Answering questions is the best way to hone and revise your argument. Foster receptive writers with a workshop activity that promotes peer editing and argumentative writing skills. Given lists of both friendly and skeptical...

What evidence supports the big bang theory? Individuals analyze scholarly resources about the the theory and develop arguments backed by evidence. They brainstorm, share ideas, watch a video, and read articles to complete a graphic...

Even the most inspiring documents in American history had to go through a few drafts before they were ready for publication. Reinforce the importance of the writing process, as well as the collaborative nature of democracy, with an...

Are your young writers unsure of what to look for when asked to edit a draft of writing? Direct them to this simple and attractive printable, which uses two acronyms—ARMS (add, remove, move, substitute) and CUPS capitalize, usage,...

What to do with all that feedback? Scholars use colored writing instruments to circle any feedback that relates to the first two rows of the grading rubric. After working on revisions for their papers, learners view the performance task...

Take two. After a mini lesson covering sentence structure and transition words, scholars revise their End of Unit 3 Assessment based on feedback. Writers self-score their assessments against row three in the Newspaper Article Rubric.

The art of writing a letter has not been lost to email and texting! Teach kids how to format a friendly letter with a presentation about the parts of a letter, as well as prompting them to write a letter about their favorite holiday.

Use folk tales as inspiration for learning about and using personification in creative writing. Learners brainstorm together in order to practice personification before writing their own poems or paragraphs about a household object.

Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing instructional activity. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound...

Who am I? Pupils work to answer this question through a unit that explores personal narratives and identity. Exit tickets for activities that examine different poems, short stories, and autobiographical writing serve as prewriting for...

Inevitably, whenever you give an assignment, at least one person won't start until the last minute. As the 13th handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series explains, procrastination sometimes brings consequences. It breaks down...

What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...

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...

Follow poetry instruction with a four-category rubric designed to guide budding poets' writing of free verse poetry. 

It's the halfway point! Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment to showcase their knowledge and skills so far. They create a graphic organizer, write an opinion about how their athlete created a legacy, and then record the best reasons...

Eleventh graders, in groups, pre-write, draft, edit and revise a murder mystery short story to hone their skills in short story drafting, editing and revision, group collaboration and computer usage. They also evaluate writing for both...

Students review and revise their writing from a portfolio created during a thematic unit. In this writing instructional activity, students working in pairs examine and revise written pieces using action verbs. They add at least 10 action...

Learners discover methods for writing strong thesis statements. In this writing skills lesson, students follow the steps their instructor outlines to review the strengths and weaknesses of their sociology thesis statements.

Students discuss the characteristics of several different writing genres. They are given a prompt to and work in groups to continue writing in the style of a humorous, fantasy or suspense story. They share their stories with the class.

Young scholars participate in a whole class shared writing activity. They create an original text while examining the thought process of writers.

Pupils use proper writing techniques to write an effective description of the best or worst meal they have ever eaten.  In this proper writing techniques lesson, students review the parts of a composition and discuss was to...

Pupils participate in a collaborative story writing activity. In small groups, students each write three sentences, adding on to the story when it is their turn, then peer-editing the story and presenting it to the class.

Students finalize and polish a research paper.  In this research writing lesson, students revise and double-check the corrected version of their first draft.  Students peer edit and create a final draft.  Students create a...

Students peer edit a letter.  In this editing lesson, students peer edit a letter written to a political figure by another student. Students discuss edits and revisions needed for improvement. This is a continuation lesson that is...