Magnificent Works Cited Pages
Who hasn’t spent their time grading Works Cited pages with several mistakes? Here are some tips for helping students write magnificent ones.
Category: essays
Building Better Thesis Statements
A thesis statements is the road map through an essay. It’s important, yet many students struggle with them. Here are some tips for building better thesis statements.
How To Improve Student Writing Scores on the State Test
State tests are here to stay. Read about 4 things students need to do (and might not be doing) in order to pass the writing portion of the state test.
Building Better Topic Sentences
My students struggle with topic sentences. It’s something we always want to get better at because nothing improves their writing faster than crafting topic sentences that guide the reader through their writing. Students typically have one of the following problems with their topic sentences when writing about literature. They don’t
Have Your Students Create Their Own Essay Prompts
Sometimes the best lessons come not from great planning and preparation, but out of desperation and necessity. I had my students create their own essays prompts, and it definitely came from a spot where I felt like my back was up against the wall. However it was one of those
Sociograms: An Alternative to the Essay
Sociograms are visual representations of the interaction of characters in a novel. They are a wonderfully flexible assessment tool and can be used in all grade levels. Best of all, they require the same sort of critical analysis that you would use in writing an essay. If you’re looking for
Mini-Timed Writings: Getting Students to Write More Without More Grading
We all know that the best way to improve our students’ writing is by having them write more. However, it’s no fun to think about grading all of those extra papers, especially when you already have piles of stuff already to grade. The back log can get pretty unmanageable and
A Workshop Approach to Essay Planning
One of the biggest problems my students face with writing essays is that they don’t do enough planning before they sit in front of the computer to begin writing. Also, even though I tell them that I’m willing to look at drafts before they hand in the final copy, most
