainstorm other ideas or details for their essays. They take turns illustrating their life...
Curated OER
Writing First Drafts (Grades 3-6)
Students examine, experience and practice strategies that assist students in writing an expressive essay. They outline and then write a first draft of an essay to be edited and proofed and then corrected. Each student adds a visual prop...
Curated OER
Writing with Writers
Students participate in Writing with Writer's, a step-by-step set of directions aimed at improving different genres of student writing. They identify the characteristics of different genres and follow a specified writing process to...
Code.org
Processing Arrays
Scholars use a playing card activity to help them develop a program to find the minimum value of a list. They learn to use for loops to write code that will process lists.
Curated OER
Making Magical Creatures Talk
Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.
Lafayette Parrish School System
Teaching Tone and Mood
Tone and Mood are not synonymous! Introduce young readers to these literary devices with a series of exercises that not only point out the significant differences between the terms but also shows them how to identify both the tone and...
EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Final Draft of Essay to Inform
Sometimes, it's fun to follow the rules. Using their drafts of an evidence-based essay from previous lessons, scholars write their final informative essays about rules to live by. Next, they choose and share quotes from their essays that...
Scholastic
Sky
Lead your class through a writing exercise that explores personification. After listening to the teacher read a poem that personifies the sky, they go step by step through the writing their own personification poems.
California Department of Education
Writing Right
Prepare high school seniors for the job search process with a lesson plan that teaches them how to craft four different types of business letters: the cover letter, the informational interview request, a reference request, and a thank...
K20 LEARN
What Do You Want To Talk About? Writing Dialogue
Pictures really do talk in a lesson that teaches young writers how to craft dialogues. Class members closely examine Grant Wood's American Gothic, imagine what the couple might think or feel, and put these words to paper, crafting a...
Curated OER
Writing
Fourth graders complete a writing project and tutorial using word processing on a computer. They focus on voice, word choice, details, sentence variety, staying on topic, supporting details and connecting sentences. They edit, save and...
Curated OER
English Lesson Plans for Grade 12
HIgh schoolers respond to a persuasive article on using animal research. In this english lesson, writers listen to a conversation, and discuss the point of arguments. They write a critique on a certain film and share it with their...
Curated OER
Family Life
What is family? Challenge your scholars to write an encompassing definition of what this word means to them. After reading "It May Be a Family Matter, But Just Try to Define Family," class members discuss the emotional issues surrounding...
Curated OER
Writing Folktales
Students consider the structure of folktales. In this writing skills lesson, students list the attributes of folktales that they read in class. Students then complete handouts based on the elements of the tales as well as types of tales...