Writing-Expository Handouts

To come

This is an informational handout to help students who have problems writing effective introduction paragraphs. ***** Check out my other Writing Resources***** Writing Thesis Statements Counterclaim and Rebuttal Writing Graphic Organizers Interactive Essay Writing Flipbook Argumentative Essay Essay prompt and articles :Narcissism Essay prompt and articles: Hurricanes Essay prompt and articles: Colonization in Africa

NEW IN 2021: Rigorous! Thought-provoking! Discussion-Based! This 45-page EDITABLE poetry curriculum promises to elicit dynamic engagement from all students without compromising on intellectual rigor. The literary devices quizzes, discussion prompts, and analytical writing assignment will challenge your students to dig beneath the surface of the text and generate profound interpretive insights!!

Here are some highlights from this 45-page curriculum:

• 10 Poems by Langston Hughes: The 10 poems in this mini-unit feature Langston Hughe's BEST works of poetry: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Mother to Son," "I, Too," "Theme for English B," "Let America Be America Again," "Harlem," and more. The poems are split between two homework packets, each of which features 5 poems. Each homework packet is followed by a classroom packet with discussion questions and quizzes related to the poems. (12 pages)

• Discussion Questions: This bundle features a list of discussion questions for the first poem in each of the homework packets. The discussion questions will ensure that every class discussion starts on a productive note. Every discussion question is grounded in concrete textual details and challenges students to arrive at lucid interpretive insights! The questions lend themselves to a range of different pedagogical uses: 1) to focus students’ thinking prior to beginning a discussion, 2) to prompt in-class writing, 3) to assign written reflections for homework, etc. Guaranteed to elicit student engagement and foster deep thinking! Answer keys included. (12 pages)

• Quick Writes: The quick writes give students an opportunity to capture and refine the best ideas generated in the discussion. Quick writes can also help reticent students to gather their thoughts so they'll feel ready and eager to contribute. (3 pages)

• Literary Devices Glossary: A glossary with definitions and examples of the various types of figurative language, imagery, stanzas, and syntactic devices. Many teachers already have a glossary of literary devices, but I'm providing this in case you need one. (2 pages)

• Literary Devices Quizzes: Open each class with a quiz of 10 questions to assess whether your students can accurately identify the literary devices used in the poems from the homework packets: metaphor, personification, symbolism, imagery, alliteration, etc. Answer keys included. (4 pages)

• Analytical Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on a poem of their choice. The assignment sheet contains detailed instructions for how to generate a formalist analysis of a poem (analyzing how the poem's formal features contribute to its meaning). This kind of formalist analysis is exactly what students are asked to generate on the AP Literature exam! Sample paper included. (3 pages)

The entire 45-page unit will come to you in two separate formats: Word doc *and* PDF. Because the Word doc is fully editable, you'll be able to modify the resource to suit your teaching style and/or the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access the entire unit as a PDF file, which is easy to navigate and quick to print!

Because I believe that teachers should be able to see exactly what they'll be getting before they purchase, the preview for this resource allows viewing accesses to 30 pages. Click on the green "preview" button to see exactly what you’ll get. . . .

Thank you for choosing “Rigorous Resources”!!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Don't forget to click “follow” for email updates on new products by Rigorous Resources. New products will be 50% OFF for the first 24 hours!

• Do you need help getting your students to understand how text is structured and how authors craft their writing?
• Do you want them to practice aligning ideas and writing their own?

Help your students master paragraph structure with this comprehensive resource designed for middle and high school learners. "Building Strong Paragraphs" focuses on key writing skills such as identifying topic sentences, supporting details, and crafting thesis statements. This ready-to-use packet includes practice worksheets, engaging exercises, and thesis sentence-building activities that will enhance your students' writing abilities.

Ideal for both informational and argumentative writing, this resource walks students through the entire process of constructing well-organized, coherent paragraphs. Whether you're teaching how to develop supporting sentences, transition between ideas, or conclude effectively, this resource covers it all!

What's Included:

• Graphic Organizer for understanding structure
• Identification exercise
• Two Unique Passages per skill: topic sentences, thesis statements, supporting sentences & concluding sentences
• 9 Passages
• 20 Pages
• Available as a PDF and a Word Document

Perfect for:

• Grades 6-10
• English Language Arts (ELA) Teachers
• Writing Workshops
• STAAR Writing Prep
• Argumentative and Informational Essay Practice

Benefits of this Resource:

• Aligned with Common Core Standards and TEKS for writing.
• Great for differentiated learning in classrooms with ELLs and students needing extra practice.
• Supports critical thinking and writing clarity.

