Let’s be honest. We don’t know if our students will ever write another essay after they leave high school. But we do know they’ll write emails. 

So why are we skipping functional, real-world writing in our curricula?

In this post, I want to share three functional writing lessons you should consider teaching in your classroom. These tasks are not only skills your students will need, but they’re a sneaky way to get in more academic lessons, too!

If you want to skip the prep, you can grab all of these lessons done for you right here!

What Is Functional Writing?

Functional writing is all about effective communication for a variety of purposes—from jotting down shopping lists to sending an important email.

It’s the kind of life skill that sticks with students long after the school year ends. Whether they’re writing a phone message, crafting technical reports, or leaving notes on to-do lists, functional writing ensures they can share important information clearly and confidently.

Functional writing is real-world writing. It’s everyday writing.

While we absolutely want our English classes to prepare students for learning beyond high school, there’s more to writing than academia.

We also need to prepare our students for work, communicating in relationships, writing for themselves, and more!

Functional Writing Lesson #1: How to Write a Letter

I know, I know. Letter writing seems dead. But it’s not quite!

Letters are a classic type of functional writing. There are still plenty of reasons students may need to write letters in their adult lives. 

Letters are still a great way to connect with loved ones (especially older ones). They’re also a way to communicate more formally than email. Letters are still the standard for post-wedding thank-you notes.

Sometimes students may have to send letters to businesses for a formal request.

Or students may choose to write a letter, such as a letter to a representative expressing opinions on big ideas.

Teaching students to write letters is a great way to develop sentence structure, tone, and audience awareness. I like showing students examples of both formal and informal letters to discuss tone and word choice.

My How to Write a Letter lesson guides students through the parts of a letter and models examples, so they can practice writing for real-world situations. This lesson is adaptable for most grade levels, making it useful for pretty much any secondary ELA class. 

There are plenty of natural ways to squeeze letter writing into your curriculum. Having students write you a letter is a great way to get a writing sample at the beginning of the year.

You could also have students write a gratitude letter around Thanksgiving or a thank-you letter for Teacher Appreciation Week. At the end of the year, you could have students write letters to next year’s students with tips and advice!

Functional Writing Lesson #2: How to Write an Email

Emails may be the most obvious real-world writing for students. You might even need them to write you an email during the school year.

We all know students need to learn how to write a professional email. Whether they’re sending a question to a teacher, requesting a recommendation letter for higher education, or following up on a job application, email skills are non-negotiable.

My How to Write an Email Lesson breaks down tone, structure, and etiquette, so students don’t send a text-style message when they should write more formally. 

This is one of those life skills that will help them beyond the classroom—from the next lesson to the workplace.

Working an email into your classroom is easy! Having students write an email during the first week of school can be a double whammy: you know they can successfully login to their school accounts, and you get a writing sample.

You could also have students practice their email writing by sending you formal requests for deadline extensions or redos.

Functional Writing Lesson #3: How to Write a Review

Here’s a fun real-world writing task that I think you and your students will love: review writing!

Reviews are another functional form students see daily—whether they’re researching the best peanut butter, a new movie, or a local restaurant. Learning how to write a thoughtful review helps students share their opinions and support them with evidence, just like they’ll need to do in essays and technical reports later on.

My How to Write a Review Lesson covers the parts of a review and includes several examples. It also offers tips for students on writing balanced negative reviews–something that can be quite challenging for students.

It’s a great way to bridge creative writing and functional writing while still hitting key English Language Arts standards.

Writing reviews can be a fun enrichment activity at any point during the year.

It’s the perfect lesson for filling up short weeks around holiday breaks. You could also have students write reviews at the end of the year for the best (or worst!) books they read during the school year. 

Build Strong Writers for Real Life

If you want your students to practice functional writing for a variety of purposes, these lessons are short, simple, and teach lifelong skills. They’ll build confidence in real-world writing tasks—beyond creative writing and essays—and set them up for clear, effective communication.

So next time you’re planning your school year and looking for engaging lessons that teach important information, add functional writing to your curriculum. From to-do lists and shopping lists to phone messages and scientific reports, your students will be prepared to write well in every part of life.

Want to see these lessons in action? Check out my How to Write a Letter, How to Write a Review, and How to Write an Email resources in my TPT store—and make functional writing a staple in your classroom!

The post 3 Functional Writing Lessons Your Students Will Love appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

Every time your students browse sneakers online, try to find a new movie to watch on Netflix, or even look at companies to apply to for their first job, they’re probably checking out reviews.

Online reviews have become one of the most powerful tools in today’s digital world—and they’re not just for adults or potential buyers. Teens are using reviews just as much to make everyday choices.

However, our students are poorly equipped to participate in leaving reviews themselves. Review writing is a skill–and it can even be a valuable one.

That’s exactly why teaching review writing in your high school English class is more relevant than ever.

In this post, I’ll cover why you should include review writing in your curriculum, share best practices for teaching it, and provide both a positive review example and negative review example to help students learn how to write impactful reviews—whether it’s a book review, product review, or feedback for local businesses.

If you want to skip ahead and grab a done-for-you review writing lesson, check out my How to Write a Review Lesson.

Why Teach Review Writing?

Teaching students how to write reviews equips them with real-world writing skills they’ll actually use—whether they’re giving positive feedback on a great experience or offering constructive feedback about a negative experience.

Here’s why review writing deserves a spot in your curriculum:

• Authentic audience: Reviews are published for potential customers, not just for a teacher’s red pen.
• Critical thinking: Students must evaluate specific aspects of the product quality, service quality, or overall customer experience.
• Digital literacy: Reviews affect a company’s online reputation, influence search results, and are shared across social media and various platforms.
• Functional writing: From review platforms like Yelp to Google Business Profiles, understanding how to leave a positive Google review or a good customer review is a 21st-century literacy skill.

There are more utilitarian reasons to teach review writing, too. Reviews are way shorter than, say, an essay. So working on them is one way to get more writing practice in for students without tons of prep, stress, or devoting weeks. 

And I love telling students about how writing reviews can eventually earn them money! (Lots of people get paid for the Amazon reviews. Affiliate marketing is essentially just sharing lots of reviews.) Learning a skill that could potentially lead to cash really helps increase student buy-in!

Plus, it’s just fun to have students “review” their favorite (or least favorite) books, video games, mobile apps, restaurants, or school lunch options! 

Review Writing Teaching Tips

Teaching students how to write reviews isn’t just about sharing opinions—it’s about building real-world communication skills that impact businesses, potential buyers, and even search engine rankings. Here’s how to make your review-writing unit both relevant and rigorous:

1. Show Why Review Writing Is a Valuable Skill

From online shopping to choosing a restaurant, potential customers rely on user-generated content to make decisions.

Explain to students how impactful reviews can influence new customers, support local businesses, and reflect customer satisfaction. Writing strong reviews isn’t just a school assignment; it’s a powerful tool for influencing real-world outcomes.

I also like to talk a little bit about current programs (like Amazon’s) that pay users who write especially helpful reviews.

2. Emphasize the Importance of the Reviewer’s Reputation

Today’s students are already leaving online reviews on review platforms, social media, or app stores. Teach them that their voice carries weight.

A well-written review builds credibility over time, especially when attached to a name or profile. Their online presence as a reviewer could influence prospective customers and business owners alike.

We don’t want students to become grouchy internet trolls who delight in leaving one-star ratings everywhere on Yelp! We want them to become responsible, fair review writers.

3. Discuss the Impact of Reviews

Break down how reviews affect search results, a business name’s reputation, and even their customer service team.

