middle school types of essays

Bell Ringers

3 types of essays your middle schoolers need to practice.

Writing can be a real headache for ELA teachers. Writing is layered with skills – from grammar to analysis – so it’s not a walk in the park for teachers or students. It’s really common for students to struggle to apply what they’ve learned, think deeply and critically, and write independently. There are several types of essays that middle schoolers need to learn, but if the thought of teaching them makes you want to run for the hills, stick with me. We’re going to talk about three different types of essays middle schoolers need to practice, and I’ll share some resources to help you out.

Types of Essays for Middle Schoolers

There are various types of essays out there, but there are three types I want to specifically look at: argumentative, literary analysis, and narrative. These types of essays cover both creative and critical thinking – and help push literary skills to the next level.

Argumentative Writing

Writing argumentative essays requires that students know how to defend a stance. Students are great at taking stances, but defending them requires deeper thinking.

When writing an argumentative essay, there are a few key things students need to know. To start, students need to be able to select a topic and take a position on that topic (or they can take a position on a topic assigned to them). Students will also brainstorm a list of logical reasons to support their stance, use clear and convincing evidence to support their points, and share counterclaims. 

Of course, that’s where things get tricky. Students really struggle to build solid arguments and find great evidence. Inside the Argumentative Writing Booklet, I included information about credible sources, logical reasonings, and relevant evidence. I referred to these a lot when in the classroom, and it’s likely you’ll need to teach them over (and then over again).

Another important part of an argumentative essay is counterclaims. This requires that students step into someone else’s shoes and think about how someone could break down their stance. Inside the Argumentative Writing Booklet, I included some key points for students to remember about counterclaims and sentence starters to help with essay writing.

If you are looking for a resource to make the process of teaching students to write argumentative essays a total breeze, check out my free Argumentative Student Reference Booklet! Inside, you’ll find reference pages for –

❤️ how to craft an argument

❤️ the elements of writing an argumentative essay

❤️ writing a counterclaim

❤️ the types of credible sources

❤️ how to ensure you are using logical reasons

❤️ and more!

Literary Analysis

Another important skill for middle schoolers is learning how to write a literary analysis essay . Literary analysis goes much deeper than just a simple summary. In fact, when writing a literary analysis essay, students can make an argument, dig deep into specific literary elements, or explore a theory they have about the text. 

In order to know how to write a literary analysis essay, students need to know how to analyze a text and find evidence to support their analysis. (I know, it’s easier said than done.) For example, students might notice a frequent symbol or craft that the author uses and decide to explore what it means or its purpose. Inside the Literary Analysis Booklet, I included pages on symbolism and author’s craft as a jumping-off point for students to brainstorm and analyze.

Another area I’ve seen students struggle with is the thesis statement. Because students often want to write literary analysis like a summary, they get stuck here. In the Literary Analysis Booklet, I give examples of thesis statements, along with a thesis formula and mistakes to avoid.

If the thought of teaching how to write a literary analysis essay is overwhelming to you, check out the Literary Analysis freebie! Inside, you’ll find –

❤️ summarizing vs. analyzing

❤️ literary analysis elements

❤️ how to annotate literature

❤️ in-depth overview of author’s craft

❤️ thesis statement guide

Narrative Writing

The final type of essay I want to focus on is narrative writing . Learning to write narrative essays is the way that students become really comfortable with their own storytelling voice. Personal narratives are often some of the first writing exposure students have in elementary school. As students get older, it’s tossed to the side for more analytical writing. Narrative essays provide the perfect opportunity for students to practice skills like adding details, vocabulary, and imagery. It allows them to give a touch of their personality and imagination.

One big perk to narrative writing is that you’ll have tons of examples to pull from. You can easily slip it alongside your reading unit. Students can use a book club or whole class text as an example of narrative writing – and then try to create their own.

My favorite part of narrative writing is that it reinforces what students have learned in their reading units. They will have to understand the plot and how a plot unfolds. This also involves students dipping into author’s craft by choosing a point of view, using figurative language, and developing character motives. It also means creating believable characters and dialogue. It can be tougher than it might first appear!

In my Narrative Writing Reference Booklet freebie, I’ve included all the foundation information students would need + examples of narrative essays for students to refer to. Inside the freebie, you’ll find –

❤️ elements of narrative writing

❤️ developing the plot of narrative writing

❤️ sensory details + examples

❤️ how to use dialogue

❤️ ways to start and end narrative writing + examples

I know that essay writing can be a head-banging experience (for both you and your students). My hope is that with the Writing Toolkit, you can make it easier for students to write independently and build a strong foundation for writing.

• Read more about: Middle School Writing

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Mentor Texts: When and How To Use Them in Your ELA Lessons

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by Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.  

A Plethora Of Writing Examples For Middle School (& High School)

October 14, 2014 in  Pedagogy

When I started my first job as a professional newspaper reporter (This job also served as an internship during my junior year in college — I just didn’t leave for about 6 years.), I quickly realized that all my experience, and all my years of journalism education had not been enough to help me write stories about drug busts, fatal car accidents and tornadoes. All the theoretical work I’d done, and all of the nifty little scholastic and collegiate stories I had done, did not prepare me for real world writing.

At that point, I had to find a solution quickly. After all, I had a deadline to meet, and it was only a few hours away.

One of my colleagues, who also served as a mentor, had the solution. She introduced me to the newspaper’s “morgue.” This was a room filled with filing cabinets in which we kept old — dead — stories arranged by reporter. Whenever I wasn’t’ sure how to write a story, all I had to do was check the morgue for similar stories. If I needed to write a story about a local drug bust, for example, I’d find another story on a similar incident, study its structure, and mentally create a formula in which to plugin the information I’d gathered.

Once I’d gained more experience, and had internalized the formula for that particular type of story, I felt free to branch out as the situation — and my training — warranted.

I do the same thing when I want to write a type of letter, brochure, or report that I’ve never written before.

This is what writing looks like in the real world.

Of course, if you’re a new teacher like me, there is one problem with providing mentor texts to my students: I have a dearth of middle school level writing sitting around in my file cabinets.

Fortunately, the Internet is full of sources, so I scoured the bowels of Google to find examples. I know how busy you are, so I’m sharing.

Expository writing examples for middle school

Below are several sources of expository writing samples for middle school students.

• The Write Source Expository Writing Samples
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Expository Essay Models

Finally, here is an article in the New York Times that will help you teach your students  real-world expository writing skills .

Descriptive writing examples for middle school

• Descriptive Writing Samples from Novels
• Milwaukee Public Schools Descriptive Essay Samples (p. 137)
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Descriptive Essay Models

Narrative writing examples for middle school

• Writing Samples by Steve Peha (PDF)
• The Write Source Narrative Writing Samples
• Oregon Department of Education Scored Writing Samples (Ideas and Organization)
• Oregon Department of Education Scored Writing Samples (Sentence Fluency and Conventions)
• Oregon Department of Education Scored Writing Samples (Voice and Word Choice)
• Oregon Department of Education High School Scored Narrative and Argumentative Writing Samples
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Narrative Essay Models

Argumentative/persuasive writing examples for middle school

• The Write Source Persuasive Writing Samples
• Holt, Rinehart, Winston Persuasive Essay Models

Reflective writing examples for middle school

• Reflective essay examples from Lake Washington Girls Middle School

If you know of any other online writing example sources, please feel free to share them in the comments below.

Related topics: Argumentative Writing , Informative Writing , Mentor Texts , Narrative Writing

About the author 

Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.

I am a secondary English Language Arts teacher, a University of Oklahoma student working on my doctorate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum with an concentration in English Education and co-Editor of the Oklahoma English Journal. I am constantly seeking ways to amplify students' voices and choices.

This is very, very helpful. Thank you for sharing!

As a new middle school teacher (coming from elementary) this was very helpful and encouraging.

Thank you very much for letting me know. I’m glad that I was able to help you!

Thank you! I’m glad I can help.

Your welcome

This is super helpful. Thank you!

These links are a fantastic help. Thank you!

This helped me BUNCHES! Thanks so much!

thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD

These links are now dead 🙁

Thank you for notifying me! I have updated the post to include new (live!) links. Some of them are geared towards high school, but I think we can still use them as exemplars of what we want our students to aim for.

Comments are closed.

