One of the most critical middle school and high school journalism lessons you can teach your students journalists is about the main news determinants. Before
Tips for teaching journalism and advising the newspaper and yearbook
Congrats! You found out you've been assigned (or “voluntold”) to teach an elective. Maybe it's a course taught during the school day, or perhaps it’s an after-school extracurricular. ...but, what happens when that elective isn't something YOU did as a student, or your college degree(s) didn't really prepare you to teach it? How does one survive and thrive in an elective class that you have the passion, but perhaps not the training, to start? Below are some tips to help you begin. Sara has taught speech/debate before and coaches an award-winning creative writing team. Julie Faulkner has taught journalism and yearbook for 10 years! Julie: When I was the newspaper adviser, it was an after-school club. We produced a four-page newspaper every month. The two biggest hurdles with a club like this one were #1) getting kids to sign up to help and #2) creating material that the student body would want to read. It was honestly my fear that the paper would end up in the floors of the hallways during class change the morning of delivery. That was never really an issue, thankfully. In fact, I would actually see it stuck in kids’ binders later that day or week. Or I would see them reading it or overhear them talking about it. So as I consider what made it successful, I think the biggest tip I could share is that we published good content that covered as many kids as possible each time. We took good pictures, and that drew kids in. Since we were a small staff, we asked for “guest writers” or “guest artists” each month to amp up our coverage, buy-in, and ultimately to save ourselves time. We weren’t overly controversial (that’s not my style anyway), but we weren’t boring or predictable, either. Links to get started: Projects to help your staffers get kids involved... Yearbook Project: A Photo Documentary of the School Photography Lessons for Beginners World’s Smallest Interview Project Sara: Assuming that this is a general creative writing class (and not one that has been defined for you, like specifically a poetry writing class), try to feel inspired by the possibilities instead of overwhelmed by your options! First, remember that students need to warm up and build confidence, too. A gradual process of quick writes, THEN drafting and revising, is important, especially if they don’t have the endurance to draft longer pieces yet. Second, try to teach a variety of genres, prompt types, lengths, and styles. Writers hate being stuck with a project they don’t like for too long, and a new assignment or unit helps them try new things. For example, try not to focus on plot techniques for so long that characterization and other story elements get rushed later. (Even better? Allow a certain percentage of your curriculum to involve choice, whether it’s choosing the prompt, genre, or another element of the task.) Finally, make sure you have writing-specific procedures in place for tricky situations that will come up, such as students who… Don’t want to share their draft Want to read their entire draft out loud and share, every single time “Don’t know what to write about” Don’t like their draft (and want to give up or start over) Want to write about really dark, possibly inappropriate characters/plots Want to submit their work externally for publication (and turn to you for ideas) Links to get started: Sara’s blog post: 18 Tips for Teaching Creative Writing Sara’s full year of creative writing lessons! Julie: Yearbook can definitely be a love-hate relationship for advisers. That is certainly true for me, but as I’ve just finished my 10th year in this role, I have grown to love it more than hate it! Being a successful yearbook adviser is all about having the right processes and making personal connections. I do have yearbook as one of my preps, so that gives me students and time during the day. However, I also have to assign grades because it’s a fine art credit. That’s another layer of stress to manage. First, find procedures that work for your program in terms of managing the money, equipment, and deadlines, and stick with them. The most chaos ensues when there is no process or when people aren’t being held accountable. Second is relationships, and that’s two different avenues: the staff and the student body. Yearbook seems to draw the kids with the biggest personalities, and therefore a staff that comes of all different “groups/cliques.” But you have to be ready to head-off that drama. I spend a week or so at the beginning on teamwork. Also, there has to be a connection between the staff and student body. We strive for maximum coverage of every student in an authentic way. So that means my staffers must get to know the kids in the school on a semi-personal level. I divide the entire student body up and assign each staffer a section to cover and connect with throughout the year. We have a small school, so that helps. But it is a MUST to generate buzz and buy-in. Last, don't’ try to fight every battle or fix everything all at once. It takes time to get things just right, and even after 10 years, I’m