Positive customer reviews can generate a positive impact, while poorly written or overly harsh ones can damage customer experience.

Reviewing isn’t just sharing thoughts, and it shouldn’t just be an outlet for anger or frustration. Students need to know that in some cases, people’s livelihoods can be impacted by poor reviews. 

4. Teach Review Structure

Students write more effectively when they know how to organize their thoughts. Introduce a simple structure:

1. Hook (grab attention)
2. Background (what is being reviewed?)
3. Opinion (your overall take, a clear five-star rating or written equivalent)
4. Supporting Reasons (highlight unique features or specific aspects with examples!)
5. Conclusion (final recommendation or takeaway)

Positive review templates can give students a useful starting point, especially for their first attempts.

5. Show a Writing a Good Review Example

Provide good review examples of both positive and negative reviews.

A positive review example might describe great service, friendly staff, and a good experience, while a negative review example could offer valuable insights into what went wrong and how it could be improved.

With every writing a good review example, discuss how tone, wording, and specific details make the difference between helpful and hostile feedback.

Negative reviews are tough for students. It’s easy to bash a business or product. Steer them towards offering constructive feedback and writing fair and balanced reviews.

6. Emphasize Specific Details

The most effective reviews go beyond “It was awesome” or “It sucked.”

Teach students to support their claims with specific examples—mentioning the battery life of a mobile app, the kind words from a customer support rep, or how the product quality matched (or didn’t match) expectations. These specific aspects help potential buyers and show the student’s credibility as a reviewer.

Writing a Good Review Example

Here are four examples (two positive and two negative) of strong reviews you can share with your students.

Positive Review Example #1

Let’s take a look at a strong, student-friendly, positive review example of a great place to eat:

Business Name: The Rolling Dough Pizza

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5-star review)

I had an amazing dinner at The Rolling Dough! The staff was incredibly welcoming, and the food was even better. The margherita pizza had the perfect balance of sauce and cheese, and the crust was crispy without being dry. Our server, Javier, checked in often and made sure we had everything we needed. The vibe was cozy and family-friendly. I’ll definitely be bringing my friends here on our next visit. Highly recommend if you’re looking for excellent service and good value in a local pizzeria.

What makes this a good review example? It includes:

• Specific aspects of the customer experience
• A named team member
• A clear five-star rating
• Positive comments that reflect customer satisfaction

You may want to point out to students that length, structure, tone, and overall format for reviews will vary by platform. A Yelp! review is going to look a little different from a book review on the back of a published hardcover.

Some platforms are more formal than others. Different websites have different requirements for submitting reviews. Unlike essay writing, review writing has a more fluid structure than students are used to. 

Positive Review Example #2

Let’s look at another good customer review—this time for an online shopping experience:

Business Name: Glow & Grace Skincare
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5-star review)

I ordered the Vitamin C serum and the overnight moisturizer from Glow & Grace, and I’m thrilled with the results. The products arrived quickly and were packaged beautifully. I’ve noticed a real improvement in my skin’s brightness, and I love the lightweight texture. The website was easy to navigate, and I appreciated the free trial offer for new customers. Their customer service team even followed up via email to make sure I was satisfied—truly exceptional service! I’ll definitely be ordering again.

What makes this a good review example?

• Highlights specific products and unique features
• Mentions the ease of use of the website
• Includes a positive experience with customer support
• Uses positive comments and shows customer satisfaction

Negative Review Example #1

Now here’s how to write a negative review that still offers constructive feedback:

Business Name: Brew Haven Coffee

Rating: ⭐⭐ (2-star review)

I visited Brew Haven on a busy Saturday morning. While the coffee itself was decent, the ease of use of the mobile ordering app needs improvement—it kept crashing before checkout. I also waited 20 minutes for my latte despite ordering ahead. The staff seemed overwhelmed and didn’t acknowledge the delay. I appreciate the cozy seating and would consider coming back next time if the app and wait time improve.

Even though it’s a negative review, it includes:

• Specific details
• Constructive feedback rather than harsh criticism
• Suggestions to improve the customer support and service quality
• A hint at willingness to return—a fair, balanced tone

Negative Review Example #2

Now here’s a negative review of a mobile app that’s still helpful and respectful:

Business Name: FitFlex Workout App
Rating: ⭐⭐ (2-star review)

I was excited to try FitFlex because of the variety of workouts, but unfortunately, I had a few issues. The app drained my battery quickly and kept freezing during videos. While the idea behind the app is great, it needs some serious updates to improve performance. I did reach out to the customer service team, but I only received a generic response. I hope they take this customer feedback seriously—I’d love to give it another shot once the bugs are fixed.

What makes this a constructive negative review?

• Describes specific aspects like battery life and performance issues
• Shares a negative experience without being overly critical
• Mentions an interaction with customer service
• Ends with a willingness to revisit the product review in the future

How to Teach Effective Review Writing

If you’re ready to teach review writing, the easiest way is to grab my Review Writing Lesson! Inside, you’ll find everything you need to introduce this functional writing skill to your students.

Otherwise, if you’d like to create your own lesson, here’s my suggestion.

Start With Direct Teaching

In my lesson, this means a slideshow going over everything students need to know. 

This could also be a lecture, a video–any format that simply and directly conveys the information to your students.

Provide Student Supports

Your lesson might include a lot of information–more than students can probably take in in one sitting.

So make sure you have some supports built in, too. 

I include guided notes for students in my lesson. You could offer students a handout with all of the major takeaways from your lesson instead. 

I also include a planning sheet for when students actually write a review in my Review Writing Lesson. 

A graphic organizer is another way you could support students when it comes time to actually write a review.

Share Plenty of Examples

I firmly believe that there’s no such thing as “too many examples” for students. Share as many examples of effective reviews as you can. Make sure you have a variety of positive review examples and negative review examples. Point out the strengths of each. 

I include printable examples in my lesson so that students can refer back to them again and again. 

Assign A Review To Write

It doesn’t really matter what students review, so make sure you give them space to choose their topic. But it will probably help to narrow down topics for them.

Will they review a book they read this year? A local restaurant? Their favorite movie?

Pick a topic and let students put everything they know to work!

Make sure you set clear expectations before students start writing. I include a rubric for this assignment in my Review Writing Lesson.

The Best Way to Help Students Succeed

The best way to teach review writing is to make it practical and personal. Let students choose topics they care about—whether it’s the company’s products they use every day or the last book they read in class. 

Whenever possible, provide an authentic audience. Maybe your students write reviews of books in your classroom library for next year’s class. Or maybe you post their reviews in the hallway for all to see. You could even require students to post their reviews publicly online (although you may want to obtain parent permission for this).

You can even create a mock Google Business profile or class review site for students to submit and respond to reviews.

And don’t forget to celebrate their good Google reviews, insightful critiques, and positive experience stories!

Final Thoughts on Writing a Good Review Example

Whether you’re helping students write glowing reviews about excellent customer service or guiding them through expressing negative feedback with grace, teaching review writing plays a crucial role in building communication skills for real life.

Plus, analyzing positive reviews examples gives students the chance to explore positive aspects of a product review while thinking critically about how to offer valuable insights to prospective customers.

Ready to start teaching review writing yourself? Grab my How to Write a Review Lesson and have your students writing as soon as tomorrow!

The post How to Model Writing a Good Review Example in Under 10 Minutes appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

Although the CER process has its roots in the science classroom, English teachers are starting to realize what science teachers have known all along: CER helps students build critical thinking, make evidence-based arguments, and communicate more clearly. 

In short? It’s a great way to boost writing skills and student engagement—especially in middle and high school ELA.

