The Sparkly Notebook

Mastering the ELA Standards in Middle School

Middle School Writing

3 Ways to Use These Parts of an Essay Task Cards

New! 3 ways to use these Parts of an Essay Task Cards that we’ve never discussed before!

As middle school ELA teachers, teaching about good writing habits is a daily occurrence in our classrooms. At the center of most of these conversations is going over the parts of an essay. 

To help teachers review the parts of an essay with their students, we have created a set of task cards. These task cards include several examples of the 3 parts of an essay (Intro, Body, and Conclusion). As students work toward mastering how to write and identify the different parts of an essay, these task cards give them an opportunity to practice and review some good examples of each.

Although we could just send you over to the task cards, we want to take the time to give you even more value.

Parts of an Essay Task Cards

Parts of an Essay Task Cards Scoot Activity

Before we provide three new ways to use these task cards, let’s talk about how the activity is presented in our original resource.

To do the activity as written, students will read the task cards and decide what part of the essay the task card represents. They will write their answer on their answer sheet. 

It’s pretty simple but effective.

Let’s learn some additional ways to use the cards.

3 NEW Ways to Use These Parts of an Essay Task Cards

#1 | Sorting Activity

This is more about analyzing the reading than specifically identifying the parts of an essay, but what your students come up with could really surprise you.

Give a group of 3 students all of the task cards. Ask them to sort the cards in any way they want.

Now, what you will find is that many students will sort the cards into categories you’ve never even considered.

If students first sort them into Intro, Body, and Conclusion, give them their props, but then ask them to sort them again, focusing on something else.

Students may sort them into fiction and non-fiction categories or into different point-of-view categories. They may sort them in another way.

The cool thing about this way of using these cards is that you don’t know what you’re going to get, and you’re giving students an opportunity to explain their reasoning for sorting the way they do.

#2 | Paragraph Maps

Hand out a card to each student. Ask them to write each sentence from the paragraph onto a separate line on a sheet of paper. Then, ask them to write the purpose of the sentence next to the line.

This activity draws attention to the word choice and structure of the paragraphs. It isn’t just enough to know what kind of information is found in each type of paragraph, but also to consider the purpose behind each word or sentence. 

Identifying and creating clear, concise writing is an important aspect of the writing process.

#3 | Word Choice Changes

Going back to the importance of word choice, try out this word choice activity with students to see how words can change or improve a passage.

Hand out a card to a pair of students and ask them to find at least two places in the paragraph where they can make the writing more concise (reduce the number of words used) or change a word to make the meaning more powerful.

Let’s do an example using the paragraph below.

Another interesting fact about reindeer is how they stay safe during cold weather. Their noses are specially designed to warm the air before it gets to their lungs, and their hooves shrink during the winter to better withstand the hard ground. During blizzards, reindeer can stay together because their knees make a clicking sound, which makes it easier for them to know where their herd is.

The first sentence feels wordy here, so I could make it more concise by saying…

Cold weather safety is another interesting reindeer anecdote. 

This sentence sounds more professional and also cuts the sentence from 15 words to just 8 words.

To improve the word choice, I could focus on the word “hard.” What if I used snow-hardened instead of hard ground? Is this a stronger choice…maybe. The discussion associated with this activity is part of what makes it so much fun.

There you go, 3 NEW ways to use these Parts of an Essay Task Cards. These additional activities are designed to work on even more skills that students need, including problem-solving, analysis, word choice, and writing clearly and concisely.

Isn’t it nice when you can use one resource for so many different things?!?

For some additional resources on teaching students how to write, check out this blog post on the W.4 standard.

How to teach W.4 in Middle School
Blog Post (How to teach W.4 in Middle School)

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Delegate Your Writing Instruction this Year with These Standards-Based Writing Activities

Work smarter not harder when you delegate your writing instruction this year with these standards-based writing activities.

Sometimes, as teachers, there are things that you just really don’t like to do. For many Middle School ELA teachers, that is teaching writing. 

Writing instruction includes so many different details, such as citing sources, punctuation and language skills, capitalization, using good descriptions, and having the correct parts of an essay.

To be completely honest, those things can kind of be sucky to teach.

Luckily, you can delegate your writing instruction this year with the help of these standards-based products.

7th Grade Standards-Based Learning Bundle (Every ELA Standard)
7th Grade Bundle
8th Grade Standards-Based Learning Bundle (Every ELA Standard)
8th Grade Bundle

Make Teaching Writing Easier

Often, teachers try to meet the writing standards by simply having students create essays with very little background instruction to help support them in this process.

We assume that with the technology and resources that are accessible to them, including AI tools, citation apps, and even parents who want to be way too involved in their kids’ success, students are miraculously going to learn how to write effectively over time. 

But this is not true.

Students have to be explicitly taught how to write.

Explicit Writing Instruction in Middle School ELA

The more formal the writing, the more explicitly it needs to be taught.

In fact, in a society where students have access to so many different tools and people to help them with their writing, explicit instruction within the classroom is even more important.

Why?

Because this may be one of the only times that students are asked to write on their own without tools or other people impeding their learning. Yes, I said impeding because when students depend on tools and other people to help them with their writing, they don’t get the opportunity to learn what good writing is supposed to be or what makes good writing different from bad writing.

