If you ask a student how they elaborate and add more details to their writing, most students will be limited in what that actually means. They know what you want, but struggle with the strategies to make this happen. This chart was created with seventh grade students working on informational and argument writing, but is appropriate for all grade levels…. Read more →
Textual Evidence. You hear this all of the time. Students are supposed to recognize it, write about it, and talk about it. When it comes to incorporating it into their writing, things get a bit fuzzy. Students suddenly start to plagiarize, or they produce a long list of random information from a book or other source. This chart is my… Read more →
There are many different uses for this chart. I have created this chart with middle school students to help students develop the topic sentence for each of their body paragraphs within a larger essay. I have used this with elementary school students to craft overarching topic sentences (theses) for essays as well. Finally, the most recent use has been to… Read more →
This chart was created with sixth graders. They were working on argument essays that had at least two distinct sides. When we made this chart students had planned their essays and were beginning to draft their introductions. Introducing this chart: I wrote the title on the chart and asked students what a counterclaim was. We spent a few minutes discussing… Read more →
I have not kept up my end of the bargain to blog more! I have been busy in classrooms and finishing my latest book. This book is so special to me that it has been all consuming. I want to thank all of the teachers across the nation who have let me come into their classrooms, train them, and learn… Read more →
Teachers regularly ask students in first and second grade to find details and reasons in a text. While this request is valid, many students don’t understand what really constitutes a concrete reason. The six ideas on this chart provide guidance to help students look for specific types of things. How I introduce this chart: 1. I ask students to share… Read more →
Overview: This type of anchor chart might be my favorite to use with students. This is such an effective visual to help students compare two texts. The interactive nature of the chart also makes it reusable with multiple texts. Author & Genre Study: For this particular chart, we were comparing The BFG and The Twits as part of a larger… Read more →
One of the big challenges for students is being able to understand what “develop” means in reference to a text. These five simple questions encourage students to consider not just the main/central ideas, but the supporting details, how the ideas evolved over time, and what messages may have been woven throughout. Introduce this to your students by presenting the blank… Read more →