still improving. Links to get started: LIVE: On my Facebook page, I’ll have a live workshop June 29 @ 7pm EST: How to Keep Your Sanity as a Yearbook Advisor. The link will be available once the live workshop ends, or people can travel over and cruise my page for it. Here’s my Full Year Yearbook Curriculum! Sara: Since not everyone loves public speaking as much as I do, these classes can seem scary at first. However, video “mentor texts” and playful ice-breaking go a long way in creating good speakers and debaters. First, check the rules of whatever form of speech or debate you’re doing. (For example, if you’re competing in actual tournaments with the National Forensic League or want to follow legit Lincoln-Douglas debate structure, then the rules really do matter, and it gives your teaching an easy structure!) Next, spend time diagnosing and treating the issues your students are having - not just mentally (like stage fright) but physically. Even if they “should know better” by now, many will still commit what I call the “Seven Sins of Speaking”, like swaying and having terrible eye contact. There are easy ways to fix them if you’re not afraid to be picky and coach them through it! Finally, don’t hesitate to use as many real-world speakers and videos as possible, whether it’s watching TED talks, past presidential speeches, courtroom lawyers, or volunteer in-class debaters. Seeing the speaking equivalent of a “mentor text” will help them more easily elevate their vocabulary and style, more than just guessing at what it “should” look like. Links to get started: Sara’s entire Public Speaking Curriculum Sara’s blog post, Making Public Speaking Less Scary for Teens Sara’s blog post, How TED Talks are Transforming My English Class Before getting too far in your plans, consider the following ideas: Ask for feedback on your syllabus, both for clarity and for more ideas. Don’t overpromise, either verbally or on your syllabus. See what I mean in this blog post about Rookie Teacher Mistakes. Check with the other English teachers of that grade level. Not only might they have good ideas for your class, but with a little digging, you can see what THEY are teaching in their classes (and therefore what your students SHOULD already know). What else do you want to add? Tell us in the comments below!
My students have been online eight years or so and in that time they’ve probably had 300 different ways of
You and your students will absolutely love these journalism lessons! The beginning of a new school year can be hectic for journalism teachers who are tasked with simultaneously teaching new journalism students who don’t have any journalism experience while also planning and publishing content for the school newspaper.
Running a school publication and teaching the fundamentals of journalism can be a challenge. From budgets to organization to daily lessons, this is a new journalism teacher’s best guide.
Help your journalism students learn how to write an efficient and captivating news lead, also called a lede, with this journalism unit all about writing a lead! This journalism teaching unit works on the Google™ platform and includes a presentation for direct instruction and digital news story assignments that can be used again and again all year long in journalism class. Help your journalism students to learn what makes an effective news lead, how to identify the key elements within a news lead, and how to write a news lead with this teaching unit. Students will explore the 5Ws and H, and begin to write more journalistically! This journalism unit includes the following items: an editable, 10-slide presentation for direct instruction digital news lead sketch notes to help improve student understanding a digital, news lead inverted pyramid graphic organizer a new lead graphic organizer for their own stories a news lead assignment for understanding news stories Your students' journalistic writing will improve exponentially after completing the instruction and assignments in this unit. Say goodbye to essay-style story introductions that don't get to the facts of the story, and say hello to effective news leads that report the most important facts in the first two sentences! ___________________________________ You may also like… → Digital Journalism AP Style Writing Unit → Digital Journalism Graphic Organizers → Journalism Curriculum ___________________________________ Helpful Advice: * Make sure you click the "follow" button next to my picture so you don’t miss out on sales and new resources * Please provide feedback on this resource. Doing so will help you earn TPT credits that you can apply toward future purchases! It’s like FREE TPT cash! © The Daring English Teacher, Inc. All rights reserved. License good for single-classroom use only.
Running a school publication and teaching the fundamentals of journalism can be a challenge. From budgets to organization to daily lessons, this is a new journalism teacher’s best guide.
As a journalism advisor of over 20 years, I can honestly say I’ve tried almost everything to manage and organize large numbers of journalism students in my program. Here are some of my favorite tried and true tips and tools to help your program run smoothly. And the best part is many of them are free!