I know that my own students’ writing became more detailed, more specific, and more analytical when I implemented CER! 

So how do you take the CER strategy and make it work in English Language Arts?

Let’s break it down.

​(Need to introduce C-E-R fast? Check out my CER Writing Resource Bundle right here!)

What Is CER?

In short, CER is a writing framework or formula you can use to scaffold analytical writing–just like you would use a 5-paragraph essay framework to scaffold essay writing.

CER stands for Claim, Evidence, Reasoning—a writing structure originally used in general science to help students explain their thinking using the scientific process. It’s a way to build a complete and logical argument:

• Claim – A clear statement or answer to a question
• Evidence – Data, quotes, or observations that support the claim
• Reasoning – An explanation of how the evidence proves the claim, using logic or principles

In a science classroom, students might make a claim about a chemical reaction, cite data from a data table, and explain the scientific principles behind it.

But in English Language Arts (and even social studies), the CER framework is just as powerful. Students can make claims about character motivation, cite lines from a novel, and explain how that quote supports a theme—developing analytical skills that transfer across any subject area.

If you need a better breakdown–with specific examples–be sure to check out my blog post, “Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: What You Need to Know.”

Why Teach CER in Your English Class?

You might be wondering why an approach based on scientific explanations and the scientific process belongs in your high school ELA classroom. But let’s be honest—CER isn’t really about scientific principles. It’s about teaching students how to think.

In ELA, we ask students to wrestle with important questions, analyze primary sources, and interpret the natural world through literature and nonfiction texts. Sound familiar?

Just like scientific argumentation helps explain lab results, the CER method can help students explain what’s going on in a novel, a poem, or even a close reading of an informational text.

The CER framework gives them a scaffolded way to respond to complex texts, whether they’re exploring Native Americans in ancient history, or interpreting a short story through a social studies lens.

CER is the perfect way to lay a foundation for writing–whether you teach middle school students who are just starting to write essays or high school students whose writing skills are lagging.

How to Teach Claim, Evidence, Reasoning in English

Before you can use CER with students, you’ll need to begin with some direct instruction. 

Start by going over the framework as a whole. Students benefit from a visible structure. 

Then, you can dive more deeply into the individual parts–the claim, the evidence, and the reasoning. 

I recommend teaching and practicing each piece separately before challenging students to put them all together. This helps scaffold instruction and build confidence in students. 

As you move through the year, you can integrate the CER process into Socratic seminars, class discussions, or even whiteboard sessions using interactive whiteboards.

I recommend my CER Introduction Slideshow as a way to begin the process of teaching CER. 

This slideshow actually includes 5 mini-lessons:

1. Lesson 1 gives an overview of CER
2. Lesson 2 dives deeper into claims
3. Lesson 3 covers evidence more fully
4. Lesson 4 explains reasoning
5. Lesson 5 reviews the whole structure

Throughout the whole slideshow, students will examine an example. They’ll also see how to cite evidence and get ideas for writing conclusion sentences.

And don’t forget to offer students supports!

My favorite student support is my C-E-R Handout! It’s a two-sided, visual handout that breaks down the CER structure and offers tips for writing. You can get it for FREE below by signing up for my email list.

How to Teach the “Claim”

The claim is the student’s main idea or argument—it should be clear, specific, and answer the prompt directly.

You can help students initially with sentence starters like:

• “The author suggests that…”
• “A theme that emerges is…”
• “The character believes…”

Before moving on to evidence and reasoning, give your students time to practice writing claims. 

You can give them a variety of questions to answer and challenge them to write strong claims that would answer each question.

I recommend using these Claim Task Cards! They include a variety of sentence types and focus on strong vs. weak claims.

How to Teach the “Evidence”

“Evidence” is more than just quoting a random line in a text.

Make sure you cover evidence (specifically “textual evidence” in ELA), as well as how to use quotation marks, citing evidence, and smoothly integrating evidence into an original sentence. (I always tell students to avoid “floating quotes”–quotations with no anchor text or dialogue tag.)

In ELA, evidence can come from:

• Informational texts
• Primary sources
• Novels or short stories
• Dialogue and description
• Even data tables in nonfiction readings

Also, make sure that your evidence lesson teaches how to select relevant evidence that truly supports their claim. These Evidence Task Cards focus on just that!

How to Teach the “Reasoning”

Ah, the reasoning piece—where students fall apart. This is where you’ll likely spend the most time.

Your goal is to teach students why their evidence matters. What’s the deeper connection? How does it support their claim? What scientific thinking (or literary interpretation) are they demonstrating?

I also like to teach (or review) conclusion sentences when I teach reasoning since their reasoning should end with one. 

Surprisingly, my students often struggled with conclusion sentences more than their reasoning. 

Try modeling with examples. Show a claim, give evidence, then invite students to make the connection through reasoning. 

My Reasoning Task Cards offer plenty of examples for students to work through.

Putting CER Together

Once students are familiar with all of the parts, the next natural step is to have them write CER-style responses. 

I like to build short (one-paragraph or so) writing prompts into my novel study units. These offer natural practice for CER and literary analysis skills. 

If your students are working on research, you could pose research questions instead of literary ones. At the beginning of the year, keep the prompts simple. As students grow, let them develop their own questions to explore.

But be sure to offer student supports, especially in the beginning. The CER Handout I mentioned above is one such support you can offer.

You could also use graphic organizers to help students write in the beginning.

Use a graphic organizer to help students connect the claim to their evidence. A graphic organizer can help them cite correctly and avoid cherry-picking.

My Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Graphic Organizer also offers tips and sentence starters in the margins to help students if they get stuck. 

Moving Beyond CER

Once students master the CER framework, don’t stop there. Use it as a springboard for more complex writing and discussion tasks.

A natural next step is the five-paragraph essay. After students master CER, the transition to essays is much easier!

A thesis is like a big, overarching claim. Each body paragraph is essentially one CER paragraph. And those new conclusion sentence skills will be tested when students have to expand those sentences into conclusion paragraphs. 

If you want resources that continue using the CER language while teaching the essay, be sure to check out my Five-Paragraph Essay Writing Resources here.

How To Teach Claim, Evidence, Reasoning in ELA: Final Thoughts

Whether you teach general science, English Language Arts, or something else entirely, the CER method is a great way to boost student engagement, build critical thinking, and prepare students to tackle the real world with clarity and confidence.

Want ready-to-go materials that walk your students through the CER process in the ELA classroom?

Check out my scaffolded CER resources [here] and save yourself hours of prep!

The post How to Teach Claim, Evidence, Reasoning in the English Classroom appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

If you need to teach active and passive voice–and want to skip all of the prep work–you can grab my Active and Passive Voice Writing Skills Lesson right here!

​Before Teaching Active and Passive Voice

​Before you begin teaching active and passive voice, make sure your students are ready to learn it. 

I don’t think it matters if your students are in middle school or high school. Understanding active and passive voice has less to do with age and more to do with students being able to analyze sentence structures.

I like to cover the parts of a sentence and independent and dependent clauses before introducing active and passive voice. (I also like to teach verbals first. That way, students are less likely to confuse the actual verb for a verbal when writing active sentences.)

If students don’t understand these basic terms and parts of sentence structure, they’re not ready for active and passive voice. 

How To Teach Active and Passive Voice

Try to hook your students with an interesting pre-thinking exercise. (I share mine below in the next section.)

Then, I recommend briefly showing the difference between active and passive voice. Use several examples, but don’t go too deep just yet. 

Focus on having students find the “doer” in each sentence. Once they’ve mastered this skill, then see if they can differentiate between active and passive voice. 