For example, for the average ELA teacher reading this post, it is probably driving you nuts that I’m starting sentences with conjunctions, not writing full paragraphs, and breaking many grammar rules that ELA teachers know.

BUT, you also know that in this context (blogging), a relaxed, natural way of writing is more acceptable, and therefore, the rules don’t have to be followed as strictly.

If your students never learn the rules and have to apply them without the help of their tools or other resources, they won’t have any idea how to write in different contexts. They won’t know what good writing actually is, or even when the tool or person helping them isn’t a good tool/teacher.

Over the last several years, the ELA teachers behind The Sparkly Notebook have been creating a standards-based product line that explicitly teaches each standard within the Middle School Ela curriculum.

These standard’s-based products go into great detail. Each product breaks one standard down into its individual learning targets and then provides instruction, tutorials, handouts, posters, and assessments that teachers can use to make sure students are getting explicit instructions on the skills associated with that standard.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Because these standards-based writing activities are so robust and provide so many additional tutorials and handouts, teachers can use these resources to delegate their writing instruction. Using video tutorials and ready-to-go writing activities and lessons, writing instruction is much easier and more purposeful.

Delegating Writing Instruction to Substitute Teachers

One of the biggest benefits of using these standards-based writing activities to help teach writing is how easy they are to delegate to subs. Now, this is true for most of the standards in this product line, but especially with the writing standards. 

Using these writing resources, you can delegate your writing instruction to substitute teachers with ease. 

The resources include detailed activities that a sub can use as they work with students (including answer keys). They also include several tutorial videos that substitute teachers can show as they’re working on writing with students.

Our goal is always to make instruction easier and more organized for middle school ELA teachers. If we can help you delegate your writing instruction this year, we are happy to do that.

Click on the links below for more information on the resources and suggestions for each of the middle school writing standards!

End-of-Year Reflective Writing Activities for Middle School Students

As the school year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to engage students in some reflective writing activities.

Although there are lots of different directions you can go with this kind of writing, we have 5 activities you can use to get the imaginative juices flowing. 

End-of-Year Reflective Writing Activities

#1 | “A Year in the Life” Blog Post

Much like the “A Year in Sports” books, this post will be where the students will document some of the most memorable moments from the last year.

You can give them different areas to focus on (i.e., sports, art, fashion, friendships, projects, etc.). Write in the style of a blog post, and maybe link to their writing and share them with parents or other class members on the class Facebook page. 

#2 | Memory Lane Journal

Create an interactive “Memory Lane” using Canva or another design/project program. 

Students will create a “Memory Lane” image and then hyperlink different images so that when they are clicked on, people can read more about that moment.

Being able to hyperlink and make presentations digitally is part of the process, so be sure to teach it ahead of time if possible. If you need help check out our W6 products for 7th and 8th grade, which include lessons on hyperlinking.

7W6
8W6

#3 | Character Growth Narrative

Ask students to reflect on the characters they’ve encountered in literature, movies, or even real life throughout the school year. 

Ask them to choose a character that they believe embodies qualities they admire or aspire to develop. 

In a reflective narrative, students can explore how the character’s journey and traits have influenced their own goals, growth, or journey.

#4 | Write a Play

Ask students to pick out an event from the last year. Then, using what they’ve learned about adapting a story or narrative, students will adapt a story from the news, their life, or a book that they’ve read into a play that could be performed by students in their class. In the final weeks of class, students will read the plays aloud as a class.

#5 | Random Draw Journaling

Ask students to write down one thing that has happened to them in the last year.

Put the memory into a hat or bucket, mix them up, and pass the bucket around the room. 

Each student will pick out a memory and use that memory to inspire their own reflective journaling.

End-of-year reflective writing activities provide middle school students with a valuable opportunity to think back on their school year, recognize their achievements, navigate challenges, and set goals for the future. 

As educators, let’s celebrate the growth and accomplishments of our students and guide them toward a successful transition to the next chapter of their academic journey.

Want even more end-of-the-year activities, check out this post about End-of-the-Year Teacher Appreciation Activities!

Looking for help to design your standard-aligned curriculum next fall?

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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How to Teach W.9 in Middle School ELA

Let’s talk about how to teach W.9 in middle school ELA. We’ve put together some learning targets, resources, and activity ideas to make teaching this standard easier!

Using information from texts to support your writing, presentations, thoughts, or goals is an important part of adulthood, and in middle school ELA, we really start to explore the depths of this skill.

Using information from texts requires a good amount of comprehension, as well as the ability to see how information can be pieced together to make an argument.

This is tough for students.

They aren’t always great at picking out the best information from a text to support a conclusion, citing where the information came from, or figuring out how to get it to all fit together into a complete argument.

Today, we’re going to talk about W.9 and how we can teach W.9 in middle school ELA so that students will get a well-rounded experience with this standard.

As with all of the standards, we like to start by breaking down the standard into learning targets.

Learning Targets

When we break the standard into learning targets, we make the standard more manageable. It is more like a checklist that we can use to make sure that we are fully covering the skills. 

In this post, we talk about how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

Here are the learning targets on which we developed our resources for W.9.

Teaching W.7.9 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.9 in middle school ELA (7th grade)

7th Grade Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can use pieces from literary texts to support my writing.
  • I can use pieces of informational texts to support my writing.