Make teaching journalism and advising the school newspaper a breeze with this journalism curriculum! This journalism curriculum has everything you need to get your journalism students started on the right foot and working on a successful newspaper -whether you publish in print or digitally! From learning basic journalism terminology to news writing to the inverted pyramid to AP Style writing, this journalism unit has everything you need to get your student journalists writing and publishing high-quality news stories. This journalism curriculum works for both middle school journalism and high school journalism. ⭐️ INCLUDES 2020 AP STYLE GUIDE UPDATES ⭐️ This Journalism Curriculum Includes the Following: Intro to AP Writing Complete Unit Journalism Beat Reporting Journalism Feature Reporting Assignment Editable Journalism Documents End of Year Journalism Awards Documents Journalism Graphic Organizers The Anatomy of a Newspaper - Intro to Journalism Unit The Personal Profile - a journalism assignment The News Lead What makes a story newsworthy? NEWLY ADDED: digital journalism graphic organizers NEWLY ADDED: digital Anatomy of a Newspaper lesson NEWLY ADDED: digital AP Style writing unit NEWLY ADDED: digital anatomy of a newspaper NEWLY ADDED: digital persona profile unit NEWLY ADDED: digital Writing a Feature Story NEWLY ADDED: digital writing a news lead unit Your students will love these journalism resources because they will help student journalists gain the confidence they need for exceptional reporting and writing. ⭐️ Includes digital files also! ⭐️ JOURNALISM ADVISERS LIKE YOU SAID… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Doreen T. says, "This helped me SO MUCH with the first journalism class I've ever taught. The powerpoints are amazing - very informative, thorough, and visually appealing. Not sure what I would have done without this resource! ." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Midwestern Miss says, "Omgoodness! As a teacher who hasn't taught journalism in 8 years, this saved me! I was able to print and go. The kids loved being able to create their own AP mini books and were laughing at each other's crafting abilities. Bringing some artistic time into the room before we start the yearbook!" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Geneva W. says, "Thank you for this amazing resource! I am teaching a journalism class for the second time this year. Last year I bought a few of your lessons, but this year I splurged on the whole package, and I am so thankful that I did! It really has been an essential part of building my journalism class. Pretty much everything is taken care of for me, and I feel confident in presenting the materials even though journalism is not my strength." ___________________________________ Helpful Advice: * Make sure you click the "follow" button next to my picture so you don’t miss out on sales and new resources * Please provide feedback on this resource. Doing so will help you earn TPT credits that you can apply toward future purchases! It’s like FREE TPT cash! © The Daring English Teacher, Inc. All rights reserved. License good for single-classroom use only.
As a teacher, I spend my days helping students express themselves through the written and spoken word. Increasingly, I find myself seeking ways to incorporate more authentic, visual experiences as well.
Publication classes often scare teachers who have no background in newspaper or yearbook. Accepting a job as a yearbook adviser during my first year and as a newspaper adviser my second year of teaching has been the best experience (and it often comes with a stipend). My newspaper and journalism classes are now the highlight ... Read more
Elevate your journalism curriculum with our comprehensive teaching bundle! This Journalism Teaching Bundle includes essential lessons, engaging PowerPoint presentations, and creative assignments, providing everything needed to kickstart your students' journalistic journey, whether it be for a stand-alone unit, elective class, or school newspaper or yearbook program. This journalism teaching resource bundle includes the following resources: Four editable PowerPoint presentations covering key topics like "The Anatomy of a Newspaper," "The News Lead," "News Determinants," and "How to Write a Personal Profile Story." Two thought-provoking story assignments, including a feature story and a personal profile story, designed to enhance writing skills and journalistic techniques, while also helping students and budding journalists grow as writers. Multiple dynamic classroom activities strategically curated to remain relevant and useful throughout the academic year. Tailored for middle school and high school journalism and yearbook classes, this introduction to journalism bundle ensures a solid foundation for your students' journalistic pursuits. Ignite their passion for storytelling and news reporting with this all-inclusive resource! Save money and receive ALL of my journalism curriculum resources! ⭐️Complete Journalism Curriculum Individual downloads included with this bundle: The Anatomy of a Newspaper: Journalism and Informational Text Lesson The News Lead: Journalism and Informational Text Lesson Journalism: What makes a story newsworthy? Journalism Feature Story Assignment Journalism Personal Profile Lesson and Story Assignment NOT INCLUDED - Other journalism resources that might interest you: Associated Press (AP) Style Writing: An Introduction to Journalistic Writing Associated Press (AP) Style Writing Foldable Student Reference Guide Editable Journalism Documents: Syllabus, Editorial Positions and Application End of the Year Journalism Award Certificates (Semi-Editable) Journalism Beat Reporting