This is when active and passive voice worksheets come in. 

Having students do some independent work in between instruction sessions will help them apply what they’re learning. If students only listen to you, nothing will stick. Make sure you’re having students complete practice activities like worksheets or task cards as you go. 

I also like to cover active and passive voice in questions and commands. (These types of sentences can be harder to break down. Offering different sentences with challenging sentence structures can also add more rigor if you want to scaffold up for advanced or older students.) 

Lastly, it’s important to explain to students why they should care. Why does it matter if their writing is in active voice? When should someone use passive voice? 

If you don’t help them connect the dots and understand what a passive voice worksheet has to do with them long term, none of your lesson will stick.

(If you need help laying all of this out, my Active and Passive Voice Writing Skills Lesson includes a slideshow that covers all of this with examples.)

Remember, you can never give students too many examples or model writing for them too much!

Your Active and Passive Voice Lesson Plans

My Active and Passive Voice Writing Skills Lesson includes a step-by-step lesson plan. But generally, I always recommend the same strategy for teaching grammatical concepts:

Go slow. Use short, direct instruction. Have students practice frequently. 

I like to introduce active and passive voice by just having students look at some examples of each. My Lesson has students look at a passage that only contains passive voice sentences and asks them to make observations. 

Maybe students will notice the subject of the sentence is never doing anything. Maybe they won’t. Either way, it gets students talking about the writing, word orders, and sentence structure. 

This is the first of my Active and Passive Voice Worksheets for high school. 

From there, I introduce active and passive voice with direct teaching. I continue to alternate direct instruction with student practice until I know students have achieved mastery. 

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The Active and Passive Voice Worksheets for High School

My Active and Passive Voice Writing Skills Lesson includes eight student worksheets. 

1. Pre-thinking & Finding The Doer: Students complete the pre-thinking activity above and practice finding the doer of the action. 

2. Active vs. Passive Voice: Students determine if a series of sentences are written in active voice or passive voice.

3. Passive Voice Conversion Exercise: Students are given active voice sentences and must rewrite them using passive voice.

4. Active Voice Conversion Exercise: Students are given passive voice sentences and must rewrite them using active voice.

5. Passive Voice Exercises: Students must match several passive voice sentences to the reasons they are written in passive voice. Then, students must write their own passive sentence and give a detailed explanation as to why passive is the right voice choice for that sentence.

6. Active Voice Writing: Students write their own active sentences. Then, a partner rewrites the sentences in their passive forms. 

7. Passive Voice Writing: Students write their own passive sentences. Then, a partner rewrite the sentences in their active forms. 

8. Writing: Students write their own paragraph. They must use a variety of sentences including at least one passive voice sentence.

(These worksheets come in PDF format and editable Google Doc versions. They also include an answer key.)

Assessing Active and Passive Voice

While active and passive voice worksheets are great for regular practice, they might not be what you need for assessment. 

I always recommend assessing informally as you go. This might be as simple as talking with students while they work on their worksheets. Or you might want to distribute exit tickets as you teach (my lesson includes three!). 

You might choose a simple quiz or a large essay. 

Of course, the best way to assess active and passive voice is to have students create their own writing. 

The final worksheet in my Active and Passive Voice Lesson has students do this. 

But you could also just add an active/passive voice requirement to the next essay you have students write. Try adding a section to their final rubric that requires at least 80% of the essay to be written in active voice. Or ask them to highlight the sentences in their essay that are written in passive voice. 

You could even have students identify one another’s active and passive voice sentences during peer-editing. 

Once you teach students how to use active and passive voice, don’t just shelve the idea. Make it part of your regular instruction. Keep reviewing it, bringing it up, and work the concept into ongoing writing and projects. 

Active and Passive Voice Worksheets for High School: Conclusion

Whether you’re teaching 6th grade English language arts or 12th grade composition, active and passive voice are must-have techniques for your students to have in their toolbox. If we are to teach students how to become real-world writers, mastering active and passive voice are essential skills. 

If you want to make teaching active and passive voice as easy as possible, grab my Active and Passive Voice Writing Skills Lesson here!

The post Easy Active and Passive Voice Worksheets for High School appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

With a World Genocide Research Project, students will choose a historical genocide to research. Most students are familiar with the Holocaust, but this project shows students that, sadly, genocide wasn’t a one-time thing. It will open their eyes to atrocities around the world and throughout history.

It will also show students that human rights aren’t just given. People have fought for them throughout world history and the world today.

In this post, I’ll walk you through conducting your own World Genocide Research Project. But, if you’d like to make things really easy, you can grab my done-for-you World Genocide Research Project right here. Included are detailed instructions, student worksheets, a project template, and more!

You can also find more World Literature activities in this post!

Why Teach About Genocide in English Class?

At first glance, one might question the relevance of studying genocide within the context of an English Language Arts class. 

However, literature serves as a powerful lens through which we can examine and comprehend complex human experiences. Genocide, with its profound impact on individuals and societies, has been a recurring theme in literature across cultures and epochs.

Chances are, you have a World War II or Holocaust unit somewhere in your English curriculum. (You might even have Holocaust education as a state requirement for your curriculum–check!)

The World Genocide Research Project fits in perfectly with any Holocaust unit. (And if you don’t, you can make the World Genocide Research Project work with any World Literature course.)

With the World Genocide Research Project, you will:

1. Promote Empathy: Literature has the unparalleled ability to humanize the victims of genocide, allowing students to empathize with their experiences and understand the far-reaching consequences of such atrocities.
2. Encourage Critical Thinking: Analyzing literary works that tackle genocide requires students to grapple with moral dilemmas, historical context, and the complexities of human nature, fostering critical thinking skills essential for informed citizenship.
3. Facilitate Cross-Curricular Learning: The study of genocide naturally intersects with various disciplines, including global history, social studies, political science, and ethics. Integrating these perspectives within English class promotes interdisciplinary learning and a holistic understanding of complex issues.

It’s helpful before starting this project to provide some background information.

If you want to explore the topic of genocide more broadly with your students before this project, check out this Stages of Genocide Graphic Organizer Worksheet. I like to use Holocaust history as an example of genocide since most students will already know about it.

The best genocide prevention is learning about past genocides. If the next generation knows what to watch for, they can help in the prevention of genocide.

What Skills Will Students Practice?

The World Genocide Research Project is also a very practical assessment. Students will practice a ton of skills that they might not otherwise use if they’re writing traditional analytical essays. 

Students will: 

1. Practice Research Skills: Students must read informational texts, take notes, and discern important from unnecessary information. These skills are not easy for students to master in the world of TikTok! (This Research Lesson gives students an overview of the research process.)
2. Synthesize Information: Taking notes is one thing, but organizing and distilling them is another. Students must use their research to create a presentation that teaches their peers about their chosen genocide. 
3. Gather and Cite Sources: Keeping track and citing sources in a presentation is even harder than doing it in an essay because presentations are less formulaic. This project will truly show if students “get” citing sources.
4. Use Technology and Multimedia: Sure, students can consume media, but can they use it to inform others? Creating a presentation allows students to play with using images and videos to enhance a message. 
5. Practice Speaking and Listening Skills: Students’ speaking skills will be challenged during their presentations, and their ability to sit still and listen to others will be graded while they watch their peers’ presentations. 

World Genocide Project Step #1: Establish Clear Learning Objectives

Begin by defining the learning objectives of the project. 

What do you want your students to understand, empathize with, and critically analyze? What do you expect their final presentations to include, look like, or cover?

