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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Same Setting, Different Moods: Voice and Word Choice Using Lord of the Flies

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main characters.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Brushstrokes: Communication/Using Descriptive Language

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
Sometimes a picture reflects a thousand descriptive words. To illustrate the importance of sensory words in descriptive writing, scholars listen to a song and craft a painting in response. After sharing their work with the class,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Choosing Words Carefully

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Use literacy tools to select precise vocabulary. High schoolers respond to discussion questions that require them to consider the denotation and connotation of words. They then read non-fiction passages and identify words in the passages...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character Impressions

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Whether you are planning a unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or simply want to improve your pupils' descriptive writing, this instructional activity could be a good addition to your class. Using the Six-Trait Writing...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reliving History through Slave Narratives

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Analyzing Poetry

For Students 10th - 12th
Use this poetry analysis worksheet to help your learners understand a poem of their or your choosing. This resource asks class members to summarize the poem and analyze it by looking at voice, word choice, imagery, and theme. The...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Antonia: Prereading Guided Imagery

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What makes a place safe? What makes a setting effective? Explore the safe spaces and descriptive language with a prereading activity for Willa Cather's My Antonia. The teacher describes his or her own safe space and then prompts pupils...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Knot" the Whole Truth: Writing a Modern-Day Story with a Tall Tale's Voice

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee  and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing Nonfiction Text Elements - Editorials

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Examine the text features of non-fiction. Start the lesson by reading editorial samples provided by their instructor and analyze the texts for word choice, details, and organization. An editorial example and graphic organizer are...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Texture Poetry: The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Touch

For Teachers 10th - 11th Standards
To prepare for crafting a descriptive poem about a character in F. Scot Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, groups describe the texture of objects hidden in small bags. Individuals then select a character from the novel and an object...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pride and Prejudice: List-Group-Label

For Teachers 7th - 10th Standards
What words would you use to describe Mr. Darcy? What about Elizabeth? Use vivid vocabulary to create lists of adjectives to describe the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. After kids come up with their own lists of words,...
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Organizer
Curated OER

"The Charge of the Light Brigade": Writing Prompt and Pre-writing

For Students 6th - 9th
Inspire your learners to experience poetry in an entirely different way with this resource. A writing prompt that goes along with "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, learners craft a reflective piece in the voice...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Decoding Strategies

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students practice using context clues to decode the meanings of unfamiliar words. In this vocabulary skills lesson, students follow the provided instructions to complete graphic organizers that enable them to decode words in "The...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Word Scramble on The Hobbit

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students complete a word scramble activity for vocabulary from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. In this word scramble lesson plan, students unscramble the letters from the novel to form the name of the character or his habitat. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A New Word Everyday

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Hobbits, dwarfs, wizards, trolls, and goblins. Readers track these fantastic creatures through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit noting passages of character description and habitats. Using specific passages from the novel, class members craft...
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Organizer
Teacher Web

Inferring Character Traits

For Students 5th - 12th
Learning how to draw inferences from text is a key reading comprehension skill. Here's a worksheet that gives readers a chance to practice by offering 20 descriptive sentences and asking kids to identify the inferred character trait, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Antonia: Problematic Situations

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Introduce your class to the characters from My Antonia by Willa Cather in a unique way. Given a hypothetical situation about an atomic bomb shelter and a list of character descriptions, pupils must decide which characters get to stay in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Technological Grand Conversations

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Conduct a written literary discussion and diminish stress about public writing. Class members, already arranged into literature circles, compose and post responses to novels, signing with initials or class number. The process continues...
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Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Classroom Activities for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is the featured text in three classroom activities. The first activity asks readers to analyze the description of Edmond Dantes in Chapter XVII, paying particular attention to Dumas' word choice...
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Unit Plan
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Oakland Writes

Exploring Thematic Motifs in The House on Mango Street

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
Explore identity and community through an expository essay based on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This two-week unit on writing an essay provides a brief description of each day and all of the worksheets and materials you...
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eBook
Library of Congress

A Christmas Carol

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
Have you ever wanted to read an early edition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol? Experience the next best thing with an eBook version of the novel. From the haunting first words to the jolly send-off in the conclusion, the eBook...
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Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Curriculum Guide to: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Great Expectations can prove to be a challenge for instructors who choose to use Dickens's novel as required reading. Here's a curriculum guide that includes lessons that address some of these challenges. The first lesson in critical...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Poetry as Social Justice: Reading and Writing Poetry

For Teachers 9th
Words can be a powerful tool in the hands of a poet. Class members examine a poem written by Ross Gay in response to the death of Eric Garner and a news report of the same death. They then read an article about the death of Tamir Rice...

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