Lessons spotlight essay writing

 Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. Using a format that works for five-paragraph essays, an interactive Essay Map graphic organizer from the ReadWriteThink.org website helps students develop an outline, organize their essay, preview what they have written, and print their completed map. Access the Essay Map here.

Here are some ReadWriteThink.org lessons that use this tool.

For grades 3-5, Alaska Native Stories: Using Narrative to Introduce Expository Text

For grades 3-5, Exploring Cause and Effect Using Expository Texts About Natural Disasters

For grades 3-5, How-To Writing: Motivating Students to Write for a Real Purpose

For grades 6-8, Fighting Injustice by Studying Lessons of the Past

For grades 6-8, Heroes Around Us

For grades 6-8, Introducing Shakespeare: Exploring Persona and Character Motivations

For grades 9-12, Lights, Camera, Action...Music: Critiquing Films Using Sight and Sound

For grades 9-12, That's Not Fair! Examining Civil Liberties With the U.S. Supreme Court

For grades 9-12, Critical Literacy: Women in 19th-Century Literature

You can access all of these lessons and hundreds of others through the ReadThinkThink.org website. The website is administered jointly by the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English, in partnership with the Verizon Foundation.