In my World Genocide Project, I laid out a list of requirements for students: 

• Deep and thorough research on the chosen genocide
• Answer at least five basic questions: when and where did the genocide occur, what were the major causes and events of the chosen genocide, who were the perpetrators, who were the victims, and what were the long-term consequences/ramifications of this genocide?
• Clear and effective presentation
• At least 5 credible sources (preferably with some eyewitness accounts or primary sources)
• Each fact, image, video, etc. is correctly cited throughout the presentation
• A final Works Cited slide
• Engagement with questions and feedback during one’s own presentation and the presentations of others
• Overall presentation quality, including organization, visuals, and communication skills.

Skillswise, I really wanted students to focus on research, evaluating and citing sources, and creating an effective presentation. 

Decide what skills and objectives are important to you and your syllabus. Then, craft the assignment, requirements, and rubric to align with those skills. (The presentation can be anything–a PowerPoint presentation, a speech, a poster, etc.)

(If you use my World Genocide Project, all of the documents include an editable version. This way, you can tweak my requirements and make them yours instead.)

World Genocide Project Step #2: Break Down The Project Into Steps for Your Students

You know that if you were going to do a project like this, you would need to select a topic, do research, and put a presentation together. You’d probably track your sources automatically and make sure you choose images that enhance your presentation without being distracting. 

Unfortunately, this logical flow won’t come naturally to your students. Instead, break it down for them. 

Give students time specifically to look into different genocides and choose one to focus on. I recommend giving them a list of specific genocides and well-known genocides. (Offer suggestions like the Armenian genocide or Rwanda genocide.)

You could let them peruse sources like the digital archive of Cambodian Holocaust survivors, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, or even the United Nations genocide watch website to start their research.

Then, make sure students have time and scaffolds for research. If your students have done research projects before, great! But if not, you may need to teach them how to research, how to take notes, how to cite sources, etc. This Research Lesson can help you do all of that!

When students are ready to create a presentation, some will be more familiar with slideshow creation than others. 

Some students will be able to hit the ground running and create flawless slides in Canva, Google Slides, or PowerPoint. Others will spend half an hour struggling to figure out how to insert a textbox.

Don’t take for granted that any part of this project will be “easy.” Instead, give each step lots of time, build in scaffolds, and provide lots of modeling and review for each necessary skill.

If possible, I recommend bringing in some support staff to help. Having a tech teacher or librarian review some skills can save you some prep time and energy!

World Genocide Project Step #3: Provide Scaffolds and Supports

Piggybacking off of the previous step, make sure you provide lots of scaffolding and support for your students as they work. 

Graphic organizers and student handouts for note-taking are an easy way to do this. 

In my World Genocide Project, I provide Note-taking Worksheets that guide students through citing sources if students are taking notes with pencil and paper. For students taking notes digitally, I provide directions for using the citations tool in Google Docs.

Consider providing checkpoints or checklists periodically. Did students consider the final requirements when they chose their topic? Did they make sure to have enough sources and information before declaring their research “done?”

You can also provide online tools to help students. I already mentioned the citations tool in Google Docs, but citationmachine.net and EasyBib.com are other citation classics. You can use the talk-to-text tool for students taking notes who struggle to type. Mute students or those with extreme stage fright can choose to record their presentations instead. 

Be sure to give them time for independent work in class. If you’re having students complete their projects in a small group, you might want to have students determine roles as well. Having them form groups of 2-4 students could also help your more shy presenters.

Remember that student choice is also a scaffold. Some students might not have any interest in learning about the grisly history of the Ottoman Empire, the Khmer Rouge Regime, or Sri Lanka. However, if you offer up the American genocides of Black people or Native Americans, they might be interested.

Some students will soar through this project and need little guidance. Others will need lots of review and reassurance. Be prepared for both situations. 

World Genocide Project Step #4: Grade Everything

Ok, I know this annoying. The last thing we need is more paperwork, right?

But I really recommend grading every step. 

Students chose a topic? 5 points. 

Research is complete? 10 points. 

Slideshow is done and waiting to be presented? 20 points. 

Completion points here are totally fine! The goal isn’t to provide tons of feedback or inflate students’ grades. The goal is to make sure they stay on track.

If there’s a big “MISSING” next to topic selections in the gradebook, you’ll easily be able to see who’s already behind. Better yet, the students and their parents can see who is already slipping on this project. 

My gradebook was always set up to weigh summative assessments much more heavily than formative assessments. The completion points would help–until the actual, big, summative assessment went in. Then, they would essentially disappear under the weight of the final project. 

It worked perfectly to keep a few more students on track, remind myself who was behind, and help show parents why their student did so poorly on a project. Grading everything–while annoying–is more likely to result in a completed project.

World Genocide Project Step #5: Set Students Up for Success

Presentation day is going to be full of nerves and anxiety. Don’t be surprised if some students simply skip that day. Kids will absolutely hate this part. 

So don’t make it any harder than it has to be. 

Remind students constantly that they will need to present. Give every student a date that they know they will be presenting. This will help eliminate some of the anxiety of the unknown. 

If possible with your time constraints, give students time to practice with a peer. 

And don’t be afraid to scaffold and differentiate this step for individual students. If all of your students are terrified, maybe have students present in small groups instead of the whole class. Let scared students present in front of a few trusted staff members instead of all of their peers. 

The goal of presenting isn’t for students to deliver president-level speeches in the first go. Instead, it’s to provide them some real experience public speaking before they have to do it in the real world. 

We want to build students’ confidence–not shake it. 

So be prepared to meet students where they are. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, implementing a World Genocide Project with students requires careful planning, sensitivity, and a commitment to fostering empathy, critical thinking, and ethical reflection. 

By providing students with the opportunity to engage deeply with this challenging subject matter, we empower them to become informed global citizens who are equipped to confront injustice and advocate for a more compassionate and inclusive world.

We also check off a lot of skills and learning targets on our curriculum. 

Make your life easier by grabbing my World Genocide Project. Everything is editable, so you can customize this project to better suit your class. Plus, the included teacher’s guide offers scaffolding tips and additional resources to make this project a success for you and all of your students. 

The post How to Implement a World Genocide Research Project in Your Class appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

Tips for Teaching How to Write a Thesis Statement #1: Teach Directly

You need a whole lesson around the thesis statement. 

It can be ten minutes or a whole class period with note-taking and an activity. 

But you have to spend some time directly teaching the thesis statement. You can’t expect students–even seniors in high school–to know what a thesis statement is, its purpose, or where it’s supposed to go. 

If you’re teaching an essay writing unit, go ahead and explain the whole essay structure. But make sure you plan some time to specifically touch on the thesis statement and its role. 

Don’t have a thesis-specific lesson? Check out my five-paragraph essay mini-lessons here, which include some thesis-specific slides. 

Tips for Teaching How to Write a Thesis Statement #2: Explain The Role of a Thesis

I think it’s easy for students to grasp the concept of a thesis. It states what the essay is going to be about. They can get that.

But I think it’s much harder for students to understand how the thesis also guides and outlines the rest of the essay. 

By the time they’re writing the conclusion statements for their body paragraphs, they’ve forgotten their own thesis and rarely reference it. Instead of letting their thesis dictate the topic of their body paragraphs, they get stuck trying to come up with something new.

Don’t just tell students what a thesis is. Spend some time showing them how the thesis continues to be referenced in every following paragraph. Show them how the ideas presented in their thesis statement will guide the following paragraphs. 

Not sure how? This Unscramble the 5-Paragraph Essay Activity is a great start. Students will have to put the sentences in an essay in order, which can lead to some great discussions about how a strong thesis statement adds clarity to the rest of the essay’s structure.

