Prestwick House
Rhyme and Repetition in Poe's "Annabel Lee"
Many and many a year ago Edgar Allan Poe crafted the chilling tale of "Annabel Lee." The poem is the perfect vehicle to introduce Poe's concept of unity of effect, the idea that every element in a poem or story should help to develop a...
Curated OER
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man: Anticipation Guide
A fan of anticipation guides? This resource not only offers directions on how to craft such a pre-reading activity, but also provides a model for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
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Julian Secret Agent: Commas
Your class participates in a variety of shared reading and writing activities related to the book Julian Secret Agent. They complete a class story chart, examine how to use punctuation for dialogue, write an alternative...
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Coming of Age During Japanese Occupation: Richard E. Kim's Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
Explore the implications of the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. Learners read Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood, participate in classroom discussions about the novel and keep journals in which they respond to...
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Our Town
With the songs "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen and "Allentown" by Billy Joel, learners examine external versus internal conflict. When they have finished the first part of the lesson, they create their own poem (or song) about the...
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Writing Women: The Yellow Wallpaper
High schoolers examine the historical, social, cultural and economic context of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Students determine the place of the middle class woman and her role in society.
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Character Impressions
Whether you are planning a unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or simply want to improve your pupils' descriptive writing, this lesson could be a good addition to your class. Using the Six-Trait Writing process, pupils use...
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Refugees at Center Stage
What is an advocate? Help high schoolers understand the issues forcing refugees to leave their home country. After gaining some information on the subject, high schoolers create a dynamic presentation and persuasive essay encouraging...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
“Tell Me a Story”: Moving from Reading to Writing
Narrative essay writing is the focus of a series of exercises that model for learners how to not only read a narrative, but how to also examine the techniques fiction writers use to create a setting, develop their characters, represent...
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To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Guide
Provided here are dozens of questions to guide readers through reading all 31 chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird. Suggested answers are included. Most of the questions focus on plot recall, although some do require deeper-level thinking.
Creative Visions Foundation
Studying Documentaries Like a Writer - Looking For Persuasive Techniques
Revisit the documentaries viewed in the previous lesson in this series in order to take a look at the persuasive techniques employed by the documentary creators. Small groups watch the films a second time, taking notes on two provided...
Curriculum Corner
7th Grade ELA "I Can" Statement Posters
Help your seventh graders relate the ELA Common Core standards to their own learning with these "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been translated into a statement that pupils can understand and placed on its own page for easy...
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Hatchet: Concept Analysis
Take an in-depth look into Gary Paulsen's Hatchet with a concept guide. With a list and explanation of thematic motifs, types of conflicts, and vocabulary in the novel, learners will engage with the text in a whole new way.
Channel Islands Film
Who Owns the Bones
A study of the history of the Channel Islands, located off the coast of southern California, continues as class members conduct a mock trial to determine which group of stakeholders should have the right to claim the remains of Juan...
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Things Aren't Always What They Seem
Students use video and the Internet to make predictions, draw conclusions, determine conflict and point of view while reading a short story. In this short story analysis lesson, students watch a related video and complete a prediction...
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Writing a Personal Narrative
What is the difference between a news story and a personal narrative? This plan has learners write a personal narrative using the topic of service projects in their community. Consider completing a cross-curricular extension by bringing...
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Author's Day
Have your learners choose an author to study. One resource link gives a list of approved authors. Scholars read at least three works produced by that author and produce three separate book reports as well as a two-page author report....
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Creating an Oral History--Who Tells the Story?
Explore the difficulties in compiling an oral history with this lesson. Young researchers conduct interviews and consider how point of view changes various accounts of a single incidence, resulting in conflicting information. They view a...
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Summarizing Key Information
Imagine the surprise when small groups present their Evidence Charts to the class and discover that each group has studied a different version of the Cinderella story. Irish, Ojibwa, Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Mexican, and...
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Focus on Figurative Language
Using the poems "First Snow" by Ted Kooser and "Eating Alone" by Yi-Young Lee (or other suggested poems by Robert Frost or Sara Teasdale), middle schoolers search for examples of figurative language. Guide your learners by discussing...
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Analyzing Literature via Literature Circles
Introduce literature circles with Roland Smith's novels. Your seventh graders will see the activity modeled as you read The Three Little Pigs together and apply the format to a Roland Smith novel of their choice. The lesson includes...
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Writing a Personal Narrative
Young scholars learn characteristics of an effective personal narrative. In this personal narrative lesson, students discover ways to show rather than tell, adding richness and detail to their writing. Young scholars evaluate a news...
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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
For this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 15 short answer and essay questions based on Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Students may also access an online quiz on the selection using the link at the...
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"Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters"
Fifth graders read and analyze the books "Snow White in New York" and "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter." They analyze the characteristics of the characters in each story, write thoughts of characters in speech bubbles, and write a letter to...