Other
Dana Gioia: Essays, Articles, and Reviews
Links to essays on poetry, literature, writing and reading by Dana Gioia.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Exploring and Sharing Family Stories
Writing gets personal when students interview family members in order to write a personal narrative about that person.
Other
Drew University: Resources for Writers Comparison Writing
Sections of this site include key features of the comparison essay, comparisons in daily life, formulating a thesis, preparing to write, and organizing a comparison essay. The site also includes a paragraph of caution when writing about...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: It's My Life Multimodal Autobiography Project
Contains plans for nine lessons that ask students to write autobiographies before creating multimedia presentations for them. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing About Life's Lessons
After reading A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park students complete a writing assignments. The writer first completes a graphic organizer about a life-changing experience or an experience from which a lesson has been learned. The retelling...
Other
Hamilton College: Guidelines for Writing an Essay
This resource presents many guidelines here that will be helpful as you write your first draft. Click on the topic you want to know more about and the guidelines will load.
Other
This I Believe: This I Believe Essay Writing Guidelines
Guidelines and tips on writing a good essay following the "This I believe " format.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Teaching the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
In this self-directed study involving research, composition, and presentation, learners analyze Chaucer's characters of The Canterbury Tales as presented in the Prologue. Each student casts a modern personality in the role of one of the...
TES Global
Tes: Holes by Louis Sachar: Writing Tasks
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PowerPoint contains 16 various writing tasks connected to Louis Sachar's young adult novel, the book Holes. Students will write multi-paragraph essays, diary entries, personal letters, and more.
EL Education
El Education: What Matters to Me
An online book entitled What Matters To Me: On the Minds and Through the Eyes of Middle School Students by sixth grade students at Duggan Middle School in Springfield, Massachusetts. The book contains personal essays and self-portraits...
Quia
Quia: Santa Barbara City College: Structure of a Personal Narrative Essay [Pdf]
This site provides two graphic organizers. The first graphic organizer provides all parts of a personal essay, of a college essay. The second graphic organizer serves as a planning tool for a student's personal essay. W.9-10.3,3a...
Other
Guide to Writing a Basic Essay
Step by step guidelines to the process of essay writing. Basic, but helpful.
Capital Community College Foundation
Guide to Grammar and Writing: The Narrative Essay
Need help picking out the elements of a narrative? Check this site out from Capital Community College, and you'll see some background information, a sample essay, and directed questions to ask yourself about a text. W.9-10.3 Narrative,...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Writer's Model: High School Personal Narrative Example
This two-page essay provides an example of a personal narrative (Click on View Printable Version). Clicking on the "Writer's Guide" link in the upper right-hand corner of the page enables the user to get tips, directions, and...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: 2.1: Narrative Essay
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Learn to write a narrative essay by identifying the differences between descriptive and narrative essays, knowing the difference between autobiographical and...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Biographies: Creating Timelines of Life
Online lesson plan which allows students to choose a person of interest and create a timeline of their life. Includes working together, researching potential conflicting information, and developing essays from the original research.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Visiting Relatives Prompt
This review discusses Ralph Fletcher's book entitled Marshfield Dreams and Cynthia Rylant's book called The Relatives Came. The author suggests that these books be used as mentor texts. In the suggested activity, students will engage in...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Contemporary Literature Course Overview
This lesson focuses on providing an overview of contemporary literature and the writing process. It defines contemporary literature and the key terms of the writing process, and provides links to the Contemporary Literature and...
University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow: Critical Reviews
This site is designed to be used by psychology students at the university level, but it provides helpful instruction for anyone writing critical reviews of non-fiction. Instruction includes everything from how to be critical to...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Spirit of Nationalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson
This features a brief biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an optimistic Transcendentalist author who's personal life was filled with tragedy. See "Ralph Waldo Emerson Activities" for related materials.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Why Is Community Service Important? [Pdf]
"Why is Community Service Important?" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage is part of a report that the Obama-Biden campaign prepared about service and volunteering. It is followed by questions which require students to provide...
EL Education
El Education: Iconic: The Black and White of Our Heroes and Heroines
Eleventh grade students at High Tech High Media Arts School in San Diego California are the authors of this book: Iconic: The Black and White of Our Heroes & Heroines. To create this collection of essays each student reflected on...
EL Education
El Education: What Matters to Me
An online book entitled What Matters to Me: In the Hearts and Minds of Elementary School Students by 4th graders at Mary O. Pottenger School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Autobiographical essays and self portraits provide exemplary work...
EL Education
El Education: 20 Years Project Portfolio
This project is a portfolio of an 8th grader who projects herself 20 years into the future including her future occupation and life. To prepare students interview someone who works in a field similar to their projected one. The project...