Tips for Teaching How to Write a Thesis Statement #3: Give Students A Framework 

If your students are struggling with writing strong thesis statements, give them a framework. 

I know as teachers, it can get really boring to read “W is true because X, Y, Z.” But the structure does work, and it’s a great place for struggling writers to start. 

If you’ve used other writing frameworks in class (such as claim, evidence, and reasoning or C-E-R), your students will be familiar with having a structure for their writing. They’ll be familiar with the concept already and a lot more confident producing their own thesis statements. 

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Tips for Teaching How to Write a Thesis Statement #4: Provide Lots of Examples

As with teaching all new skills, you can never have enough examples. 

If your students are writing essays, provide them with examples for the topic they’re covering. But also provide lots of examples for other essay topics.

Give them examples that are both strong and weak, and let them discuss why each is which. 

Let them peer-edit one another’s thesis statements. 

You can do this in a note-taking style lesson, sit and get discussions, or, my personal favorite, a gallery walk. 

If this last idea is interesting to you, check out my Writing Strong Thesis Statements Activity. You’ll place examples of both strong and weak thesis statements around the room. Then, students will have to walk around the room, identifying which statements are strong and which are weak. It’s a great jumping off point for deeper discussions around effective theses. 

Tips for Teaching How to Write a Thesis Statement #5: Give Sentence Starters for More Scaffolding

If your students are still struggling, give them sentence starters. 

Provide students with the thesis statement itself. Leave a blank for their overall argument and their three supporting reasons (if that’s the structure you expect from them). 

Even if your students do alright with writing thesis statements, it might be nice to offer a variety of sentence starters to encourage them to try a new structure for their thesis. 

Bonus Tip: Teach the Plural Form

This is a little silly, but I thought I would add it. Teach students that the plural of “thesis” is “theses.”

Every time I use the word “theses” in my classroom, students are tickled by it. I’m not sure why they find the plural version so odd, but it’s an interesting tidbit you can casually share with your students during one of your essay-writing lessons.

Conclusion

Like all good teaching, taking it slow and offering multiple forms of scaffolding is the key to teaching how to write a thesis statement. 

If you’re looking for thesis or general essay-writing resources, check out my 5-Paragraph Essay Writing Resources Bundle!

The post 5 Tips for Teaching How to Write A Thesis Statement appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

Looking for more tips? Here are some ways to make teaching the essay easier.

Want to skip the prep? Check out my 5-Paragraph Essay Writing Resources!

Get Your Students to Actually Write Essays Tip #1: Break Down the Essay Into Small Steps

During my first year of teaching, I made a big mistake. I assigned an essay at the end of our unit. 

This only left a couple of weeks for students to brainstorm, outline, and write. Worse, it only left me a couple of weeks to help problem solve any difficulties. 

I had assumed that my sophomores had been writing five-paragraph essays since middle school. I expected them to know the basics and be able to fill out an outline. 

Boy, was I wrong. 

Almost no one turned in an essay that quarter, and I had to do some extreme grading gymnastics to recover from my mistake. What I should have done instead was assign the essay early and broken it down into its tiniest possible steps. 

Instead of expecting students to write an outline, I should have had them write a thesis statement one day. Then, on another day, I should have had them write their claims. On yet another day, I should have had them find their evidence. 

And so on and so forth. 

For students who aren’t confident writers, asking them to write, or even outline, a whole essay at once is just too overwhelming. 

Instead, give yourself plenty of time to teach and your students to work–one baby step at a time. 

(Want to help break down the essay into tiny parts? Check out my 5-paragraph Essay Slideshow!)

Get Your Students to Actually Write Essays Tip#2: Give a Grade and a Deadline for Each Step

This is so obnoxious, but I promise it helps. My students were largely procrastinators. Worse, our school didn’t allow point deductions for late work, so students knew there were no penalties for late work. 

This made for an environment in which students waited until after the last possible minute to start assignments. But when an essay is due a few days before the end of the quarter, that window of time in between isn’t enough. 

Instead, I started grading every step between brainstorming and the final product. Sure, there was still no penalty for doing every late, but a lot of students didn’t like seeing Fs in the gradebook so close to the end of the quarter. Or their parents didn’t. 

So I would put two points in the grade book for students when they chose a topic. Then, I would put five points in the grade book after I checked off their quality thesis statements. 

Each step built up in points until the outline, which was worth fifty points. At that point, it would be one of, if not the, largest assignments in the gradebook. 

But, all of that was in my formative category, which was a much smaller percentage overall compared to my summative category in my gradebook. Once the final essay went into the summative category, it pretty much overruled any grades they got for the smaller essay steps. 

Find a way to incentivize students to get the parts of their essays done in a timely manner. When students miss a deadline, put that zero in immediately (even if they can replace it with an unpenalized score later). 

Grades don’t work for every student, but they work for some. Plus, students will eventually realize that writing one essay will fix several missing assignments. They may do the paper just to avoid doing a ton of other assignments to try and compensate. 

Get Your Students to Actually Write Essays Tip #3: If Necessary and Possible, Don’t Be Above a Bribe

Look, I hate telling teachers to spend money on their classrooms. You shouldn’t have to. 

But, if you do happen to have a pack of stickers or candy or pencils sitting around in your closet, try trading those for work done on time. 

For example, if you expect students to have their thesis statements perfected by the end of class, you can offer each student who meets that expectation a Tootsie Roll or lollipop. 

Sure, there’s no punishment for taking longer to write their thesis statements, but there’s no reward either. Many students will wise up and just do the assignment on the day rather than do it later when there’s no prize. 

As always, ask your school if there’s money for such things. See if you guidance counselors on sitting on bags of cheap prizes you can have. Even high school seniors will be sad to miss out on a free sticker or temporary tattoo. 

Get Your Students to Actually Write Essays Tip #4: Try to Make It Fun

Sometimes, teaching the essay is going to be boring. At some point, students will have to sit and listen to you explain the process, and at some point they will have to write. 

But that doesn’t mean there can’t be any fun!

In this post, I talk about three ways to add some hands-on activities to your essay-writing unit. 

You can also add some fun to the assignment by letting them have as much choice as possible when it comes to their topic.

For a literary essay, their topics might be limited in scope. But if you’re teaching how to write a research paper, you may be able to give students more flexibility in choosing topics that interest them. 

And, of course, using funny examples when explaining the process can help, too. You can model writing a whole essay based on a question like, “Which fast food restaurant serves the best french fries?” 

Choose examples that will get students laughing or arguing. Either way, they’re engaged!

Get Your Students to Actually Write Essays Tip #5: If Students Struggle With Writing, Offer More Scaffolding

Many students avoid writing essays because they’re lazy or choose to procrastinate. 

But I’d argue even more students avoid writing essays because they’re not confident in their ability to do so. 

If you feel like a lack of skills is the real reason you’re not getting essays from your students, try adding more scaffolding options for them. 

Breaking down the essay-writing process into smaller steps will surely help. But there are other ways to assist students, too.

For example, if they’re struggling to write a thesis statement or claim, offer them sentence starters. 

If the clincher is causing writer’s block, give students a specific way to end their essay. You can, for example, tell them to end with a call-to-action and let them choose one for their reader. 

You could also brainstorm evidence as a class, model how to cite it, and then let students choose which ones they believe are best for their essay. 

It’s especially frustrating when you have older students and you feel that they should be able to write a measly five paragraphs on their own. However, some students truly do need these additional tools to help them be successful. 