5 Secrets for Helping Middle School Writers Succeed

Even though I spent 19 years as a middle school teacher, I frequently ask myself what makes a middle school writing classroom work. I know successful teaching is a series of flexible moving parts. I know it’s one part inspiration and a bigger part organization. I know that every middle school teacher struggles to achieve more good days than bad.

In  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , I share meaningful and practical ideas for using what I’ve learned about teaching writing in middle school. My aim is to validate what you already know and give you new ways to support students. I also point out obstacles to watch out for and ways around them, so you don’t sacrifice the integrity of your teaching or the writing lives of your students.

As teachers, our greatest challenge may not be understanding best practices, but implementing those practices in classrooms where writing skills vary, time is precious, and the demand for high test scores can smother even the most creative teaching. But take heart. Teaching writing well is not impossible. Here are 5 secrets I know work in middle school and will help your young writers succeed:

1.     The teacher must model how to learn.

If we want our students to write, we have to show them we are writers ourselves, which means opening ourselves up to scrutiny.

2.      Learning should be infectious.

Look for inspiration everywhere and revise you lesson plans accordingly to foster a fascination with language, not just an understanding of terms. Who knows where this might lead?

3.     Students must be active.

Engaging in lively activities, working in small groups, sitting on the floor, listening to music, using the computer, and talking about works in progress keep students moving, and therefore, learning.

4.     Students will work hard if we give them rigorous, relevant tasks.

Let students take a giant leap forward and come up with their own projects and use the skills they have learned over the years to accomplish it. What they write matters less than the fact that they choose to write with such passion and determination.

5.     Students deserve honest, detailed feedback.

Get serious about providing feedback. Students will appreciate your suggestions for making their writing smoother, clearer, and more interesting, and, like any serious writers, won’t always agree or follow them. But your students trust you to tell them the truth because they know your feedback, as difficult as it sometimes will be to convey, will help propel their work forward.

The secrets of writing, once locked away in the writing teacher’s vault, must be revealed and explored. How else will we sort out what works from what doesn’t? But you know this already. The writing lives of your middle school students depend on our getting it right.

To learn more about  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , you can purchase the book  here.

About the author:

Ruth Culham, Ed.D.,  has published more than 40 best-selling professional books and resources with Scholastic and the International Literacy Association on the traits of writing and teaching writing using reading as a springboard to success. Her steadfast belief that every student is a writer is the hallmark of her work. As the author of  Traits Writing: The Complete Writing Program for Grades K–8 (2012), she has launched a writing revolution.  Traits Writing  is the culmination of 40 years of educational experience, research, practice, and passion.

4 Activities to Help Middle School Students Uncover New Ideas for Writing

No matter how old you are, no matter how much writing you do, no matter how much you improve over time, finding ideas and writing about them clearly and compellingly is a challenge. Small wonder, then, that middle school writers find the ideas trait difficult to master.

Writing must make sense, and that’s what the ideas trait is all about—choosing a topic, narrowing it down, and supporting it with enough details to make the message clear and engaging. In  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , I outline the ideas trait’s 4 key qualities:

1.     Finding a topic

2.     Focusing the topic

3.     Developing the topic

4.     Using details

The following activities will help your students develop these qualities. Each is a creative, classroom-tested idea that allows students to try out skills and strategies that you share in warm-ups and focus lessons. These activities can take 5 minutes or 50, depending on your students’ needs and interest levels, and can be carried out by students independently or in small groups.

Finding a topic | Writer’s Notebooks

Often, the best topics are the ones students come up with themselves. As you work with students, encourage them to jot down in a notebook possible ideas for use in writing later—ideas that occur to them during science, social studies, health, fine arts, or English, or in everyday life. Let students select a notebook that makes them feel comfortable. Keep your own notebook and model how you jot down ideas for writing, words and phrases you like, intriguing information and observations, and questions to ponder.

Focusing the topic | The Best and the Worst Activity

Have your students brainstorm a list of real-world jobs that require a great deal of writing: a writer for a late-night talk show, a fund-raiser for a charity, a developer of video games, an author of children’s books, and so on. Write the jobs on a chart. Divide the class into small groups and assign one of the jobs to each group. Ask group members to prepare a panel presentation explaining the best and worst parts of the job and present it to the class, using some sort of visual aid that illustrates key points, such as a chart or diagram. Hang their creations in a prominent place for everyone to read and think about. This activity teaches students that writing is a big part of most professions—a lesson they will come to learn on their own soon enough.

Developing the topic | Top-Ten List

Ask students to write a top-ten list of things every adult should know about middle school students. Encourage them to develop each point in a fun, truthful, and interesting way. Here are examples of 2 developed points:

We don’t like to be told what to do. But if you don’t tell us, we won’t do it. And even when you do tell us, many times we don’t do it unless you get mean about it. We’re kinda flakey.

Remembering to put our names on our papers is harder than being blindfolded and sending a text message with our thumbs.

Using details | Getting Into the Details Activity

Give students a general statement, such as “I love Friday,” and ask them to work with a partner to brainstorm at least 10 details that explain why Friday is their favorite school day. Have pairs share those details with the whole class and make one long list. Now ask students to select their favorite details, at least 5 but no more than 10, and choose the one they consider the most important. From there, have pairs write a paragraph describing all the great things about Friday, emphasizing one detail they feel is most important. When they’re finished, ask students to put their paragraphs on their desks and invite their classmates to walk about and read them. Later, discuss the techniques students used to focus the reader’s attention on one detail more than others.

The time you spend teaching students where ideas come from and how to develop them effectively is critical to their success as writers. Finding a topic, focusing it, developing it, and using precise details to support it is where the writing begins.

Learn more about the ideas trait and other traits critical to writing success with  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School . You can purchase the book  here .

Reading Worksheets, Spelling, Grammar, Comprehension, Lesson Plans

Types of Essays

Learn about different types of essays here. We have examples of different kinds of essays, definitions of different kinds of essays. With this resource you’ll have no problem distinguishing between different kinds of essays.

Putting your ideas into writing can be challenging, but the structure of an essay can help you organize and express your thoughts more clearly. An essay can vary in length, but it is typically a nonfiction piece of writing organized into paragraphs that includes a clear introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Different types of essays are useful for communicating information, persuading an audience, sharing a personal story, or analyzing the various aspects of a piece of literature or art or a moment in history or politics. The ability to write a clear, structured essay is a skill students typically begin to build during their grade school and high school years. College courses will continue to build this skill so that students can write longer and more complicated types of essays and be better prepared to transfer these skills into professional settings or the pursuit of graduate degrees.

When writing an essay, it’s important to understand which type of essay format will work best for your topic. Read on for a brief description of some of the most common types of essays.

Expository Essays

One of the most common types of essays are at your disposal, the expository essay is used when the writer wants to clearly communicate information. An expository essay can be strictly informative, such as a research report, but expository types of essays can also include examples and analysis to support a larger point. When writing expository types of essays, you can tailor your essays in several different ways. Two of the most common approaches are the “compare and contrast” essay and the “cause and effect” essay. The compare and contrast types of essays are structured to allow the writer to present information and examples and then point out the similarities and differences. This is a good way to provide information without inserting any opinion or argument. The cause and effect essay also relies on the presentation of information, but the information is typically structured to explain the root cause of a later effect. This type of essay is useful when providing background information on a historical topic and can even be appropriate for constructing lab reports in some science courses.

Descriptive Essays

While less common in high school and college, descriptive types of essays are frequently used as a way to begin thinking creatively in elementary and middle school classrooms. A descriptive essay uses creative language to bring the subject of the essay to life. These types of essays can focus on a person, a place, an animal, a moment in time — there are nearly limitless possibilities for a descriptive essay. Descriptive essays typically rely on figurative language to capture the reader’s interest and can be a great opportunity for students to apply some of the more interesting tools in their writing tool kits, including simile , metaphor and personification .

Narrative Essays

A narrative essay can focus on the writer’s personal experience or take a close look at someone else’s experience. These essays typically sound similar to a fictional story in that they have a clear beginning, middle and end and usually include some sort of main event that prompts new understanding or a change in the subject of the essay. A narrative style offers more room to bring in emotion and unique descriptive details than an expository essay, but it usually includes more of a “story” than a descriptive essay. Prompts for narrative types of essays often ask students to consider an important moment in their lives and then create an essay that walks the reader through that moment.