Download this FREE poster, which is great for teaching journalism and publication classes. This FREE download includes 1 poster, which includes the essentials for writing in the inverted pyramid. This poster would serve as a great reminder to students as they are working on journalistic style. FORMAT: PDF File
This word document is 100% editable and contains a course syllabus for journalism (ideal for middle school and high school journalism classes), an editorial position description page, and an application for editorial positions. This document is perfect for back to school time and for new journalism advisors. Other Journalism Resources That Might Interest You: Associated Press (AP) Style Writing: An Introduction to Journalistic Writing Introduction to Journalism Bundle: Lessons, PowerPoints, AssignmentsThe Anatomy of a Newspaper: Journalism and Informational Text Lesson Journalism: What makes a story newsworthy? Journalism Feature Story Assignment Journalism Beat Reporting
Make learning fun for your students while teaching them about Journalism! These activities and worksheets are perfect for students learning to write a newspaper or for a journalism club. This resource is perfect for 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade students. Digital activity included using Easel ...
It can be tricky to start a high school newspaper if you've never taught the class. Here are 5 things to do right away to get the school newspaper started.
Teach your yearbook, journalism, or newspaper students to write great copy with this complete teaching pack. Everything you need is included for a quick lesson with examples and practice. Plus, I've included a graphic organizer for students to use for any story they write after the lesson. Student Experience: Students learn why and how to write great copy for their yearbook publications with this teaching pack. They will note guidelines, the writing formula, and plenty of examples on the sketch notes timeline as you present the lesson. Links are provided to recap with a video, if you choose. Then, students will examine "live" news articles for the journalistic formula. Last, students will have the opportunity to write their own practice articles with the scenarios provided. Lesson Contents: -Full lesson plan with standards for ELA/History (PDF) -Lecture (editable PPT) -Sketch Notes (PDF) -Graphic organizer for success after the lesson (PDF) -Links to videos (links are subject to change) for reteaching and extension Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches. Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to FOLLOW ME. Voila! You will now receive email updates about my store. For more ideas and inspiration: Faulkner's Fast Five Blog Julie's Classroom Stories on Instagram Julie's Classroom Stories on Facebook Teaching Middle and High School English Facebook Group Yearbook and Journalism Facebook Group Pinterest Terms of Use: Created by Julie Faulkner, created 2020 Please, one classroom use only. Additional licenses are sold at checkout. This license is nontransferable. Not eligible for online environments unless password protected. Posting openly online is prohibited. No part of this resource can be used for commercial purposes, altered, or resold. This work is my original work, and taking portions of it to create something else for resale is prohibited. All images and art credited inside file.
Make learning fun for your students while teaching them about Journalism! These activities and worksheets are perfect for students learning to write a newspaper or for a journalism club. This resource is perfect for 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade students. Digital activity included using Easel by TpT. Teachers will enjoy the posters, graphic organizers, activity sheets, and journalism vocabulary words that they can use with their journalism students. HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL GET… Journalism Unit 1: Introduction Journalism Unit 2: Interviews Journalism Unit 3: 5 W’s and H Journalism Unit 4: Headlines and Decks Journalism Unit 5: Leads Journalism Unit 6: Writing News Articles Journalism Unit 7: Editing Journalism Unit 8: Creating a Newspaper Your students will love learning all about journalism. With the variety of activity sheets, your students will be engaged and eager to share their new knowledge learned. Prep is quick and easy... just print the student activity sheets and you’re ready to teach your students all about journalism. ALL UNITS ARE ALSO SOLD SEPARATELY: Journalism Unit 1: Introduction Journalism Unit 2: Interviews Journalism Unit 3: 5 W’s and H Journalism Unit 4: Headlines and Decks Journalism Unit 5: Leads Journalism Unit 6: Writing News Articles Journalism Unit 7: Editing Journalism Unit 8: Creating a Newspaper THANK YOU for showing an interest in this resource. CLICK HERE to follow me so you can see more resources I create. If you purchase this resource, please provide feedback. You will earn credits to use on future TpT purchases. Copyright © Kraus in the Schoolhouse All rights reserved by author Laurie Kraus. Permission to copy for single classroom use only.