Who is this for?

• Middle and High School Teachers: Perfect for educators looking to strengthen their students’ paragraph-writing skills with structured, step-by-step activities.
• ELA Teachers: Aligned with TEKS and Common Core standards, this resource is ideal for anyone teaching informational and argumentative writing.
• Students Preparing for Standardized Tests: Great for test prep, including STAAR writing, helping students improve clarity, coherence, and overall writing structure.
• Special Education & ELL Support: Easily adaptable for differentiated instruction, making it an excellent tool for classrooms with diverse learners, including English Language Learners and students with varying writing levels.
• Homeschool Educators: A valuable resource for guiding students through the fundamentals of paragraph writing at home.

High interest, critical thinking, on-demand writing prompts that include research based facts and references for citations. Great for college and career rigor standards with fact-based, textual evidence writings. Use as individual handouts or for whole group prompts. Includes: Aliens Bigfoot Chupacabra Ghosts Lochness Monster Mermaids Mothman Vampires Werewolves Zombies Fun, on-demand expository, informational, or persuasive prompts that stimulate creative, critical thinking writings! Great for discussions and debates, too. Meets CCSS.

This is a 33-page set of worksheets to help grade 3 students practice the R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy. The R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy (Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain, Summarize) is a method that students can use to write meaningful responses to questions about a written text.

There are 13 pages of worksheets which cover the following topics:

* Introduction

* Restate

* Answer

* Restate and Answer

* Cite the Text

* Explain

There are also 20 pages for students to practice the R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy. Each page has a short paragraph of text followed by one question for students to answer using the R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy.

The written texts included in this set of worksheets are related to science.

Engaging Writing templates for boys and girls!

Fifteen fun front and back templates!

A fun border design for each template:

1. Spooky Spiders
2. Horses
3. Pandas
4. Safari Animals
5. Woodland Creatures
6. Sweet Desserts
7. Junk Food
8. Frogs
9. Gorillas and Bananas
10. Puppies
11. Naruto
12. Princesses
13. Harry Potter
14. Aliens
15. Butterflies and Flowers

Writing / Publishing paper for first, second, third, forth, or fifth grade

Printable lined paper with picture box

This product includes 6 different designs.

There are 2 pages for each design - a page with a space for a picture and a full page of lines. There are a total of 12 pages of lined paper.

These are great for final copies of any writing assignment including personal narratives, expository writing, opinion writing, informational writing, all about me, and paragraph writing.

This is a perfect lined paper template with picture box

1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade

Use this writing paper for any classroom writing assignments.

solid lines with space for primary or upper elementary

This 3-page form asks students to specifically rate their performance on the 6 components of effective effort on a given essay: TIME, FOCUS, RESOURCEFULNESS, USE OF STRATEGIES, USE OF FEEDBACK, and COMMITMENT. This product is modeled after teachings from The Skillful Teacher by Jon Saphier, Mary Ann Haley-Speca, and Robert Gower and encourages a growth mindset in students. I provide this form to my students every single time I assign a paper and am always pleasantly surprised at how honest they are in their responses, especially as the incentive for guessing their grade is 2 bonus points! ____________________________________________________________________________ Also, check out this great lesson plan for teaching Effective Effort by Language Arts Excellence: ⭐Effective Effort Lesson Plan ____________________________________________________________________________ ⭐Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

Inspire your students with our Leaf-Themed Writing Paper! Perfect for fall-themed activities, this fun apple-shaped design will make writing assignments more engaging. Featuring clip art leaves around the main shape, you can easily choose from six different line styles to suit your students' needs. Each style is also available with or without name and date lines for added convenience.

Free Apple Writing Paper!

Find Pumpkin Themed Writing Paper Here!

Check out my store for more themed writing paper!

**Descriptive Writing: Menu Master
**

Key Features:

• Easy-to-use: Designed for seamless integration into your classroom.
• Customizable: Students create unique and personalized restaurant menus.
• Comprehensive: Includes a variety of food ideas, a helpful word mat, and editable menu templates.

What's Included:

• A diverse list of cuisines to spark creativity.
• Blank and final menu templates for students to design their own.
• A convenient word mat with descriptive adjectives and verbs.