Argumentative (Persuasive) Essays

Argumentative types of essays are all about presenting an opinion to readers and backing it up with evidence to persuade them to agree with your position. Argumentative types of essays, also known as persuasive essays, can be used to discuss an opinion on a work of literature, art or film or to discuss a current event or moment in history. The main feature of this type of essay is a clearly articulated argument in the first paragraph of the essay. This is often called the “thesis statement” of the essay. The goal of an argumentative essay is to include enough evidence and explanation to prove that the argument in the opening paragraph is sound. Writers do this by providing evidence, explaining the source and credibility of the evidence, and even explaining why the counter-argument is not believable. These essays should have a clear conclusion that summarizes the argument and makes a final appeal to the reader to consider and accept the writer’s opinion.

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Our 2020-21 Writing Curriculum for Middle and High School

A flexible, seven-unit program based on the real-world writing found in newspapers, from editorials and reviews to personal narratives and informational essays.

Update, Aug. 3, 2023: Find our 2023-24 writing curriculum here.

Our 2019-20 Writing Curriculum is one of the most popular new features we’ve ever run on this site, so, of course, we’re back with a 2020-21 version — one we hope is useful whether you’re teaching in person , online , indoors , outdoors , in a pod , as a homeschool , or in some hybrid of a few of these.

The curriculum detailed below is both a road map for teachers and an invitation to students. For teachers, it includes our writing prompts, mentor texts, contests and lesson plans, and organizes them all into seven distinct units. Each focuses on a different genre of writing that you can find not just in The Times but also in all kinds of real-world sources both in print and online.

But for students, our main goal is to show young people they have something valuable to say, and to give those voices a global audience. That’s always been a pillar of our site, but this year it is even more critical. The events of 2020 will define this generation, and many are living through them isolated from their ordinary communities, rituals and supports. Though a writing curriculum can hardly make up for that, we hope that it can at least offer teenagers a creative outlet for making sense of their experiences, and an enthusiastic audience for the results. Through the opportunities for publication woven throughout each unit, we want to encourage students to go beyond simply being media consumers to become creators and contributors themselves.

So have a look, and see if you can find a way to include any of these opportunities in your curriculum this year, whether to help students document their lives, tell stories, express opinions, investigate ideas, or analyze culture. We can’t wait to hear what your students have to say!

Each unit includes:

Writing prompts to help students try out related skills in a “low stakes” way.

We publish two writing prompts every school day, and we also have thematic collections of more than 1,000 prompts published in the past. Your students might consider responding to these prompts on our site and using our public forums as a kind of “rehearsal space” for practicing voice and technique.

Daily opportunities to practice writing for an authentic audience.

If a student submits a comment on our site, it will be read by Times editors, who approve each one before it gets published. Submitting a comment also gives students an audience of fellow teenagers from around the world who might read and respond to their work. Each week, we call out our favorite comments and honor dozens of students by name in our Thursday “ Current Events Conversation ” feature.

Guided practice with mentor texts .

Each unit we publish features guided practice lessons, written directly to students, that help them observe, understand and practice the kinds of “craft moves” that make different genres of writing sing. From how to “show not tell” in narratives to how to express critical opinions , quote or paraphrase experts or craft scripts for podcasts , we have used the work of both Times journalists and the teenage winners of our contests to show students techniques they can emulate.

“Annotated by the Author” commentaries from Times writers — and teenagers.

As part of our Mentor Texts series , we’ve been asking Times journalists from desks across the newsroom to annotate their articles to let students in on their writing, research and editing processes, and we’ll be adding more for each unit this year. Whether it’s Science writer Nicholas St. Fleur on tiny tyrannosaurs , Opinion writer Aisha Harris on the cultural canon , or The Times’s comics-industry reporter, George Gene Gustines, on comic books that celebrate pride , the idea is to demystify journalism for teenagers. This year, we’ll be inviting student winners of our contests to annotate their work as well.

A contest that can act as a culminating project .

Over the years we’ve heard from many teachers that our contests serve as final projects in their classes, and this curriculum came about in large part because we want to help teachers “plan backwards” to support those projects.

All contest entries are considered by experts, whether Times journalists, outside educators from partner organizations, or professional practitioners in a related field. Winning means being published on our site, and, perhaps, in the print edition of The New York Times.

Webinars and our new professional learning community (P.L.C.).

For each of the seven units in this curriculum, we host a webinar featuring Learning Network editors as well as teachers who use The Times in their classrooms. Our webinars introduce participants to our many resources and provide practical how-to’s on how to use our prompts, mentor texts and contests in the classroom.

New for this school year, we also invite teachers to join our P.L.C. on teaching writing with The Times , where educators can share resources, strategies and inspiration about teaching with these units.

Below are the seven units we will offer in the 2020-21 school year.

September-October

Unit 1: Documenting Teenage Lives in Extraordinary Times

This special unit acknowledges both the tumultuous events of 2020 and their outsized impact on young people — and invites teenagers to respond creatively. How can they add their voices to our understanding of what this historic year will mean for their generation?

Culminating in our Coming of Age in 2020 contest, the unit helps teenagers document and respond to what it’s been like to live through what one Times article describes as “a year of tragedy, of catastrophe, of upheaval, a year that has inflicted one blow after another, a year that has filled the morgues, emptied the schools, shuttered the workplaces, swelled the unemployment lines and polarized the electorate.”

A series of writing prompts, mentor texts and a step-by-step guide will help them think deeply and analytically about who they are, how this year has impacted them, what they’d like to express as a result, and how they’d like to express it. How might they tell their unique stories in ways that feel meaningful and authentic, whether those stories are serious or funny, big or small, raw or polished?

Though the contest accepts work across genres — via words and images, video and audio — all students will also craft written artist’s statements for each piece they submit. In addition, no matter what genre of work students send in, the unit will use writing as a tool throughout to help students brainstorm, compose and edit. And, of course, this work, whether students send it to us or not, is valuable far beyond the classroom: Historians, archivists and museums recommend that we all document our experiences this year, if only for ourselves.

October-November

Unit 2: The Personal Narrative

While The Times is known for its award-winning journalism, the paper also has a robust tradition of publishing personal essays on topics like love , family , life on campus and navigating anxiety . And on our site, our daily writing prompts have long invited students to tell us their stories, too. Our 2019 collection of 550 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing is a good place to start, though we add more every week during the school year.

In this unit we draw on many of these resources, plus some of the 1,000-plus personal essays from the Magazine’s long-running Lives column , to help students find their own “short, memorable stories ” and tell them well. Our related mentor-text lessons can help them practice skills like writing with voice , using details to show rather than tell , structuring a narrative arc , dropping the reader into a scene and more. This year, we’ll also be including mentor text guided lessons that use the work of the 2019 student winners.

As a final project, we invite students to send finished stories to our Second Annual Personal Narrative Writing Contest .

DECEMBER-January

Unit 3: The Review

Book reports and literary essays have long been staples of language arts classrooms, but this unit encourages students to learn how to critique art in other genres as well. As we point out, a cultural review is, of course, a form of argumentative essay. Your class might be writing about Lizzo or “ Looking for Alaska ,” but they still have to make claims and support them with evidence. And, just as they must in a literature essay, they have to read (or watch, or listen to) a work closely; analyze it and understand its context; and explain what is meaningful and interesting about it.

In our Mentor Texts series , we feature the work of Times movie , restaurant , book and music critics to help students understand the elements of a successful review. In each one of these guided lessons, we also spotlight the work of teenage contest winners from previous years.

As a culminating project, we invite students to send us their own reviews of a book, movie, restaurant, album, theatrical production, video game, dance performance, TV show, art exhibition or any other kind of work The Times critiques.

January-February

Unit 4: Informational Writing

Informational writing is the style of writing that dominates The New York Times as well as any other traditional newspaper you might read, and in this unit we hope to show students that it can be every bit as engaging and compelling to read and to write as other genres. Via thousands of articles a month — from front-page reporting on politics to news about athletes in Sports, deep data dives in The Upshot, recipes in Cooking, advice columns in Style and long-form investigative pieces in the magazine — Times journalists find ways to experiment with the genre to intrigue and inform their audiences.

This unit invites students to take any STEM-related discovery, process or idea that interests them and write about it in a way that makes it understandable and engaging for a general audience — but all the skills we teach along the way can work for any kind of informational writing. Via our Mentor Texts series, we show them how to hook the reader from the start , use quotes and research , explain why a topic matters and more. This year we’ll be using the work of the 2020 student winners for additional mentor text lessons.