I've been teaching 7th and 8th grade Television Broadcasting for almost a decade now, and I use rubrics on a daily basis! The rubric is based upon a 4 point grade scale using the modifiers "Advanced", "Proficient", "Basic", and "Below Basic". Unlike my News Segment Rubric that is more specific, thi...
After our onslaught of state-mandated testing was over, I wanted to start a classroom project the students could really take ownership of....
Welcome to your class and the first unit you teach of the year. Why? Because good photography is everything! If you teach journalism, this unit will help your newsroom understand what is needed when photographing for articles, sporting events, and social media. If you teach yearbook, you KNOW it's all about the photos. The better the quality of photos and the more photos that students take, the result will be a better yearbook. This unit is also a great fit for beginning photography, multiple CTE classes, and skill sharpening. This unit includes: Two slide presentations of how to take great photos with multiple pointers and photography examples Two accompanying assignments that can be used in and out of the classroom and assigned for further understanding of photography principles and camera usages Assignments can also be turned into a "Show & Tell" component where students share their best photos for a "C & C" component of "Complements and Critiques," class session. Or have a GALLERY WALK of their best work in the newsroom. And all GOOGLE links to the presentation and docs are included. You will receive one week of lesson plans & peace of mind. Thank you for purchasing from my store. Your feedback is important and appreciated, so If these lessons work for you, please give a 5⭐ review. TPT will also give you credit for reviews. That's a win win!
As the semester comes to an end, go through your own teaching reflection process with the help of the Google Slides semester review included in this post...
This zipped file includes a bundle of resources for broadcast journalism teachers. The file includes the original handbook, as well as a very, very detailed course description for the "dream" course. That document was created as part of our original application for accreditation as a fine arts and...
I've used this product with students when teaching the journalism unit of Lucy Calkins. ...
This 16 page posting offers a chronological order of lessons, by quarter, to teach beginning journalism students the basic concepts of journalistic writing such as What is News?, the various structures and genres of journalistic writing, interviewing, learning layout and design and studying media ethics. It offers lessons and activities that reinforce these concepts and prepares students to write and publish a top-quality high school newspaper. For veteran journalism students who publish a school newspaper, the lessons and activities offer reinforcement so they can add to their journalistic skills. Each lesson offers a detailed summary, and links for the activities. Some of these forms are included in this packet. Links for reputable middle school and high school journalism sites, professional journalists' sites, and the Newseum are given, also. Rookie and veteran journalism teachers will find these flexible lessons and activities a planning time gift. Comments from buyers: "As others have commented, this is an outstanding guide for first year, or, in my case, some time, journalism teachers from a master teacher who has been in the trenches. Great bargain here. Thank you for making this available on the site." Debbie "Thank you for the time and effort you put in to this!" Ms. F. "Great resource for me as I am now tasked with a publishing class!" Siobhan. This packet has been refined, revised and updated June 2019. Enjoy developing the future's journalists! As always, this activity- PDF version- may be downloaded and printed for classroom use. Also, an Easel Activity is ready to be used for Google Classroom. Teachers may choose to add an interactive layer of their own for digital use by clicking on the red "Open in Easel" rectangle on the product's page. Check out the activities mentioned in this newsletter but not included here. Journalism: Analyzing Newspaper Leads and Articles Worksheets Journalism Movie Activities Journalism Movie: "good night, and good luck" Research and Activity Journalism: Fact-Finding Scavenger Hunt (REVISED) Journalism Rights and Ethics Scavenger Hunt Enjoy a Teach It Now Day, Connie Follower Advantage For an automatic Heads-Up! email about Updated and New products, and also for Sales and other promotions, please click on the Follow Me star under my Store name, Connie.
