Curated OER
Writing About Time: My Favorite Times
Start by clicking on the icon that says, "Download the Activity." The format is much easier to read and understand here! Then, encourage your class to write about some of their favorite things through a three-paragraph essay. Examples...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
Binoculars are used as a metaphor for good descriptive writing. Class members first view a small picture and then an enlarged view of the same image in which the details come into focus. Next, learners examine a paragraph lacking sensory...
Curated OER
Showdown in the New Wild West
What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs. Radical...
Curated OER
Writing Exercise: Ancient Sumer
When summer is over, it's time to get started on Sumer! Get your scholars writing about Ancient Sumer civilizations in this exercise, which features five short-answer prompts. Writers will describe Fertile Crescent Geography, compare and...
Curated OER
Views on Downloading: Developing Persuasive Writing Techniques
Students write persuasively by convincing others of their point of view about music downloading.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Write an Election Day Letter
For some, getting to the polls to vote is no easy task. Voting may mean needing to choose between a job and civic duty. But what if Election Day was a national holiday? After reading an article about the pros and cons of designating...
East Side Union High School District
Biographical Narrative: Journal Prompts
The opportunities are endless with a worksheet containing 24 biographical narrative writing prompts. Although there are no directions or specifications for the writing process, the prompts promote the use of narrative writing techniques...
EngageNY
Author’s Craft: Analyzing Narrative Techniques (Pages 73–113)
Scholars discuss a reading selection in Unbroken by writing to a partner about text selection. After completing the writing, learners revisit the use of active and passive sentences by reviewing a second Active and Passive Sentences...
Curated OER
Beginning With Writing; Convey Ideas in Writing
Walk young writers through the process of creating an initial writing sample for their portfolio. They determine their purpose, organize their ideas, and then create a draft. The lesson includes worksheets and online resources to aid in...
Curated OER
Transition Words in Expository Writing
Create to learn! Your class can create posters of transitional words and phrases to help them compose an explanatory text. They work in groups and focus on one type of transition (time, place, importance, etc.). They also create a poster...
Curated OER
Writing Interesting Sentences
Help your class build their own 20-word sentences with this step-by-step guide designed to enhance sentence depth, interest, and variety in the work of young writers. They complete five basic SVO sentences using a given word bank. Then...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 10: Writing Really Good Dialogue
Boring dialogue can run a great story into the ground; get your novelists using dialogue as a tool to move their story into deeper and more developed territory. As part of a larger writing series, this instructional activity has a...
Curated OER
Persuasive Techniques in Advertising and Make Your Own Advertisement
Are you looking for a collaborative and fun way to teach persuasion? This could be a great resource for you! After reviewing advertising techniques and searching for examples of propaganda, have your class create and present their own...
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...
EngageNY
Storyboard Revision: Managing the Sequence of Events and Using Sensory Details
Mastering techniques from the resource, pupils give life to their writing, revising their storyboards to include sensory details and transitions. To finish, they participate in a peer critique process and use the feedback to further...
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
Curated OER
Facing the Ghosts of Our Past
A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...
Oakland Unified School District
Class Animal Report
Whether preparing your second graders for an expository writing proficiency assessment or just planning on introducing the writing process, this 37-page packet is for you. The unit has everything you need from scripted lessons to...
Curated OER
Determining Author's Point of View: The Sneeches
Determine the author's point of view in a text. Young readers read Dr. Seuss' The Sneeches and identify the author's purpose in the story. They identify persuasive techniques in writing, asking and answering questions to better...
Curated OER
Rave Reviews
A fun lesson that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is a...
Novelinks
Words by Heart: Guided Imagery
Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...
California Department of Education
Telling My Story
Entrance essays are the ultimate sales pitch! Show your seniors how to market themselves in the first of six college and career readiness lesson plans. Pupils discover the do's and don'ts of writing personal statements through research,...
Scholastic
Persuasive Communication (Grades 9–12)
Before your students reached your morning class to learn about persuasive writing, they probably saw dozens of examples of persuasive communication in the form of advertisements. A short, introductory lesson inspires class members to...
Ford's Theatre
How Perspective Shapes Understanding of History
The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...