At the end of the unit, we invite teenagers to submit their own writing to our Second Annual STEM writing contest to show us what they’ve learned.

March-April

Unit 5: Argumentative Writing

The demand for evidence-based argumentative writing is now woven into school assignments across the curriculum and grade levels, and you couldn’t ask for better real-world examples than what you can find in The Times Opinion section .

This unit will, like our others, be supported with writing prompts, mentor-text lesson plans, webinars and more. We’ll also focus on the winning teenage writing we’ve received over the six years we’ve run our related contest.

At a time when media literacy is more important than ever, we also hope that our annual Student Editorial Contest can serve as a final project that encourages students to broaden their information diets with a range of reliable sources, and learn from a variety of perspectives on their chosen issue.

To help students working from home, we also have an Argumentative Unit for Students Doing Remote Learning .

Unit 6: Writing for Podcasts

Most of our writing units so far have all asked for essays of one kind or another, but this spring contest invites students to do what journalists at The Times do every day: make multimedia to tell a story, investigate an issue or communicate a concept.

Our annual podcast contest gives students the freedom to talk about anything they want in any form they like. In the past we’ve had winners who’ve done personal narratives, local travelogues, opinion pieces, interviews with community members, local investigative journalism and descriptions of scientific discoveries.

As with all our other units, we have supported this contest with great examples from The Times and around the web, as well as with mentor texts by teenagers that offer guided practice in understanding elements and techniques.

June-August

Unit 7: Independent Reading and Writing

At a time when teachers are looking for ways to offer students more “voice and choice,” this unit, based on our annual summer contest, offers both.

Every year since 2010 we have invited teenagers around the world to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists and, so far, 70,000 have. Every week for 10 weeks, we ask participants to choose something in The Times that has sparked their interest, then tell us why. At the end of the week, judges from the Times newsroom pick favorite responses, and we publish them on our site.

And we’ve used our Mentor Text feature to spotlight the work of past winners , explain why newsroom judges admired their thinking, and provide four steps to helping any student write better reader-responses.

Because this is our most open-ended contest — students can choose whatever they like, and react however they like — it has proved over the years to be a useful place for young writers to hone their voices, practice skills and take risks . Join us!

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8 Truths About Teaching Writing to Middle Schoolers

Middle school writers are full of imagination and creativity, and teachers can honor that while teaching writing conventions.

There’s something extraordinary about middle school writers.

Maybe it’s the tension of existing between childhood and adulthood and their ability to articulate this tension. Maybe it’s their fully intact imaginations and natural inclination to creatively express themselves. Whatever it is, they’re capable of astounding us and each other if we teach them well.

What I’ve learned to be true about teaching writing to middle schoolers is rooted in the importance of both coaching them on the conventions of writing in English and giving them room to be who they are.

What I’ve Learned

1. Choice is crucial, but students need help choosing: When students are able to follow their interests and curiosity, it’s more likely that their writing will be honest and compelling. However, if left to their own devices, students sometimes begin writing about topics that don’t lead them anywhere.

Before writing, students should brainstorm and have the opportunity to talk with you—and their peers, if possible—about their ideas. They’ll need your help discerning which idea would yield the most engaging writing for them. Your guidance is invaluable.

2. Clichés are fantastic for teaching creative expression: Middle schoolers often use clichés, in the belief that using them makes their writing better. When we define clichés for them and explain the better choice of describing familiar things in fresh, unique ways, students begin taking more risks in their writing.

A colleague gave me the idea to create a cliché graveyard for my classroom—a poster cut into the shape of a gravestone that we add clichés to as we identify them. This makes hunting for clichés fun, and each time we bury a cliché, students come up with new creative descriptions. Theirs are always better.

3. Simple rubrics make a huge difference: Rubrics let students know what you’re looking for in their writing, and middle schoolers are most attentive to rubrics that include as little text as possible.

I list vertically the five to 10 elements (title, lead, thesis, etc.) that I assess on the left side of the rubric, and horizontally along the top I include four simple categories: AWESOME, Pretty good!, OK..., and a crying emoji. More text can overwhelm students and limit you when you’re grading.

4. Students should interview published writers: Middle schoolers learn a ton about the craft of writing when given opportunities to interview published writers. Thankfully, many writers are happy to visit classrooms and meet with students for free. Visits by video call also work.

Before a visit, students should read a small selection of the writer’s work and prepare five to 10 questions on that work and the writer’s process. As a class, they should ask their questions and take notes on what the writer says. It’s amazing how much ground they can cover in one class.

5. They need to name their strengths and weaknesses: When meeting with students one on one, begin by asking them to identify the strengths and weaknesses of whatever piece they’re working on. Students can often name the strengths of their writing, but you still need to encourage them to be specific: “What makes this sentence work well?”

It’s more difficult for them to name weaknesses. “I just don’t like this part,” they’ll say. Again, your job is to help them be specific.

The more students are encouraged to name the strengths and weaknesses of their writing, the more self-sufficient they become as writers.

6. We can embrace the quirks: It’s important to teach students the terminology and structures of English grammar so that they understand what you mean when you discuss the makeup of a sentence. And generally a writer should know the rules of the language before breaking them.

However, middle schoolers sometimes create sentences with peculiar characteristics that look and sound striking but are grammatically incorrect. Because they haven’t fully internalized English grammar, they’re still playful with the language.

On these occasions, I’ve found it helpful to allow them to break the rules but also let them know how they’re doing so. This way, grammatical conventions aren’t forgotten—they’re purposefully ignored to help students develop a voice on the page.

7. Letting them try on different writing styles is invaluable: A great way to help students develop their writing voices is to let them imitate others. When students read short pieces by authors with distinctive voices and as a class identify how—on the sentence level—the writing is unique and interesting, they learn practical ways to infuse writing with personality.

If given opportunities to use these styles in their own writing, students are one step closer to understanding how to make their written work more representative of who they are.

8. They need to consistently ask themselves two questions: Middle schoolers often leave important ideas off the page because they either assume you know they’re talking about or haven’t pushed themselves to think critically about what they’re saying.

If during class and in your comments you consistently challenge students to answer “How?” and “Why?” they learn to be more thoughtful and thorough in all of their writing. These simple metacognitive questions lead to fuller, more sophisticated thought processes for them and stronger pieces of writing for others to read.

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Ultimate Middle School Guide to Essay Writing

A middle school is basically a place when you finally dip your toes into a real academic program. Compared to elementary school, it is no longer all about playing and having fun. Now begins the real education and it requires much more patience and effort to succeed.

Entering middle school, pupils face many subjects for the first time. And, they face many new types of assignments for the first time as well. One such assignment is an essay.

While you could’ve been assigned essays in elementary school, trust us – it is not the same. A middle school essay is way more complicated and demanding, so it is important to know how to handle it.

Middle School Essay: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide

If you were assigned to write a middle school essay but have not the slightest clue where to start, pluck up the courage and get ready to do some work. Whether you need assignment assistance from CopyCrafter or you’re ready to dive in yourself, we’ve got you covered. To help you get on the right track, we’ve prepared a detailed guide on how to tackle the task and get the best results.

Grasp the Basics

Before you dive right into the process, take a moment to understand the basic requirements. As a rule, a teacher will provide you with all the instructions.

Some of such basics may include:

• Type of essay
• Suggested structure
• Format, etc.

As soon as you know and understand all these details, you can move on.

Learn to Use Available Tools to Your Benefit

Before you get straight to writing, think of the tools you have that make the process simple and enjoyable.

Some basic tools you will need are a laptop or a pen with a paper, and access to the Internet. However, there are many other handy tools. For example, if you know that you are getting distracted easily, you might want to get yourself some distraction blocking software.

Some other tools to use are text editors. They will make the process much simpler.

Finally, keep in mind that there are such resources as https://essaywriterservice.com/ that also can come in handy. Such services employ professional essay writers and help students handle their tasks with no effort.

Choose Your Topic

In many cases, you will have a specific topic assigned to you by a teacher. However, it is also not uncommon to be given a choice of a topic . If the latter is your case, you need to approach this choice with the utmost attention.

First of all, when picking the topic, you should keep in mind your purpose. Depending on the assigned type of paper, you may need to take your essay in a certain direction. So, it is an important factor.