If you have students all year or for several essay-writing units, start the year with more scaffolding. Then, with each additional writing assignment, remove one or two. 

(I have some extra ideas on how to scaffold writing here.)

Conclusion

Getting students to actually sit down, pick up a pencil, and write a sentence can sometimes feel impossible. I know. I’ve been there. 

Instead of getting frustrated, however, get curious instead. If you can nail down why students aren’t making progress on their essays, it may give you some ideas on how you can help. 

Slow and steady wins the essay-writing race. Give you and your students plenty of time to work on their paper bit by bit.

Need some essay-writing mini-lessons? Want some fun activities you can do with your students? Check out my 5-Paragraph Essay Writing Resources!

The post How to Get Your Students to Actually Write Essays appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

In this post, I will share three activities that require students to move or use their hands. 

You can find more tips for teaching essay writing here.

(Looking for a whole essay writing unit that incorporates these activities? Grab my Five-paragraph Essay Writing Bundle here!)

Hands-on Essay Writing Activities #1: Exemplar Gallery Walk

You’ve probably done a gallery walk in your classroom before, but if not, here’s a quick refresh. 

For a gallery walk, you hang up artifacts for students to examine around the room. They are sometimes done in silence (students might use post-its to leave comments on the “gallery”). 

As students walk around and look at each artifact, they’ll complete some kind of task. 

You can use the gallery walk to show students examples of what an essay should look like. For example, I use a gallery walk activity to teach students what a strong thesis statement looks like.

First, I post a variety of thesis statements around the room. As students read them, they decide if each statement is a “strong” or “weak” example of a thesis statement. 

By the end of the activity, students clearly understand what makes a great thesis statement and how to spot problems with weak ones. 

(If you’d like this activity for Writing Strong Thesis Statements, you can grab my no-prep resource here!)

You could do this activity with any part of the essay–or whole essays. Regardless of how you use the gallery walk, it’s nice to get your students up and moving while they reflect on writing. 

Hands-on Essay Writing Activities #2: Unscramble Activity

Who doesn’t love a good puzzle? Another engaging essay-writing activity is to take an essay and turn it into a puzzle!

I take an example literary essay or research paper and cut it up. Basically, each part of the essay is on its own strip of paper. 

Students form groups and each group is given one of the cut-up essays. Together, they must figure out how to unscramble the essay. 

(Grab this Unscramble the Five-paragraph Essay Activity here if you don’t want to create your own.)

This not only forces them to remember the organizational structure of an essay, but shows them the importance of clear writing, using transitions, and following a rigid format. Plus, students get to use their hands as they manually move around their strips of paper and collaborate with peers. 

You could have students unscramble any kind of essay (save excellent student examples for this!) or even just Works Cited pages if you want them to focus on citation formats. 

Hands-on Essay Writing Activities #3: Stations

Stations are just what they sound like–stations set up around your classroom. Each station includes the directions and materials needed to complete a different task. In order for students to complete all of the required tasks, they have to rotate to each station. 

While you’ve probably done stations in your classroom before, you may not have considered using them for essay writing. But there are a ton of ways you could set up essay-writing stations. 

Each station could guide students through writing a piece or a step of an essay. Stations could each focus on teaching part of the essay writing process. You could even have stations in which students focused on exploring different types of essays or essay topics.

Stations are an engaging activity because they force students to move around the room. They also break up the class period into smaller chunks (a ninety-minute class becomes three thirty-minute stations, for example).

They are especially helpful when you want students to really dive into a specific topic. That’s why they’re also great for essay peer editing.

My peer-editing stations include four tasks: checking essay structure, checking citations, proofreading, and improving diction and fluency. Alternatively, you could set up peer-editing stations that focus on any four common essay issues. 

Students trade papers and have to complete each station or task. The stations force students to focus on honing in on each problem area leading to better and more specific feedback for one another. 

(Skip creating these stations on your own by grabbing the Five-paragraph Essay Peer-editing Stations here.)

Once you know how many stations you want to use and what topics/tasks will be covered at each, be sure to gather materials students may need. Provide highlighters, markers, and any specialty items students will need. 

You’ll also want to create very specific, step-by-step directions for each station. You might also want to provide students with a checklist of the stations, so they can keep track of which ones they’ve completed and which ones they still need to do.

Conclusion

Essay writing might never be your students’ favorite unit, but it certainly doesn’t have to be boring. You include movement and hands-on activities just like you would for any other content topic. 

If you’re looking for no-prep essay-writing resources, check out my Five-paragraph Essay Writing Bundle.

The post 3 Hands-on Essay Writing Activities Your Students Will Love appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay Tip #1: Know Your Success Criteria

Before even discussing the 5-paragraph essay with students, make sure you know your own success criteria.

Success criteria are the standards by which you’ll measure students’ ability with the task. 

There are multiple ways to approach the 5-paragraph essay, and every teacher has his or her preferences. Maybe for you starting the essay with a rhetorical question is just too blase, and you expect a more exciting hook. Perhaps you expect seven sentences in a body paragraph while your colleague is content with five. 

Make sure you know what success looks like in your classroom before you begin teaching anything to students. 

Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay Tip #2: Don’t Do It In Isolation

Teaching the 5-paragraph essay just for the sake of it is never going to work. Students need buy-in before they’ll even think about attempting something hard. 

So try to avoid a unit that’s just about writing a 5-paragraph essay. Instead, make sure students have a compelling topic to write about.

This could be a literary analysis essay–especially if the novel in question is a hit with students. 

It could also be a research paper in which students can choose between engaging and controversial topics. 

Give students the topic about which they’ll be writing first. (I would even give them the actual essay assignment before talking about how to write an essay.)

If you can get them to care about the content of their essay, getting them to understand the format will be much easier. 

Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay Tip #3: Break It Down Piece By Piece

This is where high school teachers mess up. They assume that, because students have probably done this before in earlier grades, they can rush the essay writing process. Sadly, you can’t.

While some students might be able to write a 5-paragraph essay in their sleep, a lot will have completely forgotten the format. Or they’ll struggle with citations and tracking their sources. Or they remember what the thesis statement is but can’t start their body paragraphs. 

For most students, there are going to be holes in their knowledge. Go over the format of the 5-paragraph essay slowly.

In my 5-Paragraph Essay Mini-lessons resource, I break down the 5-paragraph essay into five lessons: an overview, the introduction paragraph, the body paragraphs, the conclusion paragraph, and citing sources. 

You could break this down even further and spend an entire day talking about thesis statements or writing conclusion sentences. 

Basically, while you can teach the 5-paragraph essay too quickly, it’s almost impossible to go too slowly. 

(Want to break down the 5-paragraph essay even further or have plenty of time to build up students’ skills? Try teaching claim, evidence, and reasoning skills first! This will make a huge chunk of the 5-paragraph essay a breeze for your students!)

Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay Tip #4: Provide Examples

Just like with everything else you teach, you can’t provide too many examples for students. 

When it comes to the 5-paragraph essay, you should even present examples for the pieces of paragraphs. (“Here are some examples of thesis statements…” and “Here are some examples of clinchers…” etc.)

If possible, however, I recommend you not show examples using the same topic that your students will be using for their papers. It’s too tempting for students to copy. 

Instead, model for students how they can rephrase the essay question you gave them and fill in the blanks to create their own thesis statement. Or create sentence starters to help struggling students begin their claims. 

Don’t show them a completely done essay on their topic; give them tools to help them get there on their own. 

But do use examples from other essay topics, so students can learn what a strong essay looks like. 

Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay Tip #5: Don’t Write It Chronologically

When I have students write an essay, I never have them write it from beginning to end. 