Teaching W.8.9 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.9 in middle school ELA (8th grade)

8th Grade Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can apply grade 8 Reading standards to literature to support analysis, reflection, and research while writing.
  • I can apply grade 8 Reading standards to literary nonfiction to support analysis, reflection, and research while writing.

Key Skill: Citing Sources (You have to know WHY!)

A big part of being able to use texts to support writing is knowing how to cite those texts.

A lot of teachers will let students use tools to cite their sources, and that is not a bad thing…unless we haven’t given students a good foundation for citing and why it is important.

When teaching students about citing sources, we have to teach them the WHY. Why do we cite? Why is it important?

After focusing on WHY and making that part very clear, we can move on to WHAT a citation looks like and HOW we actually cite a source.

If we are letting students use tools for the HOW, but we aren’t teaching them the WHY or the WHAT, then they are more likely not to notice the inaccuracies in the citations their tools are spitting out or realizing when information is missing.

We believe teaching students all three steps is important. In our 7th grade unit, we go over the WHY, HOW, and WHAT, and we provide video tutorials to help guide students through the process.

Once students have a full understanding of citing, then you can introduce them to the tools that will help them do it faster, but this time, they’ll have the necessary prior knowledge to make sure the tool is doing the citing correctly.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.9

When picking resources to help teach W.9, you’ll want to make sure the resource teaches, practices, and reviews the standard at the appropriate level for the students you’re teaching. For the W.9 standard, the skills are very different from the 7th grade to the 8th grade, so having resources that cover the skills at an appropriate level is important for this standard!

Each of our Sparkly Notebook resources was created based on the listed learning targets so you can know that the skills being covered are appropriate for the age and skill level of your students.

The resources include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.9 in Middle School

If you need some activity ideas or lessons to use as you teach the W.9 standard, hopefully, this list will give you some ideas!

  • Author’s Purpose Blog Posts: Practice identifying the author’s purpose by printing off or viewing copies of several blog posts on the same topic. Encourage students to debate what the author’s purpose is and why they may have that purpose.
  • Paraphrasing Practice: As part of our work on this standard, we do paraphrasing practice of different kinds of texts. This is a key component of our 7th-grade unit. 
  • Teaching an Analysis Process: As part of our 8th-grade unit, we focus a lot on setting up a process for analysis. This means breaking down texts into their parts, including the characters and plot structure of a fictional text or the author, perspective, and evidence presented by someone who is writing an informational text. 
  • Rendering NEW Stories: In our 8th-grade unit, we have a project where students learn about adaptations of stories. They learn the pieces of an adapted story and why writers might adapt an old story to make it new. As part of this project, students will adapt their own stories.

Ensuring your students are being exposed to all of the skills in each standard feels like a huge challenge, and we understand that. That is why we create standards-focused resources that provide teachers with activities, lessons, and assessments that explicitly teach each of the middle school ELA standards.

We hope this blog post and the others in this series will help you as you explore and make a plan for the middle school ELA standards.

How to Teach W.8 in Middle School ELA

A breakdown for teachers who teach W.8 in middle school ELA. In this post, we’ve included learning targets, concept breakdowns, resource suggestions, and activity and assessment ideas!

I have to be honest, W.8 feels like the Goliath of writing standards, and with the overwhelming amount of information students have access to (not all of it credible), it feels even harder to work through this standard with students.

The 8th writing standard is all about gathering information from multiple sources, researching well, and assessing the credibility and accuracy of sources, all while avoiding plagiarism.

That seems like a lot….and it is.

That is why having a good process, including strong learning targets and a good teaching plan, is going to be really important to covering this standard in full.

And THAT is why we’re here today. We want to give you as much information as we can to help make this standard easier to teach. We have complete unit plans available, listed all the learning targets below, and provided some activity and assignment ideas that you can use as you plan how to attack this complicated standard.

Before we begin…

… I want to remind you that we can only do as much as we can do. 

A lot of the actual follow-through regarding this standard is going to be up to the students, not cutting corners, thinking outside the box about their research, and making a real attempt not to steal the work of others. 

We can teach them how to do it, but with all of these things, they have to make the choice to follow through correctly and ethically. 

Don’t beat yourself up if students still choose to cut corners…if they know that is what they are doing, then that choice is on them. 

Your job is just to make sure they know how to research, use information, give credit correctly, and explain the consequences of using bad sources, copying others, or not giving credit to others when credit is due. After that, they’re on their own.

As we start talking about how to teach W.8 in middle school, let’s start with the learning targets!

Learning Targets

By focusing on learning targets, we can model our lessons to hit very specific goals and skills. In this post, we discuss how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

Here are the learning targets on which we developed our resources for W.8.

Teaching W.7.8 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.8 in Middle School ELA (7th Grade)

7th Grade Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can gather relevant information by using effective key terms and analyze the credibility of the sources.
  • I can avoid plagiarizing by properly citing my sources and paraphrasing.
  • I can incorporate information from a source in my writing in the correct format that flows smoothly.

Teaching W.8.8 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.8 in Middle School ELA (8th Grade)

8th Grade Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can compile relevant information from multiple print and digital sources using search terms effectively.
  • I can assess the credibility and accuracy of each source.
  • I can quote or paraphrase material from sources while avoiding plagiarism.
  • I can use a standard format for citations.