Also, it is vital to consider your interests. The truth is that the best academic papers are written by students who are genuinely interested in what they are writing about. You can also check it at test-done.com . But, at the same time keep in mind that it should be engaging for the audience as well.

Finally, it is important to pick a topic that has the perfect scope. This means that it shouldn’t be too broad or, on the contrary, too narrow.

Next, you need to learn more about the selected topic and find trusted sources of information. Ideally, you should conduct your research in a library. Books are proven to be the most reliable sources.

However, if you still decide to do research online, here are the two key tips we have for you:

• Always question the validity of obtained data and double-check facts across different sources.
• Use the right tools for online research such as academic databases like Google Scholar.
• If you follow these tips you will handle the research stage easily and effectively.

Organize Your Thoughts and Sources

The next step is brainstorming. During this stage, one must lay out all the ideas and information they have and think about how to organize them right in a paper.

The main tips for this stage are to always ensure a logical flow of information, avoid contradictions, and think of smooth transitions between different ideas. Another handy tip is to organize your points by their value. Consider placing the most convincing ideas or arguments close to the beginning of your essay and follow them with less significant ones.

Make an Outline

It can feel frightening to get started on your essay. And, it gets especially scary when you are not too experienced in handling such tasks. But, there is a way to reduce stress. You should create a detailed outline of your work!

Outlining gives plenty of benefits. It helps to follow the right structure. Also, it ensures that all your ideas and arguments will be just in the right places and that you won’t miss out on anything. Finally, writing is just much simpler when you have a plan. So do not neglect this step!

Create Your Thesis

First of all, when you get to writing, you need to develop a strong thesis statement . A thesis statement is your core argument. It is what you are going to prove throughout the paper. Thus, it should be very clear and specific, define your position on the topic, and also be concise.

Write the Paper

When the thesis is ready, move on to writing. At this stage, be sure to strictly follow the plan you already have. You can tackle your paragraphs one by one starting with the introduction to body paragraphs, and finishing with a conclusion.

However, it is often recommended to start with the body of the text. The thing is that both the introduction and conclusion are really tied up onto the body paragraphs. Thus, in order to make them logical, many experts advise to handle them last.

Lastly, the final stages of the work are proofreading and editing. Before getting started, be sure to let your essay rest for a few hours or even a day. Then, come back to it with a fresh outlook. Carefully check the work for grammar, punctuation, style, formatting, and other errors that might be present.

A good tip is to let someone else read your paper before the submission. Another person, for example, a friend or family member, can notice some mistakes you’ve missed.

Chase the Write Dream is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Middle School Essay Types

Lee grayson, 26 sep 2017.

Most education curriculum builds on language arts basics taught beginning in elementary school, and middle school essay lessons prepare students for more sophisticated writing assignments in high school. Middle school students learn the essay basics of describing, demonstrating, storytelling, summarizing and persuading. Instructors typically assign essay formats that ask for narrative writing, where writers tell a story, and advance to more complicated writing, including persuasive topics that require students to state and defend a position.

Explore this article

• Informative Prompts
• Descriptive Essays
• Demonstration and How-To Topics
• Narrative or Storytelling Essays
• Persuasive Writing

1 Informative Prompts

Informative essays provide general information for the reader. Informative essay topics geared toward middle school students focus on student hobbies and activities such as information about the history of football, skateboarding or gymnastics. Middle school history and science teachers frequently require informative writing to help students learn to use research. Sample topics for this essay type include biographies of famous politicians and informative accounts of important scientists and inventors.

2 Descriptive Essays

The descriptive essay type asks middle school students to write about an object, person, situation, experience, emotion or place from a personal perspective. Students use more personal interpretation in this writing assignment compared to the informative essay. Descriptive essays help students develop vivid language skills and incorporates description that uses the student's senses. Essays written in the storytelling format typically spend less time on details compared with the descriptive assignment. Sample middle school topics ask students to write about favorite clothing, most embarrassing experiences and times when the student felt strong emotions such as fear or anger.

3 Demonstration and How-To Topics

Demonstration essay topics follow the how-to format and explain a process. Middle school writing assignments for this essay type ask students to select a prompt to write about a process that the student feels comfortable completing. Authors with experience in cooking or sports frequently select topics demonstrating how to cook pasta or kick a field goal. The topics have a narrow focus so that students can complete the demonstration process in the number of words required by the assignment. Overly general topics, such as how to cook meals, take too long to detail, while topics too focused, such as how to dial a phone, fail to offer enough information for the student to write a well-developed essay.

4 Narrative or Storytelling Essays

The narrative essay type used in middle school classes ask students to tell a story or describe a student experience. Students learn the skills to develop an essay with a distinct beginning, middle and ending, so some teachers use this type of essay as an early assignment for middle school classes. Narrative prompts ask students to create a logical organization for the reader. Sample assignment topics include describing an important time when the student had to make a decision, events that happened on a trip or vacation and a recreation of an event from history.

5 Persuasive Writing

Middle school students typically write persuasive essays on prompts focused on topics the student deals with during an ordinary day. The author must develop an answer to the topic question asked or develop a position supporting or opposing a debatable prompt. Topics used in social studies classes for early middle school students ask for an opinion about the school punishments for truancy and misbehavior. Middle school students in language arts classes typically receive prompts that require writing essays defending personal interpretations of short stories or novels.

• 1 State College of Florida Collegiate School: Writing Prompts for Middle School
• 2 Purdue Online Writing Lab: Descriptive Essays
• 3 Roane State Community College: Types of Papers -- Narrative/Descriptive
• 4 Scholastic Teacher: The Perfect Paper -- Introduction to a Persuasive Essay
• 5 Heinemann Practical Units for Teaching Middle School Writers: Smart Writing -- Argument
• 6 CREATE for Mississippi: FYI -- An Introduction to Research

About the Author

Lee Grayson has worked as a freelance writer since 2000. Her articles have appeared in publications for Oxford and Harvard University presses and research publishers, including Facts On File and ABC-CLIO. Grayson holds certificates from the University of California campuses at Irvine and San Diego.

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5 Ways to Help Middle Schoolers Write Beyond the Bare Minimum

Help students go beyond the required word count to create great work.

Teaching writing is not for the faint of heart—especially in middle school! By this age, it’s harder to trick students into thinking writing is fun, and that eagerness to please grown ups may be ancient history. For many students, there is no amount of cajoling, pleading, or threatening that will produce a response other than, “I don’t know what to write.” They seem to want to write the minimum word count and move on to the next task at hand.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. There are ways to help kids slay the writing dragon while maintaining peace in your kingdom. Er, I mean, classroom.

1. Offer (lots of) word lists and graphic organizers.

This might seem obvious because we all know these supports make writing more accessible for students. But I’ve been in the classroom, and I know they aren’t used often enough. We need to do this as teachers, though. It’s our job to provide students with a battle plan (because writing is a battle for many kids). There are so many graphic organizers out there, and I recommend trying a few different ones to see what your students like. You also want to make word lists easily accessible. Don’t focus on big or fancy words. Instead, concentrate on offering alternatives to “dead” words like very, a lot, great, etc.

2. Embrace mentor texts.

This is a great way to spur reluctant writers into action because they aren’t starting with a blank slate. Mentor texts are a student’s armor as they attempt more sophisticated compositions, protecting students by giving them a guide to good writing while still requiring them to be creative and use their own words. Over the years I’ve used many mentor texts. One of my favorites is the first vignette from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The vignette holds the same title as the book itself, and it describes the different places the main character has lived in her life. Students can model their own writing after Cisneros’ vignette by describing the places they have lived and the people they’ve known in those places along the way.

3. Let the diversity of authors inspire your students.

4. incorporate current events..

Middle school students have lots of opinions, but they often don’t watch the news or get their information from reliable sources. Providing students with a current event article, pairing it with a video, (or song lyrics, or poem, or chapter from a novel or memoir) and then asking them to put down their thoughts really inspire some passionate writing. Current events texts can be paired with nearly any fictitious work to build students’ background knowledge, widen their world view, and yes, nudge them into broadening and deepening their writing lives.

