How to Write an Essay | Middle School ELA Mini Lessons

"I get more exercise in your class than in P.E.!"

It's not every day I hear this comment while teaching a writing mini lesson, but since starting my Write Bites routine in my middle school ELA class, I've been hearing more and more like it!

Often our middle school students come to us thinking that writing essays is boring, tedious, and difficult.

It doesn't have to be that way!

✨This fully editable slide deck includes 170 teaching slides to show students (in an interactive, kinesthetic, FUN way) how to write each part of an essay.✨

How does it work?

For each essay skill or term, students view . . .

➡️A slide that explains the CORRECT way to write

➡️A slide that explains what NOT to do

➡️3 Example slides with instructions for how to vote on whether the example is CORRECT or INCORRECT - these voting instructions are often active, a bit noisy, or even silly

➡️Answer slides

These interactive mini lessons break up the monotony of a typical slide presentation. Students actually look forward to the writing lesson each day!

Which parts of an essay are included in this slide deck?

• Thesis Statement
• Topic Sentence
• Reasoning
• Evidence
• Evidence Stems
  • “That” Clause
  • Reporting Verb
  • “According to . . . ”
  • Part of the Sentence

• Explanation of Evidence
• Hooks
  • Quote
  • Unexpected Fact
  • Anecdote
  • Controversial Statement
  • Kidding Around
• Intro Paragraphs
• Conclusions

Does your school use different terminology?

✨Don't worry! All 170 slides are completely editable in Canva so they can meet your students' specific needs.✨

Don't have a Canva account? You can sign up for free!

What will I receive if I purchase these writing lessons?

You will receive a pdf with a link to a Canva document that includes all 170 writing slides. When you click on that link, you will be directed to edit that template. You can use the slides as they are or edit them to meet your needs