Skills, Structures, & Strategies for Non-Fiction Writing by Penny Kittle

pennykittle — 2023-10-04 21:25:06 UTC

Rule Yourself

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Notebook Tour example

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Notebook Tour Questions

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11 Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing Instruction

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Jasmine Bazemore, high school

pennykittle — 2025-01-31 19:08:18 UTC

Left vs. Right POLITICS explained

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What is the Best Dog?

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The ultimate data dog...

What can you take to actually improve sports performance according to science?

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Three Years of the Russian-Ukraine War

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World's Most Popular Artist

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Life Skills to Master

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"I Wrote My Way Out"

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MENTOR TEXT: An informational article annotated by the author to show his decision-making

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Book Clubs help students study informational writing more deeply

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Whole text of informational essay used in pre and post assessments

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A short, important reflection on what ChatGPT cannot do.... from poet Phil Kaye

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San Quentin Giants

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:11:46 UTC

This mini-documentary makes bold claims: "baseball is like life, like 'doing time'...you have to have patience." The viewer has to make the comparisons. Check it out. Subtle and smart.

The Best Tomato Sandwich

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:13:01 UTC

https://www.southernliving.com/culture/celebrities/rick-bragg/rick-bragg-tomato-sandwich

In Uvalde, should Little League go on? This makes a case for it (+ a terrific title for the piece.)

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:14:20 UTC

Every parent should know this one...

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:15:30 UTC

It's Quitting Season!

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:15:41 UTC

I wrote this while teaching argument this semester and have submitted it to our local paper.

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Why Can't a Smart Woman Love Fashion? by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:16:51 UTC

Why We Shouldn't Shield Children From Darkness by Matt de la Peña

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:17:22 UTC

https://time.com/5093669/why-we-shouldnt-shield-children-from-darkness/

Informational + some argument

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:19:40 UTC

Good model to show a writer "in conversation" with sources. Includes summary, analysis, and synthesis.

"Teaching Center" is insightful.

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:20:37 UTC

"The Giving Tree" at Fifty: Sadder Than I Remembered | Ruth Margalit

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I just used the first few pages of this article as an example of argument. The author does a great job of clearly laying out claim/evidence paragraphs. It was a great mentor text for their Writer's Notebooks. They went off on about their personal "Best Musician."

pennykittle — 2025-04-04 15:24:04 UTC

A wild and hilarious obituary

Recommendation

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An important source!

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PreAssess Informational Writing Skills

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Post-info skills unit assessment

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Text Study: interview/review long form

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Passage study: style, sentence structure, and footnotes to add information

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Claim as last sentence in paragraph

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3 students, 12 minutes

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Conferring with Writers

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"I don't read." First conference.

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What if I haven't read the book?

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Nudge a reader to commit to reading at home...

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3 Boys Talk about reading in High School

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confer during reading time to see what you learn about a reader

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Grade 9 final writing project ideas

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How daily writing transformed sixth graders

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Two conferences (one writer) after school work time

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College admissions essay after school workshop

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How a storyboard helped a student plan an essay

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grade 9: I don't know what to write.

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grade 9: planning a writing project around a big idea

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gr. 9 teaching: writing next to an infographic to practice skills

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Harper's Index...just the facts, but students can pick one or two and explain what the facts say...

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What does this say? What does it NOT say?

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What happened here? Tell the story in the voice of a reporter.

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Students briefly reflect on growth every time they turn in their notebooks.

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Another student's reflections on notebook writing

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So many amazing books for high school here.

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Imagine book clubs around musicians...

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What started as a book club for World Cultures in grade 9 became a core text due to student enthusiasm for this story

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Monica, part I

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Monica, part II

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Middle School book clubs

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Content Area Book Clubs

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Rez Ball Trailer

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excerpts from the graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy

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from a gr. 7-8 Literary NF book clubs unit

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An extended passage from a gr. 7-8 Literary NF book club. We studied several passages from this during the unit.

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Planning a Unit

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Book Love Foundation top picks for Book Clubs study at 20% off...

pennykittle — 2025-05-01 13:11:24 UTC

Pair this with Ocean Vuong poem "Aubade with Burning City"

pennykittle — 2025-06-12 13:46:35 UTC

Imagine a multi-genre approach to studying war: timeline to anchor this period, art that reflects the time then and after, georgraphy study of the environmental impacts of war, poetry to center civilians & the power of human creation, and music... it will go far beyond knowledge alone to the emotions that make facts and figures more permanent in our minds.

Food Waste is a Problem.

pennykittle — 2025-10-26 23:47:20 UTC

from the Georgetown Exoneration Project: mini-docs to convince a judge to release a prisoner

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Tending the Deadliest Garden from National Geographic (available to read with an email address)

pennykittle — 2025-11-09 13:32:50 UTC

The information will delight and surprise readers, but as usual, the craft is also worth a close look.

Pulitzer Prize winner!

pennykittle — 2026-03-16 16:09:13 UTC

Ways to think about graphics... so many moving (& fascinating) examples.

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great quick writing opportunities

pennykittle — 2026-06-09 19:16:00 UTC