Benefits:

• Enhances writing skills: Teaches descriptive language and sentence structure.
• Fosters creativity: Encourages students to think outside the box and develop imaginative ideas.
• Builds confidence: Helps students feel empowered as they create their own menus.
• Versatile learning: Suitable for various classroom settings and learning styles.
  Printable PDF Format: Ready-to-go!

Download Now: Get your free copy of the Descriptive Writing - Write a Menu Worksheet today and watch your students' creativity flourish!

Leave a review and let me know what you think! Your feedback helps me keep creating free resources for teachers and students.

Includes prompts for writing informative and argumentative essays. Also includes writing powerpoints, outlines, and rubrics

Looking for a final writing assignment on William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing? This resource features everything you'll need to lead students through the process of writing an analytical essay about Much Ado. The resource features 5 writing prompts which will motivate students to think with nuance about important themes in the play. The resource also includes scaffolding to help students select evidence, generate an outline, and begin writing. For teachers, the resource features an assessment rubric which can be used to grade and provide feedback on students' analytical writing.

Here's what you'll find in this editable 13-page resource:

• Analytical Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Let students choose from one of 5 thought-provoking sample topics — or invite them to develop a topic of their own. Includes a handout introducing students to the elements in an analytical essay plus a writing schedule that explains each step in the writing process. (4 pages)
• Outline Template: Scaffold the writing process by having students fill out an outline before they write their papers. The outline template has boxes where students can write out their hook, thesis, topic sentences, textual evidence, and so on. (3 pages)
• Assessment Rubric: A detailed assessment rubric enables teachers to grade student papers in a fast and efficient manner. (1 page)
• AP Lit Practice Essay: Designed for teachers of AP Literature, this in-class practice essay will allow students to rehearse the "FRQ3" essay from the AP Literature and Composition Exam. The assignment asks students to write a 40-minute in-class essay in response to one of three recent FRQ3 prompts for which Much Ado About Nothing would be a viable work of literary merit. (5 pages)

The entire unit will come to you in two separate formats: Word Docs *and* PDFs. Because the Word docs are fully editable, you'll be able to customize them to match the skill levels of your students year after year. If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access PDF versions which are easy to navigate and quick to print.

Rigorous Resources is your one-stop shop for top-quality resources on William Shakespeare. Wishing you an amazing experience with teaching the Much Ado About Nothing. If you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to get in touch. I love hearing from fellow teachers who share a passion for great literature! 

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Remember to “follow” my store to receive email updates on new products by Rigorous Resources. New products will be 50% OFF for the first 24 hours!

Feel free to check out these complete units on Shakespeare's masterpieces:

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Romeo and Juliet

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Julius Caesar

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Macbeth

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Othello

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Hamlet

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Much Ado About Nothing

INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE: Biography, Globe Theater, Language, & Meter

Show your students exactly how it should be done with this handy guide. Clear instructions, examples, and a page for their own notes!

This free resource goes perfect with the All Things English for Middle and High School Students book!

And check out these other resources!

• Defending Disney Villains
• Revising & Editing Workbook
• Revising & Editing for Group Lessons
• Bell Ringers for the Semester
• Everything Writing

The first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day! Celebrate the day with this across-curriculum packet of fun-filled, critical thinking activities. Includes: Advertisement writing and designing Business Planning Handout and Rationale Crossword Puzzle with answers (quick assessment) Doughnut Designing Contest History Timeline Making Donuts Presentation with Research Survey with Chart/Graph and Explanation Vocabulary/Spelling Activity Writing Prompts (Expository) Great way to incorporate CCSS history, economics, home ec, and English skills.

This is a 64-page set of worksheets to help grade 3 students practice the R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy. The R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy (Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain, Summarize) is a method that students can use to write meaningful responses to questions about a written text.

For each week in the WonderWorks Interactive Worktext for Grade Three, there are two questions for students to answer using the R.A.C.E.S. Writing Strategy. Please note that students must have the WonderWorks Interactive Worktext for Grade Three in order to answer the questions in these worksheets.

Lined writing paper with picture box. Great for publishing any type of writing - narratives, expository, fiction, nonfiction, opinions, reviews, summaries, journal writing, persuasive and more. This lined writing paper has a picture box option and a full page of lines option for all elementary school grades 1-4

Included:

*9 different designs for writing paper

*A page with a picture box and a full lined page to match for each design

Printable, no prep, lined publishing paper that is ready to go any time your class writes

**THIS IS A GROWING BUNDLE! EACH MONTH NEW DESIGNS WILL BE ADDED AND YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED. BUY NOW WHILE THE PRICE IS LOW AND GET ALL THE NEW DESIGNS ADDED FOR FREE WHEN AS THE ARE ADDED!