5. Let them choose the adventure.

I know it’s not always possible to let students choose the type of writing they want to do, but when possible, it’s important to let them express themselves. This will definitely help them take ownership of their own work. Think about offering a menu so they have choices—for instance give options such as writing a poem, a chapter in their own memoir, song lyrics, a fictional short story, or even an informative nonfiction article using research (for your fact-loving students!). This will help students see that there are many ways to relate what they know.

Writing is hard, and for many students it can seem like an impossible feat that will never be conquered. However, having your own teacher arsenal of writing strategies and tools will help you lead your mighty army of authors to victory, time and time again. Now, go forth, and WRITE!

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25 Expository essay topics for Middle School by Category

Expository Essays explain a particular topic in a detailed, logical and straightforward manner. These types of essays are completely informative. They do not include any references or any opinion of the writer. The tone of an expository essay is kept neutral. Hence, while writing an expository essay you will be expected to illustrate, define, explain or clarify the topic in a way that the readers can easily understand it completely. You may provide arguments, conduct an investigation or evaluate things in order to provide a clear explanation to your readers.

Essay writing is an art. It is an essential skill to have which is why you’re going to require essay topics for Grade 7 , 8, 9, and 10. You may have to do a lot of creative writing in middle school . Writing is a must-have school and these activities in school prepare you for it.

Types of Expository Essays

• Descriptive Essay – describes a place, thing or an experience
• Problem-Solution Essay – presents a problem and its solution
• Cause-Effect Essay – finds the cause of something and its impact
• Comparison Essay – compares and contrasts two things
• Process Essay – explains a process

How to Choose a Topic for your Expository Essay?

The most difficult and important aspect of essay writing is choosing the ‘right topic’. Many times students choose a difficult topic for which they need to conduct a lot of research which however makes essay writing difficult. Here are 4 quick tips on picking up the right topic –

• Understand the purpose of writing the essay
• Brainstorm some ideas and hence make an informed choice
• Always conduct background research on the topic that you choose to understand its scope
• Start with an outline first! Do not start writing straight away.

Expository Essay Samples

To help you get a better idea of what an expository essay is, consider the samples given below –

Topic: How Students can spend Their Leisure Time

Students have got a lot to handle! From attending classes to completing assignments, and participating in extracurricular activities, the small amount of leisure time that remains for them should be utilized in the best way possible. Students must choose their activities wisely as the way they spend their leisure time can reflect upon their physical and mental well-being.

Sports and Exercises

With most activities being sedentary nowadays, students should find some time to indulge in any kind of sports activity or a workout routine of their choice. Studies have shown that continuous sitting can lead to adverse effects on the health of students. Hence exercise and sports are good choices for students.

Developing Hobbies

Gardening, reading, writing, drawing, painting, or even cooking, there are numerous hobbies to choose from. Students should find some time for pursuing their hobbies, exploring new ones and enhancing their skills as a part of their leisure activity. No one knows when your hobby becomes your passion and hence gives a pathway to your success!

Time to Relax!

It is essential for us to learn to quiet our minds in this busy world. Hence students should develop a habit to relax and practice mindfulness every day. They can pick up any activity for this like meditation, yoga, listening to music, or even sitting with their family and friends. It is crucial for students to stay calm and find time, particularly for them for their mental and spiritual well-being.

These activities can help students take control of their lives. Picking up an activity that does not involve intellect, that is unlike school activities, can help students find a balance in their life. They can relax, play, grow and discover their true potential only through proper utilization of their leisure time.

Expository Essay Topics

Got a gist of how to write an expository essay? Let us have a look at some easy yet interesting expository essays that you can use –

Descriptive Essay

1. Describe your School 2. Describe your Pet 3. How Diversity can affect a Classroom? 4. Why do we Celebrate Christmas? 5. When you saw Snow for the first time

Problem-Solution Essay

1. Many students do not watch the news. How can this be a matter of concern for them? Are there any solutions to this issue? 2. Animal Abuse and Its Solutions 3. Global Warming and Its Solutions 4. What is Deforestation? Why is it a serious issue? How can this issue be solved? 5. How can we make our Community a Better Place?

Cause-Effect Essay

1. How air Pollution is affecting our Health? 2. Bullying in Schools – Causes and Effects 3. Peer Pressure and its Effects 4. Effects of Using Social Media 5. How Poverty affects urban and rural areas

Comparison Essay

1. Compare your two favourite sportspersons 2. Compare your current house to your dream home 3. Compare your two favourite TV shows 4. Watches – then and now! 5. Compare a place you visited recently with your city

Process Essay

1. How to Make Friends 2. How to Study 3. How to Take Care of your Dog 4. How to Fix a Table Fan 5. How to Write a Diary Entry

Got some inspiration to start with your own essay? So why delay? Start wiring your essay today itself. We hope that these topics would have given you a fair idea of what topic you can choose for your expository essay. Happy Writing!

If you need help in writing essays or in the preparation for NAPLAN , you can find online English tutors  and  online Math tutors  on CrunchGrade .

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Student Writing Samples and Analysis for Elementary, Middle School, and High School: Complete Collection

How do you bring objectivity to teaching writing? Authentic student writing samples from state writing assessments are an excellent tool that helps teachers bring objectivity to teaching writing. Of course, it sure helps if the writing samples are accompanied by objective analysis, scoring, and commentary. You will find all of that and more on this page!

Many teachers evaluate their students’ writing progress by examining what they can get their students to produce as an end result. They look at what they can get their students to produce in a lesson, and they place great importance on what they can get their students to produce to place on a bulletin board. Certainly, I care about those things, too. But I primarily measure my students’ writing progress by examining and monitoring their independent writing. It’s not about what I can get them to do—it’s about what they do when left to their own devices.

We have three types of independent student writing:

1.   daily writing across the curriculum 2.   state and district writing assessments 3.   independent writing assignments

My purpose here is not to discuss independent student writing, but instead to explain why the following collection of objective, authentic student writing samples are so valuable and helpful. Usually, when we see samples of student writing (other than our own students’ writing), they are polished examples, and we have no idea of what went into creating them. How much time? How many drafts? Who guided the piece of writing? How much guiding? What forms of guidance?

In contrast, we all know exactly how these state writing assessment samples were created; we all know the exact writing situation in which these pieces of writing were created; we all know that no teacher had any influence on any of these pieces of writing once the assignment was given. This writing is what students produced when given plenty of time and left to their own devices.

An Awesome Collection of Released Student-Writing Samples with Analysis and Commentary

I have always linked to valuable collections of resources that I have come across that can help teachers teach writing and achieve success on writing assessments. Here are two of the best:

1.  Released Writing Prompts for State Testing

2.  State Writing Assessment Tools and Resources : This page contains links to all of these valuable resources from many state writing assessments: 1) released writing prompts, 2) scoring rubrics, 3) anchor papers, scoring commentary, student writing samples, 4) teacher guides and/or test directions, 5) and more!

Below you will find another collection of valuable resources—a collection of released student writing samples. Since creating Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay , I’ve interacted with teachers from all over the country—and even the world. A kind teacher up in Oregon who is using Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay sent me these links. She is thrilled that the number of her students scoring high on the Oregon State Writing Assessment has doubled since she began using the program.

This collection of released student writing samples has five great qualities:

1.   It includes writing samples for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

2.   It includes scoring analysis for every single essay in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

3.   It includes writing samples for four important genres: 1) expository, 2) narrative: personal, 3) narrative: imaginative, and 4) persuasive (starts in grade 5).

4.   It includes writing samples for five scoring levels: 1) low, 2) medium-low, 3) medium, 4) medium-high, and 5) high.

5.   In total, the collection contains about 325 pages of released student writing samples and scoring analysis!

Here’s the Collection!

Please Note: I used to link to the scoring guide and rubrics, but the files seem to have been moved. Truthfully, they are not necessary at all. Furthermore, you will find links to many excellent Six-Trait rubrics here , including the original Six Traits rubric from Oregon (where it all began).

This collection scores papers using the Six Traits of Writing: 1) Ideas and Content, 2) Organization, 3) Voice, 4) Word Choice, 5) Sentence Fluency, and 6) Conventions. Since the rise of the Common Core, Oregon has used a couple of different scoring models that use different traits, including a few genre-specific traits. However, this collection of student writing samples remains one of the best available.

•  Grade 3 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 4 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 5 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 6 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 7 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 8 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

•  Grade 9 There aren’t any.