Different Kinds of Citations (room for everyone on this playground)

With internet research becoming the norm, the way we cite is also changing. That being said, there is still a time and place for citations of all kinds.

In our resources for this W.8 standard, we explicitly teach students about MLA formatting. Still, if you have seen our W.7 resources, then you know that we also teach students about hyperlinking when working online.

Students need to know both.

I also know teachers who taught APA and MLA side by side because students were more likely to do their citations correctly when they knew that there was more than one way to cite—learning how to do both helped students become more aware of why the layout was the way it was based on the citation style.

However, there are some people who don’t think there is really a place for knowing how to manually cite at all. They would rather just show students the tools or programs that can cite for them.

I’m not sure I agree with this. In fact, I’ve seen students do better with citations if they actually understand how to lay them out manually.

My recommendation: Don’t drop old-fashioned citations just because they aren’t used as much in contemporary writing.

Citing the old-fashioned way with MLA or APA can also help students identify credible vs. not-credible sources. Citations require students to find dates, authors, and publications, which they might not ever look for at all if they aren’t forced to do it to create a citation.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.8

When picking resources to help teach W.8, you’ll want to make sure the resource teaches, practices, and reviews the standard at the appropriate level for the students you’re teaching. The resources below work through the standard using grade-level-specific passages and activities that help the student develop the standard completely.

The resources include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.

Click on the links below to learn more!

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.8 in Middle School

  • Keyword Research: Teach students to use research tools to optimize the results they are getting through their online sources. In our resources, we’ve included a handout that goes over several ways you can optimize your keyword research.
  • Credible vs. Not-Credible Sources (how to figure out which is which): Take the time to review how to determine if a source is credible or not. Having a handout or checklist students can use as they work with a source can be really helpful. In our 7th grade resource, we’ve included our own “Credible or Not-Credible” checklist for students.
  • Plagiarism 101: Your job is to make sure students know what plagiarism is and why it’s a problem. They also need to know how to avoid it. In the plagiarism parts of our 7th and 8th-grade resources, we review what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, and how something as simple as punctuation can cause issues with plagiarism.

Ensuring your students understand and master the standards feels like a huge challenge, and we understand that. That is why we create standards-focused resources that provide teachers with activities, lessons, and assessments that explicitly teach each of the middle school ELA standards.

How to Teach W.7 in Middle School ELA

A breakdown for teachers who teach W.7 in middle school ELA. In this post, we’ve included learning targets, concept breakdowns, resource suggestions, and activity and assessment ideas!

Using short research projects with students works really well in the middle school schedule when you’re dealing with ‘short classes’ (40-50 minutes), which is perfect since they may just end up being your primary form of writing assessment and practice in your middle school ELA class.

These short research projects are the basis of the W.7 standard in middle school, so they are something we need to embrace and create processes for in our classroom.

Since the W.7 standard literally asks for these projects, we have to make sure that we are getting at least a few of them each year, maybe as often as one per quarter.

The nice thing about the standard is that it does not dictate what the projects have to be about, which opens up the door for a lot of fun topics and themes. 

Take that creativity and flexibility where you can get it!

In this post, we are going to talk about how to teach W.7 in middle school ELA and what lessons, resources, and activities you can do to help your students master this standard.

Let’s start with the learning targets!

Learning Targets

By focusing on learning targets, we can model our lessons to hit on very specific goals and skills. In this post, we talk about how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

When starting to deconstruct a standard, start with the learning targets. To get the learning targets, break down the standard into 3-5 parts or key skills. 

Here are the learning targets on which we developed our resources for W.7.

Teaching W.7.7 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.7 in Middle School ELA (7th Grade)

7th Grade Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can conduct a short research project to answer a question.
  • I can use several sources to answer a question.
  • I can compose focused questions for additional research and investigation.

Teaching W.8.7 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.7 in Middle School ELA (8th Grade)

8th Grade Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can draw on several sources when conducting short research projects to answer questions.
  • I can generate additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.

The Importance of Research

With its magnificent growth, the Internet has made the process of academic research so much easier. It has leveled the playing field for people of all ages to research relevant information and use it to challenge the systems and processes of today. 

As helpful as it is that children and teens have more access to the online world, it can be very challenging nowadays because of the OVERLOAD of information that is out there. It is no longer just about finding information for a research paper; it is about sifting through all the information out there and checking for its validity and reliability. 

It is important to constantly examine the information placed before us. It is so easy to be led astray by illegitimate websites or fake news. 

When conducting research, be careful. Teach students to use their common sense. 

Here are a few key tips to repeat to students regularly. 

  • If you are questioning what you are reading, that is a red flag to dig deeper! 
  • Go beyond the quick Google search and conduct high-level research so that you can truly learn about the world, and be confident that your research is valid as you share your findings with those around you.
  • Validate all information by cross-checking references and sources.
  • Pay attention to people’s credentials.
  • Stay away from personal opinions.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.7

We have a couple of resources available to help you teach W.7 in your middle school classroom. Although these resources are broken down by each grade level, they can both be valuable to you no matter which middle level grade you teach.

