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Writing
Curated OER

Awesome Stories: Vincent van Gogh

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
Who was Vincent van Gogh? Most of the questions can be answered in two or three sentences; however, there is at least one essay prompt and one personal response question that require longer answers. Questions call for a good mix of...
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Lesson Plan
Media Smarts

Media Awareness Network: Hate or Debate?

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Discuss the difference between legitimate debate on a political issue and arguments that are based on hate through a science-fiction scenario that shows how a controversial issue can be discussed in both ways. Then learn how purveyors of...
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Assessment
5
5
Curated OER

Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 9 ELA/Literacy)

For Students 9th Standards
Ready your pupils for Common Core testing by providing them with practice. For this assessment, learners read and respond to a variety of different passages in both multiple-choice and essay format. An online version is also included.
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Assessment
5
5
Curated OER

Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 10 ELA/Literacy)

For Students 10th Standards
Get an idea of how your class members might perform on the Common Core tests with a comprehensive practice test. The assessment includes literary and informational passages for learners to read an analyze. Pupils respond to a series of...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 1

For Teachers 9th Standards
How do writers introduce and develop the central ideas in a text? To answer this question, ninth graders closely examine "The Age of Honey," the opening chapter in Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos' Sugar Changed the World: A Story of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Purpose and Power of Persuasion

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Prompts for High School

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Are you teaching a high school language arts class and stumped for writing topics? Five pages of writing prompts for all kinds of writing should help you out. Many of these prompts refer to texts that are not included in this resource,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Imagine That! Analyzing Imagery

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Poems by O. Henry, Marion Dane Bauer, Monty Roberts, and Langston Hughes provide the text for a study of symbolism, hyperbole, and imagery. Employing the “think-pair-share” strategy learners generate definitions of these terms and locate...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Supporting Opinions: Handling the End of a Friendship

For Students 7th - 11th
Four thought-provoking questions encourage readers to develop and support their opinions about strategies to end a friendship after exploring excerpts from a New York Times article. The reading is brief so this could be a lead-in to...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Turabian Teacher Collaborative

Parts of Argument II: Article Critique

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Break down the parts of argumentative writing with a critical thinking activity. High schoolers read an article of your (or their choice), and use a graphic organizer to delineate the ways the author structures his or her arguments.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...
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Lesson Plan
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1
Curated OER

Basil Heatter, "The Long Night of the Little Boats"

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
“It was a miracle.” Basil Heatter’s “The Long Night of the Little Boats,” which details the miraculous rescue of the British army from the shores of Dunkirk in 1940, is featured in a series of exercises that ask class members to read,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing Irony in Nonfiction

For Teachers 8th - 12th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Persona in Autobiography

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
A talkative old man? A naïve believer in Human Perfectibility? A Sage? Who is this guy, anyway? The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin launches a study of the way Franklin uses structure, style, and purpose, as well as different...
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Lesson Plan
BW Walch

Unexpected Family History

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The history of the northern states' involvement in the slave trade is not widely known. This resource uses the PBS documentary, Traces of the Trade, and the nonfiction book, Children of the New England Slave Trade, to examine this aspect...
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Lesson Plan
4
4
Dream of a Nation

Writing an Analytic Essay

For Teachers 9th Standards
After researching an issue introduced in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, writers develop an original thesis statement and craft an analytic essay using evidence collected in their research.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Language Arts: Reading Non-Fiction

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students read and view information sent from seven high school students who travel to China. The daily reports that they send back to the weblog section of the site should be of high interest to students in Minnesota.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Prejudice and Text-to-Text Relationships

For Teachers 10th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Foreshadowing and Prediction: W.W. Jacob's, "The Monkey's Paw"

For Teachers 9th - 10th
W.W. Jacobs' story "The Monkey's Paw" provides plenty of foreshadowing which readers use to make predictions in this tightly composed, sound instructional plan. Your class reads the story, recording predictions and checking for veracity...
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Lesson Plan
University of Arizona

Found News Poems

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Combine informational text and creative writing with one fun activity! Middle and high schoolers write found poems based on newspaper headlines that they find. The resource includes a thorough lesson plan and many links to articles that...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Persuasive Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Grab a debatable (or controversial) moment from your current reading, and use this task to progress the persuasive writing skills of your high school scholars. Divide your learners into four small groups and let them collaborate, debate,...
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Activity
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Shmoop

ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.9

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Encourage your pupils to support their claims with textual evidence, whether is is from literary texts or informational texts. You might use the assignment example, which suggests an assignment on what it's like to be an immigrant in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Time to Read

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify how the literary elements of theme, point of view, characterization, setting, and plot illustrate the effects of a certain disease on a community. They identify the aspects of the book that are specific to the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Project Playhouse

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read about Kent State's ongoing support for Hurricane Katrina victims by building and auctioning off playhouses for children. They create an ad for the playhouses, including a headline and some copy (words) plus visuals that...