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Inside the Mind of the Unreliable Narrator
Create interdisciplinary connections and promote high-level inferences by studying unreliable narrators.
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What Makes a Novel a Novel?
As your authors prepare to write a hypothetical novel, they need all the inspiration they can find! Using a book they have already read (and enjoyed), learners complete a literary analysis by filling in eight short-answer questions....
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Experience and Perspective
Sixth graders make connections between past experiences and perspective. They read Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith. Then, they analyze a character's history and state the past experiences that form their perspective. In the...
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Reading a Dialect
Reading a dialect can be difficult; show readers that it can also reveal fascinating details! They read two extracts from Jane Gardam's The Hollow Land, which is written in a British dialect. Readers answer comprehension questions,...
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Summer of the Monkeys
While reading the book Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls, the class ties together the core reading objectives, which are making predictions, comprehending new information, reading for author's purpose, independence in reading, and...
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Comparing Poems
Young literary analysts compare two poems by the same author. Readers look for slant rhyme, observe the beat and rhythm of each, and search for repeated vowel sounds. After re-reading, they observe the lack of punctuation and the stanza...
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The Princess's Point of View
Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...
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Interpreting Perspective
Work on characterization with a narrative writing lesson plan, in which middle schoolers interpret a character's perspective. They discuss family traditions and examine how culture can influence a character's perspective. Next, they read...
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Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
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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Fifteen Seconds of Fame
A reading of Panic in Paris launches a review of the elements of narrative writing. Class members work in groups to find narrative devices in the book and record their findings on a provided worksheet. Using the completed pages, emergent...
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Writing American Diaries
Young scholars examine the concept of historical perspective in writing. They read the diary of Sally Wister, a young Patriot from Philadelphia during the Revolutionary Era. Additionally, they must include different points of view in...
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What's the Point of View?
What is the point of view? Sixth graders discuss third person limited and omniscient perspectives while reading several short stories. Then, complete a worksheet and share findings with peers.
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In Search of Ethnic Identity in Selected Narratives: New Reading, New Meaning
Middle schoolers read texts reflecting multiple cultural perspectives.
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Civil War Perspectives
Fifth graders have a debate and defend one of the three different perspectives of the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson plan, 5th graders defend either the North, the South, or the Neutral perspectives.
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 8: Character
Characters often change over the course of a story or novel. Use the sample graphic organizer provided here to track how the narrator has responded to the sequence of events in chapter four through six of The Cay. In addition to this...
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Point of View Practice: Narrative Perspective
Excerpts from ten texts (There's something for everyone from Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath to Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, and more!) provide the springboard for an examination of point of view. For each short excerpt,...
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Point of View
Students explore point of view. In this acceptance lesson, students listen to a story in which six people didn't listen to the other's point of view and lost out in the end. The students discuss why we all think and feel differently and...
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Multiple Perspectives
Analyze multiple perspectives in short stories. Sixth graders examine the point of view of each major character in three different short stories. After reading the stories, they role-play characters and hypothesize about the character's...
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Fallen Angels
Students read the novel, Fallen Angels, and examine the theme of coming of age during the Vietnam War. They create timelines of the 1960s, highlighting important issues of the era. They write research papers focusing on one particular...
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The Call of the Wild
Students read The Call of the Wild, noting its theme of survival. They investigate the book's concepts with word webs, spider maps, or graphic organizers. They conduct a panel discussion on dogs and wolves. They write a letter to the...
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Describing Our Senator
Third graders find the narrator or speaker in a story. For this story elements lesson, 3rd graders listen to the story My Senator and Me and answer comprehension questions. They complete a descriptive writing piece from different points...
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Writing Drama-Trying Your Hand at being a Playwright
Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. In this performing arts activity, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people, and perform...
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Folktale Unit Outline
Seventh graders analyze grammatical structures and identify literary elements in a variety of texts. Through the genre of folktales, ancient or indigenous cultures are studied.
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Guided Writing: Writing a Story on the OHP
Students practice fluency as well as story-writing skills. They work together to prepare and write their stories. Students are told that they are going to write a story entitled 'A Wonderful Day' and that they are going to be the...