This session equips secondary English and history teachers with practical strategies for strengthening students’ evidence-based writing within required portfolio projects. Participants will explore best practices for helping students analyze and evaluate texts and sources, select relevant and compelling evidence, and develop clear, well-reasoned claims using the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) framework. Teachers will leave with strategies for supporting students throughout the writing process and building stronger, more effective portfolio pieces across both English and history classrooms.