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Courage: Hero Traits
What does it mean to be a hero? Who qualifies as a hero? In groups, middle and high schoolers brainstorm a list of heroes and create a list of characteristics that a person must possess in order to be a hero. Extend this lesson plan by...
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Poetry Cyberbook
Emerging poets design a website and then post seven original poems as well as their written critique of these poems. Although the resource mentions Inspiration and FrontPage technologies, any software could be substituted.
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Use of Personification and Imagery in Poetry
A reading of Theodore Roethke’s dark "Root Cellar" and Sylvia Plath’s more abstract "Mirror" launches a discussion of imagery and personification in poetry. After finding examples of personification in the poems, class members craft...
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Hobbies
How many different hobbies can you name in French? Using this question, French classes are asked to list as many hobbies as they can. Although the activities themselves are not included in this teacher guide, you could create them...
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Quel temps fait-il?
Hit all the basics with this lesson, focusing on weather, greetings, and dates! Start by singing a weather related song ("Quel temps fait-il by Barbara MacArthur is suggested), and then read a story about getting ready for school. The...
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Background for The Outsiders: the 1960s
As background for a reading of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, groups rotate through four stations (video, music, website, information) to gather information on the 1960s. In addition, they interview family members about the 1960s and...
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Exploring Careers
Now that your career explorers are thinking about the world after high school, it's time they learned how to research their options! Here's a great resource to get them gathering information from multiple sources. Learners brainstorm...
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Multimedia Book Report
Young readers plan and draft a book report focusing on the five key components of a novel: plot, character, setting, conflict, and theme. After completing a story board, pupils then prepare a PowerPoint book report that is shown to the...
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Do Heroes Have to Wear a Cape?
Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...
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Lesson Plan 3: Great Book, Gross Book
It's time for your scholars to become book reviewers! Start with a fun review of foods: are they good or gross? Learners apply these evaluation techniques to books, recording their thoughts on large pieces of butcher paper. Simply have...
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Lesson Plan 10: Writing Really Good Dialogue
Boring dialogue can run a great story into the ground; get your novelists using dialogue as a tool to move their story into deeper and more developed territory. As part of a larger writing series, this instructional activity has a...
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Putting Away Your Inner Editor
Personify your Inner Editor. After making a richly detailed paper doll of your Inner Editor, put him or her in your locker, under your bed or buried in a time capsule in your backyard, but not near where you like to write. Refuse to...
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Lesson Plan 12: Writing With All Your Senses
What does an ice cream sundae sound like? Challenge young writers to move beyond visual descriptions and craft details that appeal to all five senses. The examples provided by the script in this resource show pupils how to create rich...
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Check it Out...Nonfiction Can Be Fun!
Organizing information gathered for a research topic can be a challenge. Read aloud notes you have collected on a topic and use suggestions offer by the class to categorize and sort this information. Partners then follow this pattern,...
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Lesson Plan 18: Cleaning It Up
Careful proofreading is an important step in the writing process. After guided practice using a provided worksheet that details common grammar concepts, young writers refer to the worksheet as they proofread their own work. Although the...
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My Family and Our Nationality
After completing the activities included here, your beginning foreign language speakers will be able to name family members, identify a family's place of origin, and write short sentences about family members. They start by listening to...
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Reading Comprehension Exercise
Looking to increase reading comprehension? Teach this lesson, which is flexible enough to use with either informational texts or with literature. Teams of boys and girls work together to answer a comprehension question after listening to...
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Native Language Arts Seasonal Poem
Intended for native Spanish speakers, this plan provides an opportunity to create a class semantic web describing the different seasons and listen to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Learners will work together to revise their semantic webs,...
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Camera Shots
Understanding how visual codes such as long-shots, close-ups, and camera angles affect meaning helps prepare young filmmakers to plan their own productions. The concepts embedded could also be used to analyze photographs and paintings.
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Dancing through Poetry
Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...
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Reading Skills: Chunking
Prepare advanced English learners and low-level readers for the reading demands of post-secondary education with skill of chunking. Readers learn to make meaning from phrases rather than individual words, helping them to read more...
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Spooky Analysis
Focus on building suspense as well as evaluating web sites through creative writing. After introducing the idea of suspense and holding a discussion, class members complete a WebQuest, during which they find inspiration for their own...
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Pressing and Seam Finishes
This lesson addresses proper seam allowances, how those seams should be finished, and the importance of pressing them. Class members learn by listening as well as by practicing and creating their own samples. There are many attachments...
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Crisis in Darfur
High school social studies teachers addressing the crisis in Darfur could use elements of this plan to increase social studies vocabulary and research skills. It includes a page of lecture/discussion notes, instructions for creating...