The resources above include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.7 in Middle School

  • Unpacking the Prompt: Whenever students receive a prompt, they’ll need to unpack it (or break it down) to discover what is actually being asked and what they’re actually supposed to be writing about. Teaching students the process for unpacking the prompt can save them a lot of heartache when posed with prompts on state testing, college-level entrance exams, or even during debates and arguments. We go through the process of unpacking prompts in our 7th-grade resource.
  • Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research: Knowing the different kinds of research and the value of both can help students as they search for sources to use in their shorter research writing projects. We go over both forms of research in both the 7th and 8th-grade resources. 
  • Mini-Research Project (with Partners): Working with partners is a great way to stair-step students into these shorter research projects. In our 7th-grade resource, we’ve provided all the handouts and prompts you’ll need to work through a partner-based mini-research project with your middle school students.
  • Expanding Research: Many students have very pedestrian research skills because they can just ask Siri or Alexa their questions. I mean, they don’t even have to type in the question anymore, let alone use a book or sort through several pieces of information covering the same topic. This means that students have no idea what it means to expand on their research. Spend some time deliberately teaching students to write questions that will help them expand on their projects and research and take them outside the scope of the initial project. In our 8th grade resource, we go through this process as part of our W.7 unit.

We understand that teaching writing and the writing process feels like a huge challenge. That is why we create standards-focused resources that provide teachers with activities, lessons, and assessments that explicitly teach each of the middle school ELA standards.

We try to provide updated resources and unit plans to include new forms of technology and research, and we hope the ideas have inspired you in this post!

How to Teach W.6 in Middle School ELA

A breakdown for teachers who teach W.6 in middle school ELA. In this post, we’ve included learning targets, concept breakdowns, resource suggestions, and activity and assessment ideas!

To be completely honest, we love this standard over here at The Sparkly Notebook because it is so forward-thinking and asks students to do exactly what we do every day.

A decade ago, the way we approached this standard was so different from how we do now. 

These days, we can actually have students creating content for blogs and social media and even a digital newspaper or as a series of posts on X (formally known as Twitter).

It is truly fascinating to think of all the ways you can approach this standard now.

As we talk about how to teach W.6 in middle school, we’re coming from the perspective of a group of language arts teachers who also work in the online space and understand how many opportunities are available for students with this particular standard.

Let’s get into the learning targets for W.6!

Learning Targets

By focusing on learning targets, we can model our lessons to hit very specific goals and skills. In this post, we talk about how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

Here are the learning targets on which we developed our resources for W.6.

Teaching W.7.6 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.6 in Middle School ELA (7th Grade)

7th Grade Standard: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources, as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can use technology to publish writing.
  • I can use technology to link and cite sources.
  • I can use technology to collaborate with others.

Teaching W.8.6 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.6 in Middle School ELA (8th Grade)

8th Grade Standard: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently, as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can use technology to create and publish writing.
  • I can use technology to present the relationship between information and ideas efficiently.
  • I can use technology to interact and collaborate with others.

Short Form vs. Long Form Writing

Online content is made up of both short-form and long-form writing, and as we ask students to write using technology to produce and publish the writing, we’ll want them to be well-rounded in both.

Some examples of long-form writing in the online space include:

  • Emails
  • Blog Posts
  • Essays
  • Writing Scripts for Podcasts or YouTube

Some examples of short-form writing in the online space include:

  • Posts on X
  • Posts on Instagram
  • Posts for Facebook
  • Short scripts for TikTok
  • Posts for LinkedIn
  • Short sales emails

All of these types of writing can be produced and published online, and for many of them, there are tools you can use to support and improve your writing.

At this point, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the use of AI when writing for the internet. It is not uncommon for businesses to use AI to help speed up the creation of their long and short form content, but what many find is that the content often lacks the personal touch that comes from writing about one’s own experiences and in your own voice.

Teach students some ways that they may use AI that still gives them full ownership over their work but also allows them to use AI in a way that will support their understanding of how it is used.

Some examples of this would include…

  • Using AI for brainstorming on a topic
  • Using AI to break up a long-form piece of content into short-form content or posts that fit the requirements for a certain platform.
  • To develop a template for common types of writing, like emails

These are only a few ideas, but they are ways that AI is being used right now in the online space to speed up the delivery of content…especially with so many places online creators are expected to be present.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.6

When picking resources to help teach W.6, you’ll want to make sure the resource teaches, practices, and reviews the standard at the appropriate level for the students you’re teaching.

Each of these resources works through the standard using grade-level-specific passages and activities that help the student develop the standard completely.

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.6 in Middle School

Here are a few activity ideas included in our resources. We hope these ideas inspire you as you consider how to teach W.6 in middle school ELA.

  • Creating an Infographic: We love using infographic creation in the classroom because it is visual and research-based and requires some short-form content writing. This activity and the handouts needed to work through it with students are available in our 7th-grade resource!
  • Citing Sources: The way you cite sources online is different than the way you do it in a formal essay. Discuss these differences with students. We help out with teaching hyperlinking and creating citations in both of our resources for this standard.
  • Write a Blog Post: Take students through the process of starting a blog and creating the core pieces of content for that blog. In our 8th grade resource, we have a checklist students can review as they write their posts.
  • Collaborating Online (Etiquette): Teaching online etiquette is important. As we all know, there are many people who have never been trained in online etiquette, and it causes a lot of negativity to many people. Take the time to talk to students about what makes the online space hard to navigate and how they can set themselves up to be successful in that space. In our 8th-grade resource, we have a handout you can use to lead this discussion.