EMAIL me with questions: jfarrell311@gmail.com

This 3-page form asks students to specifically rate their performance on the 6 components of effective effort on a given essay: TIME, FOCUS, RESOURCEFULNESS, USE OF STRATEGIES, USE OF FEEDBACK, and COMMITMENT. This product is modeled after teachings from The Skillful Teacher by Jon Saphier, Mary Ann Haley-Speca, and Robert Gower and encourages a growth mindset in students. I provide this form to my students every single time I assign a paper and am always pleasantly surprised at how honest they are in their responses, especially as the incentive for guessing their grade is 2 bonus points! ____________________________________________________________________________ Also, check out this great lesson plan for teaching Effective Effort by Language Arts Excellence: ⭐Effective Effort Lesson Plan ____________________________________________________________________________ ⭐Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

This includes two Articles "How do hurricanes form? A step-by-step guide" and "How Do Hurricanes Form?" plus a graph titled "Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale" . After reading these two articles students are given a prompt for an expository essay on how hurricanes are formed. There is also an outline sheet included for students to use in order to help them organize their essay. Plus a rubric for easy grading of final essay.

***** Check out my other Writing Resources*****

Writing Thesis Statements

Counterclaim and Rebuttal

Writing Graphic Organizers

Interactive Essay Writing Flipbook

Argumentative Essay

Essay prompt and articles :Narcissism

Essay prompt and articles: Colonization in Africa

This handout provides a thorough and clear explanation of how to properly embed quotations within a paper. The handout will introduce students to the three methods they should be using to introduce textual evidence. It offers a lucid account of how to properly punctuate quotations, how to properly alter quotations, and how to properly cite evidence from different literary genres (novel, plays, poems, etc).

Tired of reading papers in which students repeat the exact same phrases to introduce a series of quotations? Tired of reading papers in which students contextualize evidence by writing, On page 34, it says, "blah blah" ?? Look no further! I developed this resource after listening to my talented English colleagues chat about their shared frustrations over how students frame quotations in their papers. If the teachers at your school are facing similar frustrations, then you might find this handout to be helpful.

As it turns out, there are only three strategies that writers employ when embedding quotations in a paper. This handout explains when and how students should use each of the three strategies:

1. Block Quotations: The best technique for framing a long quotation is to use a block quotation. The examples in this handout will model not only how to punctuate a block quotation but also how to follow up with analysis by picking out key words from the quotation and unpacking their significance.

2. Clause-and-Colon Method: The best technique for framing a mid-sized quotation is to introduce the quotation with an independent clause followed by a colon (:). The examples in this handout will model the grammatically correct way to use a colon to set up a quotation.

3. Integration-of-Keywords Method: The best technique for framing shorter quotations is to integrate the quotations into the writer's own sentences. The examples in this handout demonstrate how to integrate quotations seamlessly into the flow of one's sentences.

Here's my suggestion for how to use this handout. What I'd recommend is that you distribute this handout to your students before you distribute your next writing assignment. After reading and discussing each of the three methods, you might announce that all students will be required to utilize both the "clause-and-colon method" and the "integration-of-keywords method" at least once in their next papers. Should you do that, I promise their papers will improve!

My store is called “Rigorous Resources” because all of the materials prioritize rigorous content over decorative graphics. While there are plenty of sellers whose lessons feature beautiful design elements, my resources promise to improve students' writing by equipping them with practical skills used by published academic writers.

The previews for my resources provide direct access to several pages of exemplary materials. Hit the green “Preview” button to see exactly what you’ll get. . . .

This 3-page document will come to you in two separate formats: a Word doc *and* a PDF. Because the Word doc is editable, you'll be able to costumize the resource to suit the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access the resource as a PDF — which is easy to navigate and quick to print.

If there's anything I can do to support your amazing work in the classroom, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thank you for choosing “Rigorous Resources”!!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Don't forget to click “follow” for email updates on new products by Rigorous Resources. New products will be 50% OFF for the first 24 hours!

Feel free to check out these other resources on writing:

How to Write a College Application Essay

How to Write an Analytical Essay

How to Write an Poem Analysis Essay (AP Lit FRQ 1)

Figurative Language Stations