•  Grade 10 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

Common Core Update: 686 Pages of K-12 Common Core Student Writing Samples

Are you interested in 686 pages of K-12 Common Core student writing samples? If you are, be sure to download this awesome collection! To be honest, I was surprised when I clicked on the link and discovered this wonderful bounty.

•  In Common: Effective Writing for All Students Collection of All Student Work Samples, K-12

Are You Interested in Paragraphs?

Now that you have your student writing samples, I pose this question to you: Do you want to understand how the best writers and the lowest scoring writers created their paragraphs on those writing samples? If you do, be sure to read the following two resources. The above collection of student writing samples played a role in both of these:

1.  Paragraph Length: How the Best Student Writers Create Paragraphs on State Writing Assessments   2.  The Ten Stages of Paragraph and Multi-Paragraph Mastery eBook

How to Use These Student Writing Samples to Teach Writing

“Habit #2: Start with the end in mind.” Stephen R. Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Primary Purpose: The primary purpose of these student writing samples is to help teachers become experts in analyzing student writing. Furthermore, these student writing samples help teachers figure out how to begin with the end in mind. Teachers must begin with the end in mind if they want their students’ writing to end up where they want it to be.

Furthermore, teachers can use these student writing samples in the classroom to teach students about creating, analyzing, and evaluating writing. Here are ten ideas to get you started:

1.   Choose and print out a few essays and commentary that you want to focus on.

2.   Examine the essays and commentary. What are your students doing correctly? What are your students not doing correctly? What do your students need to learn? Read the commentary and make a list of skills that you want to teach your students. Plan out how you are going to teach those skills.

3.   Use a Six-Trait rubric go over a number of essays with your students. (You will find links to many different Six-Trait rubrics here .) Teach your students what scorers are looking for. What makes for a high scoring essay and what makes for a low scoring essay? What went right with the high-scoring essays? What went wrong with the low-scoring essays?

4.   Create or find a few student-friendly rubrics . Have students score at least a few essays using these rubrics. Make sure your students understand the rubrics, and if you have the time, you may want to have your students help create a simple rubric.

5.   Compare and contrast the genres. This activity is a great way to show students different types of writing and different styles. Play the game, “Name the Genre.” What are the qualities and characteristics of the writing genre that you see in the sample essays? How can you tell it is a particular type of writing? (Note: “Name the Genre” is also an effective strategy to use with writing prompts, and in particular, with released writing prompts .)

6.   Have students compare and contrast essays that have different scores. Have students compare and contrast essays with the same scores but from different grades levels.

7.   Use the low scores to show your students how good their writing is. Use the high scores to show your students where they need to improve.

8.   Have students edit or build upon one of the sample essays. Take one of the low scoring essays and have your students transform it into a high scoring essay. You can do this with each genre of writing. Help your students see the similarities and the differences across different types of writing.

9.   Demonstrate how neatness matters. Some of the sample essays are messy. Even a few high scoring ones are messy. Discuss how difficult it can be for scorers to fairly assess messy writing. Note: Students will often see messy writing on a decent paper and think that the paper is a low scoring paper. Explain that while rubrics do help prevent this rush to judgment, they do not eliminate it. This exercise also helps illustrate how important rubrics are, and how students must, in one sense, write for the rubric.

10.   Show your students how all of the important writing skills that you have been teaching them are found in the high-scoring papers and are missing from the low-scoring papers.

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The 5 Most Commonly Taught Writing Styles

Writing is critical to every single subject. Even mathematics often calls for argumentation in written form , especially in disciplines such as statistics.

By placing a significantly higher emphasis on a variety of writing types, we can help address the challenges regarding student writing proficiency . This is especially important in the middle school years, when students are transitioning from the foundational skills they learned in elementary school to the deeper levels of thinking required in high school and beyond.

If you have a teaching degree, it’s likely you’ve already learned about or taught many of the following types of writing styles. Whether you’re familiar with all of them or need to brush up on several, there are guaranteed to be new approaches with which you’re not yet familiar. That’s the goal of this post: to give you the tools you need to maximize your students’ learning experience, writing skills and persuasive power.

A little time taken today can substantially improve the value of your writing exercises tomorrow, so read on!

The Most Common Types of Writing Styles

The most common types of writing styles differ from their intended purpose to their structure to the level of emotional appeal for which they call. Understanding how each of these categories contributes to each type of writing will help you teach students to express themselves more proficiently, as well as reach higher levels of proficiency on state and national tests.

Here are the five most common types of writing styles, a quick exploration of each and some new strategies for teaching them.

• NARRATIVE WRITING

We Are Teachers defines narrative writing as “writing that is characterized by a main character in a setting who engages with a problem or event in a significant way. As writing instruction goes, narrative writing encompasses a lot: author’s purpose, tone, voice, structure, in addition to teaching sentence structure, organization, and word choice.”

You can assign students a wide variety of narrative writing assignments, from personal narrative to fiction to “fan fiction,” or stories that use main characters from books students love. For instance, a student could write a short story about one of Harry Potter’s untold side adventures.

As the above definition indicates, there are a number of elements required in good narrative writing. To weave together a compelling story, students must choose:

• A theme, or the main “human” idea that they want to convey
• A main character with a minimum number of well-defined personality traits
• Side characters, if the length and complexity of the story allows (for instance, a narrative capstone project might have 2-3 secondary characters)
• A setting or multiple settings in which the story takes place
• A particular structure – the style in which they will tell their story – with the various narrative elements represented: dialogue, description, action
• Literary elements, such as symbolism, simile and metaphor
• Vocabulary words, depending on your desires and requirements as a teacher

Teaching students to weave all of these elements together will take time, which is why each lesson should cover no more than one of the above. As students check off each item, they can incorporate it with the ones above. Eventually, the result will be a well-fleshed-out story they can be proud to share with the class and their family.

• ANALYTICAL WRITING

Bloom’s Taxonomy , a friend to all teachers and critical pedagogical guide, lists analysis in the top half of the pyramid. That’s because the ability to look at a statement, argument, character or theme and decide whether or not it has merit – and why it does or does not – is a necessary skill in secondary school, college and career.

This ability requires first identifying and then dissecting the subject at hand, after which the student can offer an argument about its meaning and merit.That’s where analytical writing comes in.

As the Educational Testing Service explains about the GRE,

“The Analytical Writing measure tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills. It assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas, construct and evaluate arguments, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. It does not assess specific content knowledge.”

While one might assume that postgraduates taking entrance exams are at a significantly different learning point than middle schoolers (which they are), the similarities between the skills needed then and needed in 7th grade are nearly identical. In fact, having those skills in later life is largely dependent on middle school teachers developing them now.

Note, however, that analytical writing is not pure explanation or description (as we will encounter in the next writing style). Instead, it requires that students read and comprehend either fiction or nonfiction, explain what is happening, and then analyze a particular facet of what they’ve read.

Analytical writing requires developing a thesis that supports their main claim, backing it up with proof from the text, and concluding with a summary that wraps the two together.

As with all forms of writing, it’s important to teach this skill slowly, starting with reading critically, identifying a thesis, finding evidence and tying it together in a paper – as well as peer examination of others’ analytical writing. It is also helpful to give examples of analytical theses, such as:

• Mockingjays from The Hunger Games are symbols of freedom, because they are genetically engineered species that have broken free from the Capitol, just as Katniss has
• The main theme of To Build a Fire is that nature is merciless and unforgiving
• Anne Frank’s arguments against war are so powerful because she herself is devoid of hatred

Help students understand that while the analysis can be opinion-based, students do need to back up everything they say with passages from the reading.

• EXPOSITORY WRITING

Expository writing, as the title suggests, is predicated on exposition, or the description and explanation of a particular idea. Topics cover pretty much the entire gamut of human experience, from inventions to nature, emotions to politics, family to hobbies and more.

Teachers can challenge students to pick their own subjects or can give them categories from which to choose or assign specific subjects. Each of these options helps develop a different skill set in kids.

There exist a number of good ways to develop expository writing skills, suggests The New York Times .

For one thing, it’s time to ditch the tired five-paragraph essay and write from a more “authentic” place. That means placing primary emphasis not on an introduction, three-body exposition and conclusion, but rather on what the piece calls for. Encourage students to take as many paragraphs as they need to express their idea well, and to be creative in their intros and conclusions.

