Curated OER
Technical Writing
Students discuss technical writing and its importance in the work place and review the definition of technical writing They evaluate technical writing examples and look for characteristics of effective technical writing. They conduct a...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Newspaper
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
Curated OER
The Apprentice: A Study of Business and Technical Writing
Middle schoolers explore business practices by creating a portfolio in class. In this business writing lesson, students identify the causes for a businesses success and failure before deciding on a business they would like to create....
Curated OER
Costume Exploration
What a great lesson, upper graders are sure to love. They explore costume design and the relationships between theatre, culture, and history. They research three time periods, write a response about two of them, then create a composit...
Curated OER
Research and Technical Writing
Students summarize information from their research on to note-cards. In this technical writing instructional activity students examine examples of note-cards that contain main ideas from research previously conducted. They will...
Curated OER
Macbeth News Broadcast
Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...
Curated OER
Persuasion as Text: Organizational, Grammatical, and Lexical Moves in Barbara Jordan’s "All Together Now"
A thorough lesson plan on persuasive writing takes middle schoolers through several activities, including group discussion, collaborative posters, and independent writing. They compare historical speeches and analyze the persuasive...
Curated OER
Create a Cookbook
Trios write, design, and produce cookbooks. In a truly collaborative project, they choose what content to include, contribute recipes, and decide on formatting. Then, they reformat all recipes to ensure consistent style, publish the...
Curated OER
The Legendary Raptors
How are raptors and airplanes alike? Combine science and language arts in this fun and interactive project. Young scientists research the animal in order to design their own aircraft, and compete in a contest for farthest, fastest, and...
Curated OER
Can You Follow Me? Writing Instructions
Students write directions for completing everyday activities. For this writing instructions lesson students exchange their set of written directions with a partner and follow their partners directions. If the directions are...
Curated OER
A Simple Task Made Complex: Types of Sentences
Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...
Curated OER
There's No Accountin with Ledgers
Tenth graders create and maintain a ledger, write an essay for the process, and learn to keep financial accounts through the ledger. In this ledger instructional activity, 10th graders define an accounting ledger and create one for the...
Curated OER
Scriptwriting Skill Module Technical Effects
Learners examine the use of technical and special effects in TV and film. In this technical effects lesson students review scenes containing special and technical effects then work in groups to apply the effects to different scenes.
PBL Pathways
Medical Insurance
Design a plan for finding the best health insurance for your money. Learners compare two health plans by writing and graphing piecewise functions representing the plan rules. Using Excel software, they create a technical report...
Curated OER
Night Lesson Plan: Stereotypes and Scapegoats
Learners read the novel Night by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and complete related activities. In this novel analysis lesson, students prompt write and discuss the answers. Learners take notes on stereotypes and scapegoats and...
Curated OER
Book Selling Project
Students create oral presentations and posters about a book they have read. They try and interest their classmates to read the book by writing persuasive reports.
Curated OER
Technical Literacy
Students explore the components of the transference of technological information through this ten lesson unit. The applications to specific careers, the determination of responsible use of technology, and the affects of technology on...
Curated OER
Peer Review and Collaboration Using Chat Tools and /or Voice Recorders
Learners use audio devices to record a text and have a peer edit it. In this peer review and collaboration lesson, students write a short text on a topic provided by the teacher. After recording their text the message is sent...
Curated OER
Planning A Vacation Online
If you could travel anywhere in the United States, where would you go? Use this question to interest your fourth, fifth, and sixth graders as they experiment with Mapquest or other direction-based resources. They choose where they'd like...
Denver Art Museum
Descriptive Haiku
Even though this is technically an art activity, haiku poetry is actually the main focus! Learners view photographs of Japanese tea caddies. They list five descriptive words for the caddies, then write haiku poems using the caddies as...
Curated OER
Urban Life: What Lives in Our Schoolyard?
Students research living organisms by exploring their school grounds. In this microscopic observation lesson, students gather materials, insects, and objects from their playground and schoolyard and bring them into class. Students...
Curated OER
Creating an Instructional Manual
Ninth graders create an instructional manual about using a mechanical device. In this technical writing lesson, 9th graders create a PowerPoint presentation that includes the step by step process of how to use the mechanical device.
Curated OER
Basic Grammatical Punctuation
In this lesson, Basic Grammatical Punctuation, 4th graders write an imaginary tale using correct punctuation. Students explore how use proper punctuation when writing. Students practice using correct punctuation while creating their...
Skills USA
Personal Growth and the Personal Leadership Inventory
What are employers looking for in prospective employees? Career-minded high schoolers examine their strongest technical skills as well as important 21st century skills, including leadership, empathy, clear communication, working well...