Scaffolded High School English Resources
Blog posts pertaining to writing in the high school English classroom.
If your students can write a claim and drop in evidence but completely freeze when it’s time to explain why it matters, you’re not alone.That middle piece—CER reasoning—is the hardest part of the CER framework to...
Read MoreIf you’ve ever graded student writing and thought, “Every sentence sounds the same,” you’re not alone. Choppy sentences. Overly long sentences. Run-on sentences. Or, tougher to fix—perfectly correct grammar that’s painfully boring. A sentence variety worksheet can help, but only when it’s paired with...
Read MoreIf you’ve ever read a student’s CER response and thought, This claim is fine, but… where is the proof?, you’re not alone. The evidence portion of CER writing is where many students—especially high schoolers—struggle the most....
Read MoreWhen I was in the classroom, even my senior students had a rough time starting argumentative paragraphs and putting together a cohesive argument. They’d start with vague opinions or jump right into supporting details. That is, until...
Read MoreWhen we think about teaching writing styles in English Language Arts, our minds often jump to creative writing, poetry, or analyzing literary devices. But what about the type of writing your students will actually use day after day—beyond middle school, high...
Read MoreWhen’s the last time you checked online reviews before trying a new restaurant or downloading a mobile app? Probably yesterday. Or maybe five minutes ago. Review writing is a modern skill we must teach our...
Read MoreIf you’ve ever felt like your students are tossing out opinions without backing them up—or writing essays that feel more like rambling journal entries—then it might be time to teach them the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning...
Read MoreSometimes, you just need a good old-fashioned worksheet. After all, nothing beats practice and repetition. In this post, I’m going to share active and passive voice worksheets for high school along with other resources. If you need to teach...
Read MoreIn high school English, some topics carry a ton of weight and need to be handled with care. Genocide definitely falls into that heavy category. As teachers, our job is about way more than just...
Read MoreThe first time I had students write a thesis, I assumed they knew how to do it. After all, I learned all about the five-paragraph essay myself in middle school in the same school district....
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