Explore figurative language with your secondary class. Extending a language arts unit, the lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine how an author's word choice establishes a story's tone, possibly using metaphors, similes,...

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...

As guided practice, class members work together to revise a model persuasive paragraph. Then they practice independently with their own writing. The included rubric looks at prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, nonfiction text...

Use the revision process to polish your writing. Writers prepare works for job portfolios that include cover letters, job applications, resumes, and letters of recommendation. Prepare them for the future!

An informative installment of the Writing for Specific Fields series helps readers learn how to interpret and write about fiction. The website details nine easy steps for writing a literary analysis—a useful method for all readers!

Imagine linking poetry to technology! Thirty-three lessons comprise a 6-week "Women in Poetry" unit for high schoolers. Class members research women poets, learn how to respond electronically to discussions, write their poems, create web...

Whether you are planning a unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or simply want to improve your pupils' descriptive writing, this lesson could be a good addition to your class. Using the Six-Trait Writing process, pupils...

Over the course of a 12-lesson language arts unit, young scholars analyze a variety of poems taking a close look at figurative language and tone. They learn to compare and contrast, improve comprehension, and identify settings. To...

Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation...

Students analyze Thoreau's writing style. In this writing style lesson, students describe Thoreau's literary style and use the devices he employs in a response to one of his essays.

Develop the writing skills of your high school class. Writers consider their personal style and voice, read selections by other authors, and then write pieces that challenge them to experiment with their own style.

Students read The Train Ride Home by Robin Solomon. In this literature response instructional activity, students will inspect the writing of Solomon to determine how she established a certain tone through her word...

Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical...

Show a video clip that descripes how taking a journey can change a person's outlook on life. Learners write a paragraph about a place that uses imagery and tone to create a specfic effect. They evaluate their journal entries as well.

Students write a scene.  In this creative writing lesson, students read The Lightning Thief and discuss the sentence fluency and word choice in the writing.  Students complete a writing assignment where they create an...

Twelfth graders examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. In this transcendentalism lesson, 12th graders determine what this type of writing entails before reading a passage from, Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine. They cite three...

Students examine the need for a national library. In this Library of Congress lesson, students analyze primary sources to investigate the persuasive techniques that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter meant to show his...

Students study paintings and use their knowledge of story elements to analyze the art. In this art analysis instructional activity, students review a novel for its elements. Students study the image At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance and...

Pupils find vivid verbs in literature and use them in their own writing. In this vivid verbs lesson, students use a 'Thinking Thesaurus' of major verbs to study common verbs. Pupils then practice rewriting sentences using vivid verbs....

Students compare the tone, purpose, point of view, etc. of traditional Native American poems and creation myths to traditional Colonial American literature. they debate which is the right way of thinking/living.

Students, after reading and analyzing Rebecca Brown's "Forgiveness" and Christine Delea's "CoCo Chanel in the Stairwell," explore and focus on the author's tone and genre analysis. They interpret different rhetorical situations as they...

Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...

Students describe their current mood in several complete sentences. They compare their moods with moods set by authors through the tone of their writing. Students read a teacher prepared handout about mood/tone of writing. They write...

Students combine elements of music with poetry.  In this creative writing instructional activity, students examine poems from a variety of authors with varying writing styles.  Students explore the different elements of poetry,...