It is hard to write about how to teach W.6 in middle school because the online space is constantly changing; therefore, the opportunities and complications associated with this standard are changing. 

This can seem overwhelming for some teachers, and there are some people who will choose to pretend that some of these technological advancements don’t even exist, but the thing is that they do, and so it is our job to make sure that we are doing what we can to help our students prepare for them.

How to teach W.5 in Middle School ELA

A breakdown for teachers who teach W.5 in middle school ELA. In this post, we’ve included learning targets, concept breakdowns, resource suggestions, activities, and assessment ideas!

Much of school is really about teaching processes. Teaching kids how to create and think through a plan and then execute on that plan.

When we teach students to write or create content, we are teaching them to plan out their writing, to make a plan, to make sure they are crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s, and generally follow through with the plan to the best of their ability.

The 5th writing standard is all about this exact concept.

Writing is a process, and W.5 lays out that process for us. 

  • Step #1: Plan
  • Step #2: Revise
  • Step #3: Edit
  • Step #4: Rewrite
  • Step #5: Rinse and Repeat steps 1-4 as needed with new approaches when necessary.

The process is not complicated, but with all of the elements that must go into teaching writing, it can take some time to move through the process, and the editing and rewriting part alone could cover a week of classes.

As we dig into how to teach W.5 in middle school ELA, consider what this process currently looks like in your classroom and how the resources and activities in this post may be able to support your process.

Let’s begin with the learning targets.

Learning Targets

Creating learning targets is the process of breaking standards down into manageable pieces and skills that we can focus on throughout a unit or while covering a standard.

When creating learning targets, we like to look at the standards for the grade levels before and after the grade level we teach. Below, you can see the checklists we use to move through this process, and you can read more about our process for breaking down standards in this blog post.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

Teaching W.7.5 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.5 in Middle School ELA (7th Grade)

7th Grade Standard: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 7.)

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can use planning (prewriting/drafting) strategies.
  • I can use revision strategies. I can use editing strategies.
  • I can revise for a specific purpose and audience. I can use feedback from teachers and peers.

Teaching W.8.5 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.5 in Middle School ELA (8th Grade)

8th Grade Standard: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can produce texts that exhibit the following text features, all of which are consistent with the genre and purpose of the writing: development, organization, style, and word choice.
  • I can produce writing that fully addresses the focus on the purpose and appropriate audience.
  • I can analyze my writing to see if a focus purpose and audience have been addressed appropriately.
  • I can develop and strengthen my writing by planning, revising, editing, and rewriting with some guidance and support from peers and adults. 

How to teach W.5 to Middle Schoolers (the value of time)

When thinking through how to teach W.5 in middle school ELA, our biggest barrier to success is going to be time and patience.

Teaching writing takes a lot of time, and sometimes, it doesn’t feel like we have that kind of time to give to writing.

Although you’ll most likely want to plan for at least 2-3 full-length essays each year to allow students to practice longer form writing to give them the opportunity to show growth and improvement in that area, you’ll also want to have many smaller, quick-response style pieces of writing.

Consider doing weekly writing prompts using the first 10 minutes of class each day to work on the writing prompt. 

For example…

  • Day 1 (Monday): Receive the weekly prompt and make the plan
  • Day 2 (Tuesday): Research and add to plan
  • Day 3 (Wednesday): Write Draft 1 (usually only one paragraph)
  • Day 4 (Thursday) Peer Reviews/Editing
  • Day 5 (Friday) Rewrite

This activity only needs about 10 minutes each day, and they don’t have to be graded every week. Practice can just be practice. Then, occasionally, you’ll assess one of the writings and give feedback on both the process and the writing itself.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.5

When picking resources to help teach W.5, you’ll want to make sure the resource teaches, practices, and reviews the standard at the appropriate level for the students you’re teaching.

The resources above include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.5 in Middle School

Here are a few activity suggestions for teaching the writing process. Many of these are found in our standards-focused resources for this W.5 standard.

  • Unpacking the Prompt: Students often struggle to break down prompts to determine exactly what they’re being asked to do. In our 7th grade unit, we do an activity where students are taught to go through a 4-step process of unpacking a writing prompt to make a better plan for executing on the prompt.
  • Use Graphic Organizers: introduce students to a variety of graphic organizers they can use to plan their writing. Different organizers may be used depending on the type of prompt and type of writing they’re doing. We have a few graphic organizers in each of our resources for this standard.
  • Identifying Credible Sources: Take time to explicitly teach students about credible sources. In today’s media, anyone can say anything they want, whenever they want. This makes it hard to know who actually knows anything on a given topic. Show students examples of credible and not-so-credible sources and discuss how you can tell one from the other. In our 8th grade resource for W.5, we have a handout you can give students to help them with this process.
  • Style Allowances: Depending on the purpose for writing, the style of the writing can change dramatically. For example, as I’m writing this post, I know that I don’t have to be as formal as I would be if I were writing an essay. However, I also know that I’m writing for ELA teachers, and you’re going to notice if I make a bunch of silly mistakes. Students also need to learn about what style differences may be allowed in various writing situations. In our 8th grade resource, we have a whole activity you can do with students to discuss these style allowances.

