In this Writers Who Care blog post, Kim Johnson describes a series of strategies she used with her students to practice writing collaboratively in a way that would support the transfer of these writing strategies to a new writing task (a standardized test). Teachers may find this resource useful as they consider how to develop and implement writing strategies throughout a writing unit or to find examples of how to build writing strategies during collaborative writing experiences.

In this lesson, students will examine a preselected set of newspaper articles drawn from the "Chronicling America" website. They will determine the right each article illustrates and the responsibility that comes with that right.

In this Writers Who Care blog post, Amy Worob shares a set of strategies related to mentor texts that she uses in her writing classroom. This resource will help give teachers examples and ideas about how to use mentor texts to develop writers’ strategies in their classes.

This lesson teaches students the difference between linking and action verbs. It has students work in a group to practice using vivid verbs. Then students revise their own narrative and include more vivid action verbs. This should be given during a narrative writing unit when students have a narrative they are writing.

RI.6.6, W.6.1a, W.6.1b, W.6.1e, W.6.4, SL.6.1d, SL.6.4, SL.6.6Voices of Native American Boarding Schools Audio Museum Performance TaskCreate a museum exhibit made up of audio recordings using narratives bystudents of American Indian boarding schools.Steps1. Select a text (a poem, personal narrative, etc.) written by a survivor of the boarding schools.2. Write a preface for the text that introduces it and provides context.3. Write a reflection that explains why the text is meaningful.4. Record yourself reading your preface, text, and reflection aloud using proper and respectful intonation, volume, and pacing.5. Review and re-record your reading, polishing it to perfection!6. Welcome guests to the audio museum! Listen to the recordings of your classmates, and answer questions about three classmates’ recordings on a note-catcher.8. Engage in a whole class discussion about the connections between the performance task and the module overall.PurposeThrough our work before and during the audio museum, we can help make sure that these powerful stories about American Indian boarding schools are exposed to a wider audience.

Clues to Walt Whitman's effort to create a new and distinctly American form of verse may be found in his Notebooks, now available online from the American Memory Collection.  In an entry to be examined in this lesson, Whitman indicated that he wanted his poetry to explore important ideas of a universal scope (as in the European tradition), but in authentic American situations and settings using specific details with direct appeal to the senses.

In this lesson, students explore the historical context of  Walt Whitman's concept of "democratic poetry" by reading  his poetry and prose and by examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850.  Next, students will compare the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," and have an opportunity to apply similar concepts and techniques in creating a poem from their own experience.

This article describes ways to supplement a science unit on the water cycle with the book Water Dance by Thomas Locker. Ideas for art, writing, poetry, and creative movement are included.

This article describes how to guide elementary students through writing a research report. The first article in this series described how to organize information.

In this Moving Writers blog post, Alison Marchetti shares several examples of reflection strategies she uses with students to help them identify the strategies and choices they use as writers and to consider how to adapt and apply these strategies in future writing situations.

In this Moving Writers blog post, Rebekah O’Dell describes how she conceptualizes all of the parts of a writing unit. This post may be helpful for teachers as they develop their writing unit outlines as they consider the different mini-lessons, activities, and strategies they want to teach throughout the unit.

This lesson plan addresses the ways people learn about events from the past and discusses how historical accounts are influenced by the perspective of the person giving the account. To understand that history is made up of many people's stories of the past, students interview family members about the same event and compare the ifferent versions, construct a personal history timeline and connect it to larger historical events, and synthesize eyewitness testimony from different sources to create their own "official" account.

Students will watch a video of a storyteller coming up with a rap that tells a story. They will identify story elements (who, what, and where), and record significant details. The next lesson plan ,Using Story Elements to Write a Rap, has students creating their own rap with the story elements.

Why Writing Works: Disciplinary Approaches to Composing Texts is an open-access, online textbook resource for college writing. It is written for an audience of second-year college students with a focus on writing in the disciplines.

Written by five college reading and writing instructors, this interactive, multimedia text draws from decades of experience teaching students who are entering the college reading and writing environment for the very first time. It includes examples, exercises, and definitions for just about every reading- and writing-related topic students will encounter in their college courses.

Explore the traditions and conventions of haiku and compare this classic form of Japanese poetry to a related genre of Japanese visual art.

In this blog post, Tricia Ebarvia shares the strategies she developed to set up a writer’s workshop structure in her classroom, including a portfolio she has students submit to document their growth as writers through the process.

For students, personal statements and application essays are among the most difficult and most important documents they will ever write. They are difficult because they require both introspection and polish, and important because the writer may literally be competing for tens of thousands of dollars in a huge field of outstanding candidates. A writing tutor who has provided guidance on more than a thousand graduate applications, Joe Schall advises you on how to be competitive but not cocky, informed but not formulaic, openly creative yet professional. As you consider ways to write your way into your future, count on this website to help you grow and thrive in the process.

Writing poetry is a great exercise for English language learners. It gives them a chance to experiment with language and vocabulary, and to freely share their ideas without the confinement of perfect grammar or firm structures. Here are some suggestions for getting started from Kristina Robertson, as well as different kinds of poems to try!

The road to writing consists of two distinct but related paths. Students who successfully travel these paths often have had teachers and/or parents assisting them to safely navigate their way. Successful navigation frequently results in reinvigorating students' enthusiasm for writing even if they struggle with learning disabilities.