You ever get out of a teacher-in-service (or what teachers like to call them: A tremendous waste of tax-payer money) feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and wanting to ram your 1992 Saturn SL4 into the nearest brick wall on the way home?
You ever find yourself after these aforementioned gatherings of pedantry wondering why they just don’t give you something you can take back to the classroom and use immediately to make your job easier, more effective, and less wanting to staple an electro-magnet to your hand and suction the nails out of the wall holding up the bulletin boards in the hall?
I have something you can take back to your classroom, 8 simple common core writing assignments.
Let’s get writing!
Here is an overview of 8 simple writing assignments with links. You’re welcome.
- Sonnet Writing Assignment. I’ve included a free sample, a sample that includes the lesson plan, a graphic organizer, an example, and a rubric. Students should have a rudimentary knowledge of sonnets before assigning them to write one. The rubric makes it easy to grade.
- Writing a Rhetorical Precis. Here’s the lesson overview. The 8 Easy Common Core Writing Lesson Plans Teacher Guide contains the lesson plan, handout with instructions, and a rubric.
- Twitter Writing Assignment. Here’s the lesson overview. The guide contains a graphic organizer (conveniently aligned to save paper) and a rubric as well. This one’s easy to grade and requires only a brief explanation.
- Add a Character Writing Assignment. As the name implies, this assignment requires writing a scene from a novel, story, or with an additional character. I’ll be adding an overview post soon. The guide contains a lesson plan, graphic organizer (with key), and a rubric.
- Convert Telling to Showing Sentences. This is a classic. The guide contains a lesson plan, and 2 graphic organizers.
- Quotations Writing Assignment. This is perfect for a timed writing. Just give students a handout (or make them find their own quotations) and your job is done. Of course, you still have to grade them (much easier to grade with a rubric). The guide contains a lesson plan, a handout with success quotes, a graphic organizer, and a rubric.
- Vocabulary Writing Assignment. You’ve probably done this before, perhaps as a time killer. Now it’s a time killer with a purpose aligned to the common core objectives. The guide contains a lesson plan and a rubric. It can be combined with any vocabulary assignment.
- Point of View and Conflict Writing Assignment. I love it when I come across a good assignment. I found this one a couple weeks ago, improved it with a graphic organizer and a rubric, and allowed learning to take place. It simply involves writing about three different kinds of conflict using two different points of view.