Teaching writing and the writing process feels like a huge challenge, and we understand that. That is why we create standards-focused resources that provide teachers with activities, lessons, and assessments that explicitly teach each of the middle school ELA standards. Use our resources to help you save time and make instruction easier to plan.

How to teach W.4 in Middle School 

A breakdown for teachers who teach W.4 in middle school ELA. In this post, we’ve included learning targets, concept breakdowns, resource suggestions, and activity and assessment ideas!

The fourth standard in the Common Core Writing Standards is actually a really fun one. This is the standard that gives you free rein to allow your students to write for a variety of different audiences and contexts.

I fondly think of this standard as the ‘catch-all’ writing standard because it feels like W.1 is about formal, evidence-based writing, W.2 is about informative and explanatory writing, W.3 is about narrative writing, and W.4 is about…well, everything else.

That makes this standard both really easy to prepare for and maybe a little overwhelming to prepare for.

Let’s dig into it to learn more about the expectations surrounding this standard.

Let’s start with the learning targets!

Learning Targets

In this post, we talk about how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

These checklists go through each and every middle school ELA standard and give us space to lay out how we plan to meet them throughout the year. 

I love this kind of organization of the standards because it allows me to explore the nuances of each standard at each grade level and make a plan for how I will make sure that each is covered, reviewed, and assessed throughout the year with my middle school students.

Here are the learning targets we used to develop our W.4 middle school resources.

Teaching W.7.4 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.4 in middle school ELA (7th grade)
7th Grade W.4 Resource

7th Grade Standard: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can determine an appropriate writing type for a specific task, purpose, and audience.
  • I can organize a text appropriately to task, purpose, and audience.
  • I can develop ideas and a writing style to convey my tone and meaning to the audience.

Teaching W.8.4 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.4 in middle school ELA (8th grade)
8th Grade W.4 Resource

8th Grade Standard: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can produce clear and coherent writing in which the development is appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
  • I can produce clear and coherent writing in which the organization is appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
  • I can produce clear and coherent writing in which the style is appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

Potential Products

This particular writing standard is so broad that we may have to work through it many different times over the course of a semester in a variety of ways.

As we’ve discussed in some of the other blog posts covering the first 3 writing standards, writing instruction has greatly been changed by technology and the introduction and common use of AI. This relates to the W.4 standard because the sheer number of potential products students have to choose from to ‘produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience is much greater than it used to be.

Here are some potential products you may consider encouraging your students to use as they master this standard. 

  • Tweets
  • Letters
  • Speeches
  • Essays
  • Infographics
  • Brochures
  • Social Media Posts
  • Email
  • Websites
  • Portfolio (physical or digital)
  • Multi-media presentations
  • Slideshows
  • YouTube Videos
  • Podcast Episodes

…and so much more!

As you try to figure out what to expect from students, consider taking a more project-based approach. Let the students figure out which type of product is best for the message they want to convey and the audience they hope to reach. In fact, make explaining that choice a part of the project!

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.4

As you decide how to teach W.4 in middle school ELA, you’ll want to reference some resources that you may be able to use as part of the foundational learning for this standard. We created our standards-based product line with foundational learning in mind. We built our products straight from the learning targets we identified for each standard and created activities and resources to supplement teachers as they aim to help their students master the standards.

Learn more about our W.4 resources for 7th and 8th grade by clicking on the links below.

The resources include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.4 in Middle School

  • What’s the Purpose: Most writing falls under the categories of inform, persuade, and entertain, but then you can also add in the audience. It is not enough to just identify the basic category; students also need to be able to identify and make choices based on the task they are being asked to complete. In the 7th grade resource, we work through identifying the category of writing and pairing it with the task to then decide the best kind of product to present our ideas.
  • Deconstructing Texts: Spend time deconstructing texts written by other people. Examine their choices, their audience’s needs, and how they met (or didn’t meet) the task. In our 7th grade unit, we have an activity that is built off this concept.
  • Identifying Purpose, Task, and Audience from a Prompt: In our 8th grade unit, we take students through an activity that asks them to pull the purpose, task, and audience from a writing prompt. These types of writing prompts are common in advanced writing assessments, and knowing how to lay out these three pieces of information will give students a baseline from which to start developing their writing.

As you continue to explore how to teach W.4 in middle school, we hope that the resources and ideas in this post provide a good starting point for you to build from. We know that helping students master the standards is tough, especially with all of these different writing standards. Still, we try to save teachers time with our standards-based writing units built specifically to meet the learning targets we have identified at each grade level. Click on the resource links below to learn more about our W.4 resources!

How to teach W.4 in middle school ELA (7th grade)
7th Grade W.4 Resource
How to teach W.4 in middle school ELA (8th grade)
8th Grade W.4 Resource

How to teach W.3 in Middle School 

A breakdown for teachers who teach W.3 in middle school ELA. In this post, we’ve included learning targets, concept breakdowns, resource suggestions, and activity and assessment ideas!

No matter how the world changes, narrative writing never goes out of style.

