Comparing and Contrasting Two States

In this lesson, students will select two states and do some research on those two states. After that, they will choose a specific topic they would like to write about and compare and contrast the two states. For example, they might want to compare and contrast the climate or the environment in the two states. Then, they will need to take notes while they read so they can have them available when they are ready to write their essays.

First, the students need to select two states and look up information on the Internet and/or in their history book about those two states. As they read over their information, they will make a decision about the specific area of the two states they would like to write about such as climate, environment, or other specific topics and write down the main facts about their topic. When the students have finished taking their notes on their specific area, they are ready to begin writing their essay. After they have completed their essays, they need to set them aside for a while and let their minds rest. Later on, they can read their papers and check for sentence structure, paragraph structure, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. When they are satisfied, they can submit their papers for you to grade.

You can grade them on sentence structure, paragraph structure, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and accuracy of information they included in their essays. After you have finished grading the papers, you can return them to the students and have them correct any major errors, so they will see and understand their mistakes.