It is so important to explicitly teach students the words on your writing rubrics and checklists. Students need lots of examples of the vocabulary you teach. You can do this by using mentor texts. I find myself using the following words a ton during my information unit and create mini lessons specifically to teach these terms:
- Organize
- Structure
- Bullet
- Topic
- Subtopic
- Heading
- Subheading
- Paragraph
- Nonfiction Text Feature
- Table
- Diagram
- Graph
- Chart
- Bold-faced
- Italic
- Elaboration
- Research
- Quote
- Cite
- Author’s Message
- Author’s Purpose
- Audience
- Genre
- Article
- Review
- Editorial
- Resume
- Cover Letter
- Expository
- Biography
- Autobiography
- Personal Narrative
- Memoir
- Literary Essay
- Argumentative Essay