How does Gabriel Garcia Marquez make the magical elements in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seem real? That is the essential question for readers of his acclaimed novel to tackle in a three-lesson unit module. Scholars begin by...

Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner's Southern Gothic novel, As I Lay Dying, is the anchor text in a six-lesson unit module that examines Faulkner's place in American literary history. Learners research one aspect of Faulkner's...

A two-part lesson examines the works and biographies of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. Part One focuses on the authors’ narrators and asks readers to consider whether the narrators of “A Tell-Tale Heart” and “Occurrence at Owl Creek...

In the second unit of Module 3A eighth-graders continue their study of forced invisibility by reading a case study of American soldier Louie Zamperini imprisoned by the Japanese and of Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American interned in the US...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the anchor text in a three-unit module that has eighth graders examine how Shakespeare develops the theme of control. Young scholars look at why and how the characters seek control and the results of...

What makes stories powerful? That’s the question seventh-graders consider in a three-unit, eight-week module. Scholars analyze how Frederick Douglas, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, uses figurative language and word...

Narrative writing prompts challenge young writers to create stories. Along the way, they learn how to stretch their imagination, draw on personal experiences, organize the elements of a story, and add sensory details. The 11 prompts are...

Benjamin Franklin, statesman, inventor, President is the subject of a collection targeting young historians. The interdisciplinary lesson plans were originally designed to accompany the 2018 international traveling exhibition, “Benjamin...

The 16 lessons in the Module 3, Unit 2 collection continue the study of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the language Douglass uses to develop his purpose in writing. Both the mid-unit and final assessments require...

An awareness of historical context and author’s purpose are key to understanding informational text. The 15 lessons in the Module 3, Unit 1 collection provide seventh graders with background information about slavery and the debate over...

In this eight-lesson collection, eighth-graders finish reading Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption and write a narrative about Mine Okubo's life after internment. After assessing the...

To conclude their study of A Midsummer Night's Dream, eighth-graders assume the voice of one of the characters in Shakespeare's play and craft a narrative in which the character explains their attempt to control or manipulate another...

In Module 2B, Unit 2 collection, eighth-graders finish reading  A Midsummer Night's Dream. They collect evidence of characters trying to control one another and examine how Shakespeare drew on the myth of "Pyramus and Thisbe" in his...

Narrative writing gives your students a chance to unleash their creativity. The resources in this collection help you help them see what makes narrative writing powerful, readable, and effective. Included are resources about figurative...

Here is a set of three kindergarten writing rubrics designed to meet the Common Core writing standards for opinion, informative, and narrative writing pieces. They each include four levels of performance—beginning, developing,...