Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...

Students explore the elements of a narrative for its purpose, type of audience, mood, main character, minor characters, setting, and conflicts in the story. A story outline is developed and a five paragraph essay composed in this lesson.

In these English lesson plans, students use video, the Internet and non-fiction essays to research the history of the English language. They write a short research paper and design a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their findings.

One must first learn how to analyze art before they can properly respond to it. Here, young analysts examine six abstract pieces in a systematic and formal way. They then respond to one of the pieces in either a poem or an essay. An...

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,...

Elementary schoolers practice the skill of non-fiction writing. They study aspects of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, and write an essay which describes the tower and it's fascinating history. The article about the tower is included in...

Slavery in India, Sudan, and Mauritania? What about in the United States? Groups research modern slavery in these four countries, collecting factual evidence (What), determine their feelings about this evidence (So what),...

Sixth graders choose from a list of researchable inquiry questions. They engage in all phases of inquiry/research process.

Students analyze the use of language, including non-standard written and oral English. They write persuasive, descriptive, narrative and/or evaluative pieces in response to the story read and keep reflection journals. Finally, students...

Students study tourism and conservation. In this coral development lesson students view a PowerPoint presentation and write a report. 

Third graders are given an opportunity to create a visual to accompany their presentations of their persuasive essays. They may use the computer or other media as resources.