There is just something about writing to entertain that really makes me excited, and I truly love teaching students about narrative writing and then reading their work.

It never fails that at least once a semester, I am truly blown away by at least one student’s incredibly creative writing.

As we dig into the W.3 standard, we will focus on helping students get more details into their writing by fully fleshing out their ideas, brainstorming, and getting feedback from others to improve their work.

As we start talking about how to teach W.3 in middle school, let’s start with the learning targets!

Learning Targets

By focusing on learning targets, we can model our lessons to hit on very specific goals and skills. In this post, we talk about how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
6th Grade Checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
7th Grade Checklist
8th Grade Standards Checklist
8th Grade Checklist

Using checklists like these, I’m able to fully explore the nuances between the grade levels, which helps me figure out what students already know about narrative writing and what is new for them.

Here are the learning targets on which we developed our resources for RL.3.

Teaching W.6.3 (6th Grade)

How to teach W.3 in middle school ELA (6th grade)

6th Grade Standard: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

6th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can write a fictional narrative with a beginning, middle, and end.
  • I can write a detailed narrative that includes dialogue, pacing, sequence with phrases and transitions, and description.
  • I can use adjectives in my writing to add descriptive details and sensory language to describe the characters, setting, experiences, and events in my story.
  • I can write an appropriate conclusion (ending) to the story.

Teaching W.7.3 (7th Grade)

How to teach W.3 in middle school ELA (7th grade)

7th Grade Standard: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

7th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can engage the reader with a grabber, a clear plotline, and a strong conclusion that includes a clear resolution to the conflict
  • I can use detailed descriptions to develop people, places, and events and use purposeful transitions

Teaching W.8.3 (8th Grade)

How to teach W.3 in middle school ELA (8th grade)

8th Grade Standard: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

8th Grade Learning Targets

  • I can establish a context and point of view and introduce a narrator to engage and orient the reader.
  • I can utilize narrative techniques to develop experiences, events, and characters; organize a natural and logical event sequence; use precise words and phrases; use relevant descriptive details and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
  • I can utilize a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence signal shifts from one timeframe or setting to another while also showing the relationships among experiences and events.

Going Deep in the Details

The hardest part of the W.3 standard for most students is going to be adding enough details. This is going to be really hard for students in middle school because they don’t fully understand yet just how different people’s minds are.

Students often assume that the reader will understand what they mean, so it takes a lot of feedback for them to realize where the holes are in their writing.

Encourage students to go through a long process of collecting details for their stories before ever really starting to write their narratives.

Then, have them review their details with other people. Encourage the peers to point out the holes in the student’s idea or even in the first draft of their story.

Some of the common holes I have seen include:

  • People enter and exit rooms awkwardly or without explanations.
  • Not providing enough time and space for characters to move from place to place.
  • Very limited or no dialogues or conversations.
  • Stunted conversations that don’t flow realistically.
  • There is not enough development of the setting or conflict within the exposition and rising action. 
  • A very limited or simple climax or one that is so outrageous or overblown that it doesn’t make sense within the context or tone of the narrative.

All of these little details are important, so don’t rush the time you give students to develop their narratives. Slow it down, give lots of feedback, and give students lots of prompts to develop the details of their story.

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

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Resources for teaching W.3

When picking resources to help teach W.3, you’ll want to make sure the resource teaches, practices, and reviews the standard at the appropriate level for the students you’re teaching. Since the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade standards are similar, we’ve included similar pieces in both of our W.3 resources for the middle school level, but each has its own examples and passages (if needed). To learn more about them, click on the links below.

The resources include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.

Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing W.3 in Middle School

  • Often, the setting of a story is taught with the time and place of the story in mind…but what about the duration of the story? In the 6th-grade resource, we focus on all three pieces as they are all equally important!
  • Narrative Writing Toolkit: In both the 7th and 8th-grade resources for this standard, we’ve included a Narrative Writing Toolkit that is full of definitions of narrative writing vocabulary, key concepts,  and other things students need to know as they begin on their narrative writing journey. The Narrative Writing Toolkit is available in both the 7th and 8th-grade resources.
  • Brainstorming Characters: Before beginning to write, encourage students to get their characters down on paper. Spend time building out the character, their type, as well as their internal and external characteristics. We have a worksheet to help students with this in the 7th-grade unit.
  • Focus on Exposition: Students often want to run right through the exposition part of their writing, but this is where the foundation of their entire story lives, so encourage them to slow down here and get a lot of detail and foreshadowing into the exposition of their narratives. In our 7th grade resource, we have students explore how other writers use the exposition of their stories in a full 40-minute, 2-part lesson.
  • Timeline of Events: One of the ways to write out the story without actually writing out the story is to lay out the events of the narrative in a timeline. The linear quality of a timeline, like the one we provide in a worksheet in the 8th-grade unit, helps students to see if they need more details or if there are any missing pieces to the flow of their story.

Mastering the standards feels like a huge challenge in middle school ELA, and we understand that. Narrative writing (or any writing for that matter) can take up a huge amount of time in your middle school ELA classroom, and that is why we want to save you as much time and headache as we can by giving you these fully flushed-out resources that will give you the foundation you need to help your students master the middle school ELA standards.

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