Each time I teach a novel, I try something different. I love teaching Lord of the Flies, and this past year I decided to give island challenges a try. Let me tell you… best decision I made for teaching this novel! I taught the novel out of class and hosted book clubs each Friday. (See more about my book clubs here.) Fridays, then, were when we did our challenges, discussions, and quizzes. I’m so excited to be sharing these Lord of the Flies island challenges for each chapter with you. I worked really hard to select and design challenges that would connect either with the theme or conflict of the chapters, so they wouldn’t just be “random” fun things to do. I really wanted the Lord of the Flies island challenges to be both meaningful and fun. They are also a blend of mental and physical challenges, which we found to be perfect for a mixture of winners due to so many different abilities in the class. Because there are 12 chapters in Lord of the Flies, I’ll be breaking my traditional “Fast Five” format to
Here is a quick way to teach and/or review video production terminology about the production process! These warm-ups are divided into pre-production, production, and post-production categories and are great for a video production, multimedia, or broadcast journalism classroom. This is a great way to start class for all levels of students. Just post the question slide and have students answer on their warm-up document while you get ready for class. Included in this set are the following: Powerpoint and Google Slides versions of the warm-up slides with answers! There are 49 terms divided into three categories: pre-production, production, and post production. Printable worksheet for students to use to complete the warmups on a weekly basis Five vocabulary quizzes covering 10-12 terms each so you can check learning! The quizzes are broken down into pre-production, production parts 1 and 2, and post-production parts 1 and 2. Other products you might like are: Video Production History Warm-ups Video Production History Full Unit Plus Warm-ups Bundle Television History, Warm-ups, and Test Bundle
This file is a compilation and expansion of my Journalism material, including dozens of new pages of class notes, writing activities, quizzes, projects, and other material to teach Journalism and manage a student publication program. It covers interview techniques; news, feature, and opinion writing...
Make learning fun for your students while teaching them about Journalism! These activities and worksheets are perfect for students learning to write a newspaper or for a journalism club. This resource is perfect for 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade students. Digital activity included using Easel ...
Lesson ideas and activities for listening skills practice and monitoring
Are you looking to show your students how investigative journalism works? Then you've come to the right place! This is an activity requiring a little prep work for the teacher, but fun for the students. Students will be provided a unique lead for a newspaper story. Once they compile enough leads, th...
Review roles in the newsroom with this fun journalism matching game! Students take turns matching newsroom roles to their job descriptions to get a better idea of how a real newsroom works. Once your journalism students have a good idea of how a newsroom operates, they can even assign roles to each other! First, cut out the included game cards and pin or tape them to a prominent classroom wall in rows and columns. Make sure that the cards are facing the wall so that students cannot see what is written on them. When the students arrive, have them take turns flipping over two cards. If they flip over the newsroom role and matching job description, they should declare it a match and take the two cards from the wall. If they declare a match incorrectly, their turn should be skipped once. If they do not flip over a match, they should simply flip the cards back over and return to their desks. When all of the cards are gone, declare the student with the most pairs the winner! This resource includes the following: 18 Newsroom Role Cards 18 Job Description Cards (Matches are included next to each other on the page, so you can print out an extra copy as the answer key!) I hope your students enjoy this game as much as mine have! ***************************************************************************** Related Product For more journalism fun, check out this fun journalism game: 5 W's Journalism Lead Game ***************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you may use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I appreciate your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you! Be the first to know when I upload more products: Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. You will now receive email updates about this store. Enjoy! ***************************************************************************** Created by Distinguished English (formerly Olivia Gold's Creative English Classroom)
Broadcast journalism is a real-life career that we can share right in our classroom - AND it's a fun and exciting way to multiple standards together!
Teaching students how to identify fake news is a daunting task since many adults continue to struggle with this skill. It is imperative that we teach these essential digital literacy skills to students so they automatically think critical y before clicking, sharing, and assuming what they see online is true. I've rounded up some resources and lessons for teaching students how to evaluate information online and identify fake news. 1. iCivics Fake News Literacy Unit Thank you to a member of the Teach With Tech Facebook Group for sharing this fantastic resource. iCivics, founded by Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, is
When I look back to my first experience teaching five paragraph essays to fifth graders, I can remember how terribly unprepared I felt. I knew that the five paragraph essay format was what my students needed
