Building on a previous lesson plan, readers continue using context clues to learn new vocabulary. Additionally, they continue working on their Gathering Evidence graphic organizers, making connections between an informational text and A...

Readers consider comparisons between the Dinka and Nuer tribes in South Sudan, making connections between an informational article about Sudanese tribes and the novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They annotate the text to help...

Welcome to the World Café! Readers engage in discussions about A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They circulate throughout the classroom, stopping at different tables to answer a discussion prompt with their classmates, and record...

Class members engage in discussion about how culture, place, and time influence a character's identity in A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Then, as part of a mid-unit assessment, they complete a Gathering Evidence graphic...

Class members discuss the gist of chapter four of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park with a partner and share their responses with the class. Next, they complete graphic organizers to answer text-dependent questions based on a close...

Get deep! Teach scholars how to make connections between texts to deepen their understanding of a topic. Using the resource, pupils read and annotate a short informational text about Sudan's Civil War and refugee crisis. Next, they...

How does an author develop and contrast character points of view in a work of literature? Using a graphic organizer, readers continue gathering evidence about character point of view from Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water. Next,...

Readers practice gathering textual evidence to support their understanding of character point of view in A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Working with partners, they complete a Gathering Evidence graphic organizer and engage in...

Readers engage in discussion with partners to answer questions about A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Next, they complete exit tickets, writing about how the author creates different points of view for her characters.

Class members review expectations for successful discussions before reading chapter one of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They engage in a think-pair-share to discuss the gist of the text and add their thoughts to their Readers'...

Seventh graders begin their study of Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water by discussing scenarios related to the novel with a partner. The discussion topics invite pupils to consider how various factors, such as war and poverty,...

Looking for Alaska is the subject of a short PBS video that encourages viewers to read John Green's award-winning young adult novel about first love. 

A clip from the documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth features Walker discussing her writing process and why she chose to write The Color Purple as an epistolary novel. The resource is part of PBS' American Masters series.

George R.R. Martin, famous in his own right for heroes, villains, dragons, and direwolves, offers his rationale for why viewers should vote for J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with its elves, wizards, and hobbits as part of the Great...

Not every reader is a sci-fi fan. Sad, but true. However, a short TedEd video may just convince nonfans to delve into Frank Herbert's modern epic Dune. Who could help but be intrigued by an epic tale of heroes, villains, and monsters?

Narrators of a short video offer their rationale for why Catch 22 should be included in the Great American Read program. They touch on the key themes in Heller's satirical and sobering novel about Captain John Yossarian and the catch-22s...

Justice and murder are the heart of the best mysteries. The writers interviewed for this episode of the Great American Read try to convince viewers that the best of this genre is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. 

How can scholars better understand the refugee experience? Pupils read Fox Butterfield's article "Panic Rises in Saigon, but the Exits are Few" and connect it to the novel Inside Out & Back Again. They annotate the text, looking for...

What might a papaya symbolize? Using the resource, scholars look for examples of symbolism in the novel Inside Out & Back Again. They also participate in a silent discussion called a Chalk Talk, writing their responses to a...

Jack London's books feature male characters, but that doesn't mean they're just for boys! Chelsea Clinton and Shanna Peeples discuss the underlying messages of love and sacrifice in The Call of the Wild, as well as the conflict of man...

Modern readers apply classic themes to Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Miserables. After they discuss tricky vocabulary and plot elements from the novel, class members compare Hugo's written work to a stage or film adaptation of the musical.

An anagram is a word that's formed by rearranging the letters of another word, so listen might become silent. Scholars practice decoding anagrams with the novel study for Gary Paulsen's The Winter Room. They also put words in...

Winnie the Pooh lands in a gorse-bush plant in chapter one of A.A. Milne's beloved children's novel, Winnie-the-Pooh. With the novel study, scholars research three interesting facts about the plant. They also compose a four-line poem...

There is more to literature of the American South than Civil War battles and Scarlett O'Hara. A short video introduces viewers to the works of Flannery O'Connor and her world of unique characters that causes readers to consider the dark...