Digital DP

One of the biggest challenges I faced when implementing the CCSS was finding nonfiction resources appropriate for middle school. This file is the guide I use with my students. We start with understanding why writer's write, identifying nonfiction elements (including an elaborated section on text structures), read a variety of reference material to notice the language and technique of authors, and finish with a lead-in to argumentative reading/writing (the unit I follow with).

Step by step directions and visual organizer as well as examples. Adapted from an original source by The Poetry Center and John Timpane to better fit the 8th grade classroom. Can be used 7th grade through 12th.

This document include a writing goal, necessary vocabulary, suggested prompts, and a process guide with space to fill in due dates. Prompt topics vary and their differences touch on the different intelligences described in Gardner's work (music, linguistic, intrapersonal, and visual).