Essay Writing Guide

Lesson 1: Murder Mystery- Dissect & Identify Evidence, State a Claim, Justify

For years, I struggled with the first weeks of teaching new middle school students. I knew we had to get started on the curriculum right away, but I lacked a good hook for them that was engaging and effective. Then, I found this short story. It's a murder mystery that doesn't have an obvious answer. After the students read the story, they proceed through the steps. First, on a graphic organizer, they write notes on the investigator's interviews. Second, they state a claim as to who is guilty. Third, they find the evidence (2 pieces) that supports this claim and explain how it does. Lastly, they write it all out in a RTL paragraph. This product includes:

✅Murder Mystery (short story-PDF)

✅Step-by-Step Guide -This takes students through a process of taking notes, investigation style (Google Slides or PDF)

✅Graphic Organizers-This breaks down the steps in a simple way for students to state a claim (who is guilty), record evidence to support this, and explain the connection (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅Sheet for Writing-Students take their notes and findings and write it into an RTL paragraph (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

Lesson 2: Twisted Fairy Tale (Essay Terminology Notes, Essay Dissection, & Complete the Essay

Following the murder mystery, I found that incorporating a twisted fairy tale into the beginning of the year essay learning is perfect for two reasons. First, most students from around the world have heard The Story of the Three Little Pigs. This provides excellent schema for this activity. Students understand the gist of the plot and, when they hear/see the title, their interest is piqued. Second, many students, by the time they get to middle school, have heard this version, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Having that background knowledge when reading the two sample essays isn't critical, but highly beneficial!

The essay terminology is perfect to use to introduce students to the academic vocabulary used in essays. While this does use the common academic essay writing terminology, there are also synonyms included so students hear a wide range of terms.

This product includes:

✅ 33 (Google Slides) Essay Terminology Presentation-Key words are underlined, essay dissection directions in the slides

✅Cloze Notes Handout with Sample Essay to Dissect (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅A Second Essay- Directions for students to complete certain components

(PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅Answer Key

Lesson 3: Priscilla and the Wimps- Model the Essay Writing Process & Slowly Release Students into Independence

After all of the scaffolding, direct instruction, mentor text reading and student practice, I loved using this realistic fiction when teaching new middle school students how to write their VERY FIRST essay. It is short, action-packed, accessible and has an unexpected plot twist. All of these made it perfect for our first weeks of school. This could easily be used as a non-tech sub plan. Have students follow MLA format to publish this as a final draft. This product contains:

✅Interactive prompt, directions, and text (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅Example chart completed for students to reference (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅Step-by-step guide with examples (PDF)

✅Essay graphic organizer which students can transfer into body paragraphs (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅Peer review checklist (PDF or Google Slides Digital Version)

✅Rubric (PDF)

For TPR tricks to get your kids up, out of their seat and memorizing components of an essay, head on over to www.teachingwiththeoliphants.com