Curated OER
Exploring Prejudice and Text-to-Text Relationships
Tenth graders use the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to analyze relationships in society. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders participate in a shoe activity where they bring in one shoe belonging to someone they know and a...
Curated OER
3R Activity (Reading-Relating-Responding)
Students read for detail. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read a passage and share their thoughts with a small group. Students reflect upon the passage and develop an oral summary of the text.
Dream of a Nation
Group Presentation Assignment
Rather than waiting for the world to change, encourage your class members to become agents of change with a project that asks groups to select an issue found in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America....
Dream of a Nation
Congressional Debate
Should junk food be banned in schools? Should the US open its borders to all immigrants? Should the US impose term limits for the House of Representatives and for the Senate? Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a...
Sandra Effinger
Bulletin Board Project
Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a character...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 3: Igbo Culture
What cultural concepts must readers understand in order to connect to Things Fall Apart? As part of their study of Chinua Achebe’s novel, class members research Nigeria and the Igbo culture to create a collaborative, web-based, annotated...
Curated OER
Point of View and Mentor Relationships
Tenth graders analyze the role of mentors, point of view, and prejudice using the texts of To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders review Scout's...
Curated OER
Examine Persuasive Elements by Reading, Analyzing, and Discussing Persuasive Text
Pupils identify persuasive strategies and analyze arguments. In this persuasive writing lesson, students read "Chief Red Jacket's Reply" and "Reverend Cram's Speech to the Iroquois Nation" and chart major elements of each argument....
Curated OER
Christmas-Tree-Shaped Poems
Students create poems in the shape of a Christmas tree. They write an original poem detailing how a person can spread joy during the holiday season. The poem is formatted in the shape of a Christmas tree.
Curated OER
Editorial Writing: What's On Your Mind
Students write an editorial column for a newspaper. For this journalism activity, students discuss and analyze editorials in print and broadcast media. Students will compare the differences in these two formats of editorial pieces and...
Curated OER
A Life in Freeze Frame
In this reading project worksheet, students read a biography, autobiography, or memoir and think of the person's life as a movie. Students create a picture for scenes from that person's life. Students include a caption or explanation...
Curated OER
Review Steps in the Writing Process and Explore a Poem
Students practice their persuasive writing skills. In this writing process instructional activity, students write essays that meet the requirements of the included text element worksheets and analyze poetry of their choosing.
Curated OER
Let's Read the Newspaper
Students investigate the format of a typical newspaper. In this journalism lesson, students read a newspaper from a target language and discover the vocabulary associated with the news. Students work together as a newspaper group each...
Curated OER
Analyzing Irony in Nonfiction
Students examine the use of irony in non-fiction works. In this literature lesson, students read non-fiction war texts and explore the use of irony in the piece as they respond to discussion questions.
Curated OER
Concrete Detail and Commentary
In this writing skills worksheet, students practice writing with facts or quotes from a text by following the graphic organizer format. Students write the concrete detail and then list two commentaries for their facts or quotes.
Curated OER
Made for the Movies
Students create a movie flyer to advertise the novel that the class has just finished reading in small groups. They search the Internet, format their flyer, select a slogan for their film, write a brief plot summary, without giving away...
Curated OER
Tech Integration Project Lesson Accelerator: Project Overview
Talk about technology in the classroom. This plan has all the resources needed to create a non-linear or branching story. Included is a step-by-step tutorial that walks middle schoolers through the project description, a model of a...
Curated OER
Information Shuffle
Gather some information, print it onto sentence strips, and then have your class physically shuffle the cards to better understand the importance of organizational patterns in writing. Middle school learners examine information for a...
Public Media for Northern California
An Educator’s Guide to Teaching Gun Control Issues | The Lowdown
The topic of gun control is vast, controversial, and difficult to introduce to students. This gem of a resource covers both sides of the issue and provides topic background, various multimedia and print resources, analysis questions, and...
Curated OER
A Soldier's View of the American Civil War
Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing activity. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The activity includes several options to...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature Shakespeare and Plutarch
The Oscar for the Best Adapted Screenplay acknowledges a writer's excellence in adapting material found in another source. What do your class members know about adapted resources? Find out with an assessment that asks readers to compare...
Curated OER
Characterization in Literature
High schoolers discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization lesson, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. High schoolers then describe a family member or...
Curated OER
The Last Word: Using Critical Thinking and Analysis to Reach a Decision
Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...
Curated OER
A Research Project and Article For the Natural Inquirer
Get your class to use the scientific process to solve a scientific problem. They utilize the Natural Inquirer magazine to identify a research question which they write an introduction to and collect data to answer. They use graphs,...