Collection Sheet

Have your students create collection sheets that they can use to take their polls. They can ask their questions in person and tally the responses, or they can create paper polls that other students mark and return to them.

If you want students to ask their questions in person, a very efficient way is to have half the students line up along one wall and the other half line up in front of them. Each student in the first line asks the poll questions to the student across in the second line and tallies the response. Then each student in the second line asks the poll questions to the student across in the first line and tallies the results. After all students have asked and answered, the second line shifts down one student, with the displaced student circling around to the other end of the line. (The result will be that each student will poll half of the class.)

Revising and Editing

Once students have finished the first drafts of their informational essays, lead them through the material under "Revising." You can provide them the bulleted questions as a revising checklist to guide their improvements. Also have students work with peer reviewers as they revise their work.

Afterward, lead students through the material under "Editing & Proofreading." Have them present their finished informational essays to the class.