An examination of stump speeches, one of the most important components of a presidential campaign, is made possible by accessing The New York Times Learning Network. After closely examining the form and function of stump speeches,...

The art of writing dialogue is the focus of this language arts resource. After a review of the rules of writing direct speech, youngsters try their hand at creating dialogue used by characters they create in their writing. They focus on...

To prepare to deliver a persuasive speech, class members examine not only how to craft a speech, but consider body language, articulation, pronunciation, pitch, pace, and volume as well.

Although Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X both work for equal rights, social change, and political empowerment, their approaches were radically different. To better understand these contrasts, class members compare King's "I...

Analyze advertising techniques in order to pinpoint persuasive strategies that writers use. These same techniques are then examined in persuasive speeches. You will have to find your own advertisements, but speeches are included. Finish...

The perfect resource for a beginning journalism teacher or someone designing a journalism unit, this activity prompts students to write a newspaper article. It covers all aspects of the writing process, such as a guided warm-up...

Challenge your pupils with this innovative how-to activity. Instead of simply having learners write an essay describing how to do a particular activity, this activity has them create an iMovie describing a process.

A terrific instructional activity on homophones awaits your youngsters. First, pupils access a website that contains lists of homophones. Then, it's time to get creative! Everyone gets a piece of poster board and they create a homophone...

Whether working with pupils in their primary language or language learners, the exercises included in this resource will encourage your pupils to build more complex sentences. Using color-coded cards of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and...

This is a fantastic collection of a wide variety of rubrics for writing, listening, and speaking! The resource contains over 14 rubrics for assessing such items as a summary, autobiographical sketch and narrative, speech, oral...

In order to make evidence-based claims, one must be able to draw explicit information from text. From here, learners take that information, analyze the text to develop a deeper understanding, and connect with the information in order to...

The contributions of African-Americans to the American Revolution are the focus of this Social Studies and language arts lesson. After reading and discussing Linda Crotta Brennan’s The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, class...

Use the Schoolhouse Rock episode, "Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla," to introduce a study of pronouns. Learners consider antecedents, cases (nominative, objective and possessive), as well as types of pronouns, and then craft sentences using...

Have your class learn the essentials of public speaking. They compose a speech for their fifth grade celebration using iPods and presentation software. This would be a great end of the year activity for any grade level.

This lesson plan is designed for college students who are having anxiety regarding public speaking. In it, the speech givers go through a process of using imagery in order to reduce anxiety. The instructor guides the pupils in...

A little bit complicated, but a whole lot of fun. Show your class an episode of the British television game show Just a Minute. After an explanation of the rules (no repetition, hesitation, or deviation) groups develop topics, based on...

Are your advanced learners reading authentic Latin this year? Whether you're teaching Caesar, Cicero or Virgil, use some of these strategies to map out your unit. What do you focus on? Consider taking small passages and making that the...

The New York Times' Learning Network provides great lessons! This one uses articles from the paper to help readers understand homonyms like mail (verb and noun). It also includes an exercise in reading informational text. Links to the...

An excellent grammar reference page from Jolly Phonics provides definitions and actions to remember several fundamental parts of speech. The methods are interesting for learners who have a hard time remembering the differences between...

I or me? Are your middle school grammarians struggling with pronoun case? Try this trick. Instruct your learners to look right before or right after the pronoun choice for the words and, or, nor. Have them cover the conjunction and the...

With the focus on 21st century skills it is even more important that all teachers incorporate listening and speaking activities into their curriculum. Here's a packet of practical ideas appropriate for any classroom.

Want to teach your pupils about debate, effective speech techniques, propaganda, and the women's movement? The first in a sequential series of three, scholars analyze real propaganda images from the the historic women's movement, view a...

21st-century learners live in such a visual world that many are unused to letting their minds imagine the picture that words create. An excerpt from Carl Sagan's lecture, "The Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,"...

Review r-controlled words, open and closed vowels, and dipthongs with a set of classroom posters. Each page features one concept with a colorful illustration, an explanation, and a list of applicable words.