Our Introducing a Topic/Formatting lesson plan teaches students how to structure an essay and how to introduce a topic that they are writing about. During this lesson, students are asked to practice separating example essays into paragraphs, requiring them to identify topic sentences and the natural breaks in a piece of writing. Students are also asked to put the pieces of an essay (such as the conclusion, header, body paragraph, and topic sentence) in order, demonstrating their understanding of the lesson material.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to differentiate between constructed responses and extended writing, determine the structure and purpose of a text, and know how to use informational text features such as headings and illustrations.