I came, I saw, I conquered! Parallel structure, employed by writers even before Julius Caesar, is the focus of a lesson that teaches young writers the power of this rhetorical device. Class members analyze speeches by Dr. Martin Luther...

The engagement is in the details. Young scholars learn the benefit of weaving descriptive and sensory details into the fabric of their writing through the activities in this lesson. As their hands explore items concealed in bags, a...

Words carry baggage. In addition to their literal, denotative meaning, words also carry the weight of the associations and connotations attached to the word—the connotations of words writers use to create the tone of a piece. An...

Young scholars learn how to distinguish between the mood of a piece of writing (how the work makes the reader feel) and the tone (the writer's attitude toward the material) in the sixth lesson in a poetry unit. After watching two very...

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...

Get young writers thinking about how to write a great beginning for their narratives. After examining examples of solid beginnings in literary text, young writers discuss the criteria for a compelling introduction. Then, independently,...

How do writers introduce and develop the central ideas in a text? To answer this question, ninth graders closely examine "The Age of Honey," the opening chapter in Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos' Sugar Changed the World: A Story of...

As writers continue to revise their argument essays, the focus shifts to editing grammatical conventions, parallel structure, and varying syntax to add interest. After examining model sentences that demonstrate sentence variety, writers...

The second instructional activity in a unit about how writers develop their central ideas and use evidence to support their arguments focuses on the role that scholars at Jundi Shapur, "The World's First True University," played in the...

Let's join together and make a sentence. Scholars take the next step in revising their argumentative essays by combining independent clauses to make complex sentences. Writers use a Colon and Semicolon Handout to practice different ways...

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...

Copy that! Writers carefully analyze a model essay to gain a better understanding of their upcoming essays about A Long Walk to Water. They begin by circling unfamiliar words in the model as teachers read it aloud. They then pinpoint...

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...

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...

Stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce provide readers with an opportunity to investigate unreliable narrators. The lesson plan begins with an activity about different types of point of view and continues as scholars apply their...

Just what did Ben Franklin read? By juxtaposing Ben Franklin’s reading material as a young man with an analysis of his developed ideas, learners gain the opportunity to see how the influences of his youthful reading played out. Roman,...

Benjamin Franklin may be known as a Founding Father, but he was also a prolific writer. Scholars examine his better-known pieces to learn about genre, voice, and early American history. The resource includes options for various...

"First Appearance," Mark Twain's tale about overcoming stage fright, serves as a model of a personal narrative and gets young writers thinking about milestones in their own lives. After examining student models and considering the...

Good questions can help focus readers' attention on the elements writers use to add depth to their stories. The questions on this worksheet do just that and encourage readers to think critically about a story and author's purpose.

Vivid writers all start out the same way: learning in elementary school how to use a variety of adjectives! Young grammarians add adjectives to eight fill-in-the-blank sentences.

Would you rather have a big shiny diamond ring or a diamond shiny big ring? Word choice and the order of adjectives can affect what a writer is trying to say. Teach young learners how to clarify their writing with a set of...

Knowing the parts of speech can make you a better writer! Young grammarians use sets of two and three adjectives to write engaging sentences, taking care to use the adjectives in the correct order.

Oh no! Little Woof, the wolf pup, has gone missing in the woods. What happens next? Young writers practice narrative writing with an interesting prompt.

Our sense of smell has a wonderful way of bringing back memories. Unlock those memories with an olfactory-inspired writing prompt that challenges writers to tell a story about a specific smell and the memories it conjures.