Instead, we spend a day writing our thesis statements. The next day, we write all of our claims. The day after, we gather and construct our evidence, and so on. 

I encourage my students to write in the order of what is most important to the overall essay–not in chronological order. (And I use the most scaffolded outline in this resource to do so.)

Why?

Writing a hook (the first sentence of the essay) can require some creative thinking. For some students, this will completely stall them out for days–even weeks–if they let it. And while they may end the unit with the world’s greatest hook, they’ll still have the rest of the essay to write.

Instead, if I can get students to start with the thesis statement, the rest of the essay will be easier. They’ll know their stance and their major ideas. 

Plus, you can grade an essay if it has a few strong ideas strung together. You can’t even begin grading an essay that just has a few sentences of the introduction. 

Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay Tip #6: Let Them Use Tools

No, I don’t mean you should accept ChatGPT essays. 

But students could use ChatGPT to ask questions about their topic if they get stuck. They shouldn’t, of course, use this as a source in their essay, but it could help get some struggling students thinking about their major supporting arguments. 

Students should also be allowed to use citation generators like EasyBib.com or CitationMachine.net. 

I, personally, have never formatted a citation by hand since learning about these tools, and if a real-world English teacher isn’t manually citing sources then students shouldn’t certainly have to. 

Instead, make sure students know what proper citations look like and teach them how to use these websites–and their limitations. 

Help students use these websites and double-check the generator’s work, rather than teaching them the useless (and time-consuming) skill of creating citations manually.  

There are all kinds of accessibility tools out there, too. Students who struggle to read should be allowed a screen reading extension–especially for research-heavy papers. 

If you have struggling writers, reach out to your school’s librarian or tech guru to see what kind of software your school computers might already be equipped with to help make essay writing easier for your students. 

Conclusion

Teaching the 5-paragraph essay probably won’t be the most fun you have in your classroom. But, if you break it down, go slow, and provide plenty of examples, you might be able to avoid a mental breakdown grading those same papers. 

If you’d like to make teaching the 5-paragraph essay as easy as possible on yourself, check out my 5-paragraph essay resources. 

The post Teaching the 5-Paragraph Essay: Tips to Make It Easier appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.

(Want to skip the prep work? Grab a done-for-you Letter Writing Lesson here that can be used in person or remotely!)

Why Teach a Letter Writing Lesson

Granted, writing a letter isn’t as necessary as it used to be. But once in a while, students will need to do so. 

In fact, in their final year of high school, students might find themselves writing a lot of letters. Jobs require cover letters, colleges require application letters, and they might one day need to write a letter of recommendation. 

If students have written a letter before, they’ll be less intimidated to write one late in the “real world.”

So make sure your students don’t leave your classroom without being introduced to this essential life skill!

Letter Writing Lesson Tip #1: Provide an Authentic Audience

Sure, you could tell students to write an imaginary letter to Santa, a character in a novel, or to a celebrity who’ll never actually look at it. 

But you’ll do your students a big favor if you provide an authentic audience in the form of a real reader. 

When students know that someone other than their teacher will be reading their work, it changes the game. Suddenly, there’s a pressure to perform and get things right that goes beyond just a passing grade. They don’t want to embarrass themselves. 

So, what kind of authentic audiences can you provide?

Authentic Audience Ideas

An easy one is to have students write to a member of the school staff. You can have students write a gratitude letter to a staff member for Thanksgiving or at the end of the year. 

Not only will students know that they’ll have to face this person after he or she has read their letters, but you’ll get to provide a much-needed emotional boost to your colleagues! Who wouldn’t have a better week after reading a letter of thanks from a student?

Another possible audience is to have students write a letter to the troops. This is a great lesson plan around the holidays when many armed forces are away from their families and don’t receive any communication. 

There are all kinds of programs out there you can connect with to help get your letters to troops in need. Give it a Google search or check out A Million Thanks or Operation Military Matters.

If you are a Civics teacher or teach a unit on civics, you can also have students write to a representative in their state. Local leaders are more likely to respond to student letters, and it’s so fun when students receive a reply months later! 

If you really want to devote some time to making wonderful letters, you can even have students use something like these free letter templates from Adobe to design their final drafts.

Students are always surprised that someone took the time to read their letter, and even more surprised to get a response. These positive moments can create more civic-minded students for our future, too.

Letter Writing Lesson Tip #2: Teach Formatting

This is probably a no-brainer. If you’re going to teach letter writing, you need to cover the letter format. 

This is, after all, what separates a letter from a note or a printed email. 

Hopefully, your students have mastered capitalizing the beginning of sentences and other basic writing skills, but we know that things like these cannot be taken for granted. For struggling writers, the formatting of a letter might be hard or even stressful. 

It’s worth taking your time to go over proper formatting, especially for those struggling writers. They’ll benefit from the practice the most. 

Letter Writing Lesson Tip #3: Discuss Tone

The audience you choose for your students’ letters will determine the tone that students need to take in their writing. 

But make sure to acknowledge that tone will change depending on the letter and the audience. A letter to grandma will read differently than a letter to a congressperson or to a best friend. 

You’ve probably discussed tone with students before, either in relation to literature or academic writing. Use your letter-writing lesson as another opportunity to discuss tone in a new way. 

What kind of language is appropriate for this task? How important is correct grammar? How do these things change as your relationship with the audience changes?

If possible, try to provide examples of both formal and informal letters for your students, so they can see the difference themselves. 

Letter Writing Lesson Tip #4: Don’t Forget the Envelope!

Just like letter writing might be a little foreign to your students, addressing an envelope definitely will be. 

I once asked my students to address envelopes for me to save some time. I didn’t think about how my senior high school students might have never addressed envelopes before. 

The results were… wild. I couldn’t believe how little my students knew about addressing an envelope!

So don’t do what I did and assume your students know how to actually send a letter once they’ve written it. Walk them through it. 

Just like you’ll teach the format of a letter, teach the format of addressing an envelope. Even if the letters will be delivered around the school, make students address the letters to a specific classroom number of the school from your classroom number. 

Students will have to send something in the mail at some point in their lives. Don’t let the graduate high school without knowing how to do it!

Also, here’s an important note about equity: do not have your students address envelopes to their own home addresses. This is another mistake I made (so you don’t have to!).

I once was sending home letters to parents and asked students to address envelopes for me. So many students had no idea what their addresses were. I was shocked!

I called up the guidance counselor to come help us. She was able to look up some addresses for us, but she explained that many of my students moved too frequently to keep up with their own addresses. 

Some were in foster homes. A few were even homeless. Other students didn’t know if they should send the letters to their mom’s or their dad’s house. 

Once I was faced with the problem, it made sense, and I shouldn’t have been surprised. But my own privilege blinded me to this problem before it occurred. 

So if you’re having students send a letter in the mail, provide them with the address yourself!

Conclusion

How to write a letter might not exactly be in the Common Core State Standards, but it’s still an important life skill for our students. 

At some point in their four years of high school, make sure they learn how to do it. Pay close attention to the formatting and tone, and don’t forget that the envelope is an important part of the process!

If you’d like to have your students write a letter but don’t have time to prep yet another lesson, I have a printable and digital, done-for-you Letter Writing Lesson here. 

In this resource, you’ll get a slideshow lesson, example letters (showing tone and formatting), and a blank envelope template for practicing. The assignment is editable, so while the default assignment is a gratitude letter to staff, you change the audience to whomever you wish. 

The post 4 Easy Tips for a High School Letter Writing Lesson appeared first on It's Lit Teaching.