In teaching your students, ask them questions such as:

• What’s the “newsworthy” piece of this paper?
• How can you introduce your piece other than giving away that newsworthy element upfront?
• How can you conclude it without simply rehashing the above information?
• What techniques can you use to vary sentence structure and make for a more interesting read?
• How can you incorporate supporting material in an engaging way?

While some of the techniques may feel a little advanced at first, almost all of them can be broken down into simple directions that middle school students can make use of.

• PERSUASIVE WRITING

“Persuasive writing is a form of nonfiction writing that encourages careful word choice, the development of logical arguments, and a cohesive summary,” as Reading Rocket explains. Note that there are two main components of persuasive writing: logic and emotional appeal.

Logic comes first in persuasive writing. In order to have any chance of convincing people, students have to develop a sound premise. That means choosing a topic and backing it up with good logic.

Give them examples, such as: Everyone should keep their cats indoors, because there are many dangers to cats outside . They can then expand on these dangers (coyotes, racoons, rabies) to convince people.

Help students understand that this topic should have an opposing stance. Simply stating that ‘we shouldn’t do wrong things’ isn’t a good stance, because it’s too vague and no one would argue against it.

Next, it’s time to work in sympathy. Persuading people relies heavily on reaching them emotionally. Not only must your point make sense, but you need to make them feel what you’re saying in their hearts as well as their minds.

For this reason, students should choose a topic or stance about which they feel passionate. They can save more formal academic positions for argumentative writing.

Speaking of which: Argumentative writing is the close cousin of persuasive writing, though as we shall soon see, it is not the same thing.

• ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING

At first blush, many people confuse persuasive and argumentative writing. This is common among teachers as well as laypeople, so if you’re scratching your head, don’t feel bad.

The main difference between persuasive and argumentative writing, as Empowering Writers explains, is that:

“While persuasive writing can get by with a heartfelt emotional appeal or a well-defended opinion, argumentative writing must cite scientific studies, statistics and quotes from experts. It also highlights evidence that the author has generated with his/her own surveys and questionnaires.”

The good news is that, in teaching persuasive writing, you can simultaneously teach kids the scientific method and statistical analysis by having them design and examine the results of questionnaires. Adds the above source, “You’ll find that writing those questionnaires or surveys and collecting responses from their classmates is not only fun for kids, but it encourages active learning and positive social interaction.”

Argumentative writing, calls for several elements:

• A formal writing style, typically in the third person
• Well-researched facts from reliable sources (this, by the way, is a good time to discuss why sites like Wikipedia are good as a starting point but not as final sources)
• Argumentation predicated on those facts
• An overall claim of which the writer is trying to convince the reader

When designing argumentative writing curricula and lessons, introduce students to the structure slowly. Their instinct is typically toward arguing for what they believe based on emotional appeal, but you can point out that they’ll have a chance to do this with persuasive writing. Instead, lead them through the process with the following steps:

• Research an interest area
• Choose a position or argument based on the results of that research
• Collect sources (assign a specific number, usually around 3-5) from which to draw facts
• Craft the flow of the argument, from initial statement of position through supporting facts (one per paragraph is a good approach) to conclusion
• Conclude by both restating the argument and leaving the reader with a good reason to think about it, such as a story or quote

The Writing Way: Implement These Strategies Today

So why wait any longer to implement smart and relatively simple new strategies into your writing time? By selecting and teaching the above skills a little more often – not to mention weaving them into other subjects more often – you can substantially improve your students’ writing abilities.

One caveat, though: Don’t attempt to incorporate all of these strategies at once. You’re a teacher; you have a long career and many moldable minds ahead of you.

Take your time to deepen your familiarity with each type of writing one by one. Incorporate one new strategy per lesson plan, and no more. You can even work to develop your teaching approach to one style of writing per year to avoid teacher burnout .

And lastly, take heart. There is something you can do to help improve the state of the American education system, one lesson at a time, one paper at a time, one child at a time. Keep these tips in mind and do your best, and you’ll do just fine.

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We may update the content on this Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Information About You and Your Visits to the Website

All information we collect on this Website is subject to our Privacy Policy . By using the Website, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

Online Purchases and Other Terms and Conditions

All purchases through our site or other transactions for the sale of services and information formed through the Website or resulting from visits made by you are governed by our Terms of Sale, which are hereby incorporated into these Terms of Use.

Additional terms and conditions may also apply to specific portions, services, or features of the Website. All such additional terms and conditions are hereby incorporated by this reference into these Terms of Use.

Linking to the Website and Social Media Features

You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part without our express written consent.

This Website may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

• Link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on this Website.
• Send emails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on this Website.
• Cause limited portions of content on this Website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.

You may use these features solely as they are provided by us, and solely with respect to the content they are displayed with and otherwise in accordance with any additional terms and conditions we provide with respect to such features. Subject to the foregoing, you must not:

• Establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.
• Cause the Website or portions of it to be displayed on, or appear to be displayed by, any other site, for example, framing, deep linking, or in-line linking.
• Link to any part of the Website other than the homepage.
• Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on this Website that is inconsistent with any other provision of these Terms of Use.

The website from which you are linking, or on which you make certain content accessible, must comply in all respects with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.

You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to stop. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

Links from the Website

If the Website contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties (“ Linked Sites ”), these links are provided for your convenience only. This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links. You acknowledge and agree that we have no control over the contents, products, services, advertising or other materials which may be provided by or through those Linked sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to this Website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

You agree that if you include a link from any other website to the Website, such link will open in a new browser window and will link to the full version of an HTML formatted page of this Website. You are not permitted to link directly to any image hosted on the Website or our products or services, such as using an “in-line” linking method to cause the image hosted by us to be displayed on another website. You agree not to download or use images hosted on this Website or another website, for any purpose, including, without limitation, posting such images on another website. You agree not to link from any other website to this Website in any manner such that the Website, or any page of the Website, is “framed,” surrounded or obfuscated by any third party content, materials or branding. We reserve all of our rights under the law to insist that any link to the Website be discontinued, and to revoke your right to link to the Website from any other website at any time upon written notice to you.

Geographic Restrictions

The owner of the Website is based in the state of New Jersey in the United States. We provide this Website for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Website will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES, OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR AVAILABILITY OF THE WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE, OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, THE COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Limitation on Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE WEBSITE, ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO IT, ANY CONTENT ON THE WEBSITE OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company, its affiliates, licensors, and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Website, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions, any use of the Website’s content, services, and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or your use of any information obtained from the Website.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New Jersey without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of New Jersey or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use or the Website shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States or the courts of the State of New Jersey in each case located in the County of Monmouth although we retain the right to bring any suit, action, or proceeding against you for breach of these Terms of Use in your country of residence or any other relevant country. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts. You may not under any circumstances commence or maintain against us any class action, class arbitration, or other representative action or proceeding.

Arbitration

By using this Website, you agree, at Company’s sole discretion, that it may require you to submit any disputes arising from the use of these Terms of Use or the Website, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination, to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying New Jersey law. In doing so, YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend any claims between you and us. YOU ALSO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR OTHER CLASS PROCEEDING. Your rights may be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR, NOT A JUDGE OR JURY. You are entitled to a fair hearing before the arbitrator. The arbitrator can grant any relief that a court can, but you should note that arbitration proceedings are usually simpler and more streamlined than trials and other judicial proceedings. Decisions by the arbitrator are enforceable in court and may be overturned by a court only for very limited reasons.

Any proceeding to enforce this arbitration provision, including any proceeding to confirm, modify, or vacate an arbitration award, may be commenced in any court of competent jurisdiction. In the event that this arbitration provision is for any reason held to be unenforceable, any litigation against Company must be commenced only in the federal or state courts located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. You hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of those courts for such purposes.

Limitation on Time to File Claims

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE WEBSITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES, OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by the Company of any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Company to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and Terms of Sale constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and Marco Learning LLC regarding the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations, and warranties, both written and oral, regarding the Website.

Communications and Miscellaneous

If you provide us your email address, you agree and consent to receive email messages from us. These emails may be transaction or relationship communications relating to the products or services we offer, such as administrative notices and service announcements or changes, or emails containing commercial offers, promotions or special offers from us.

Your Comments and Concerns

This website is operated by Marco Learning LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company with an address of 113 Monmouth Road, Suite 1, Wrightstown, New Jersey 08562.

Please contact us   for all other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications relating to the Website.