Curated OER
Instill a Passion for Writing Short Stories
Quick writing tips and tricks to guide and polish learners' narrative writing.
Film English
5 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know
Prepare your pupils for making excellent presentations. Class members discuss elements of a successful presentation, work in groups to come up with their own scripts for the featured video, compare their work to the original voice-over,...
Boston Public Schools
What's in a Biography?
Reinforce research skills, close reading, teamwork, and biographical writing skills with one collaborative lesson. Groups create slide shows detailing the elements of a biography through a presentation on a famous American person. Based...
Curated OER
The Sound of…Poetry!
Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing lesson. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound words and then...
Knox Education
Opinion Argument Writing Packet
You won't need much persuading to use an argumentative writing packet in your language arts class! With helpful reference pages, guided practice through the writing process, examples of opinion and argument writing, and a thorough...
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 9
Here's a workshop for teachers that rocks the academic world! Using earthquakes as a medium for instruction, educators learn about crosscutting engineering with science. Fun, hands-on, collaborative exercises encourage participants to...
Sundance
Teaching Strategies: The Giver
Can utopia be achieved? Included here are three literature worksheets to pair with Lois Lowry's The Giver. Pupils work in groups to come up with solutions to society's issues, individuals back up a statement related to a topic in the...
Digital Writing and Research Lab's – Lesson Plans
Teaching Close Reading through Short Composition/Revision
This activity may have writers evaluate short compositions, but their subjects are quite tall: great Americans. Pupils read one another's compositions and closely examine how specific phrases and diction contribute to shaping American...
Curated OER
Turning Assets into Action in the Fight Against Hunger
How can one person change the world? Scholars research and analyze the topic of world hunger. Using video clips, parodies, and primary source evidence, they uncover a current campaign to end world hunger. Collaborative groups openly...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Arts Showcase
An art showcase encourages class members to explore the themes of social justice and tolerance. They create an original artwork, engage in group discussions, and journal writing. The art gallery also provides a chance for families and...
Curated OER
Popular Music and Music Videos
This resource is part of a three-activity unit that introduces your class to the concept of popular culture and the role that it plays in their lives. Here, learners examine the importance of the music industry and music videos in pop...
PBS
Civil War: Before the War
Free the slaves! Scholars research primary documents and videos while working together to create abolitionist posters. They examine the John Brown raid as a template to creating their own demonstration.
Curated OER
Flight Dreams - Folding into Flight
Combine measurement, following directions, physics, and art with one fun activity. Learners read a set of instruction to create three different kinds of paper airplanes. They measure, fold, and fly the planes, and record data and answer...
Curated OER
Shizuko's Daughter: Concept of Definition Word Map
Help your class use critical thinking when it comes to unfamiliar words. With vocabulary from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer, and find its category, comparisons, examples, and...
Curated OER
Walk Two Moons: Hook and Concept of a Frame Story
As an introduction to Sharon Creexh's Walk Two Moons, a volunteer dons a pair of boots and walks about the classroom.Observers then ponder the axiom, Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins. Their collaborative...
Scholastic
What Happened Next? (Grades K-4)
Explore the structure of narrative writing with this fun, collaborative lesson. Start by reading aloud a short story, asking small groups of learners to fill in key events on a large story board prepared on the class whiteboard....
Teaching Tolerance
Buddy Share
Here's a project that gives academics the chance to share their opinions on social justice with storytelling, creative writing, or art. Scholars choose what they want to create and are assigned buddies to support their efforts. To...
Curated OER
Dr. Seuss and Read Across America
What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class members write a...
Columbus City Schools
Poetry Speaking and Listening Standards
Celebrate April's National Poetry Month or enrich a poetry unit with a wealth of language arts material. Class members develop an oral interpretation of a poem and/or develop a podcast interview with a poet.
National Council of Teachers of English
A Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry
Scholars work collaboratively to compose a found poem from one of their favorite stories. With a finished product in hand, class members form a circle and perform their work for an audience by taking turns reciting one line till the poem...
Curated OER
Quotation Response Speech: Public Speaking Skills
Improve high schoolers' public speaking with an engaging activity. Class members select three personally relevant quotes from a list. They then write a short speech for each quote, explaining how the quotes are personally relevant. The...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: “Medicine: Then and Now” Pre-Reading Activity
What did medicine look like a hundred years ago? Two hundred years ago? Invite small groups to conduct research on the history of a chosen medical advancement before reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science....
Film English
Real Beauty
Consider the theme of beauty with discussion about what makes person beautiful and the well-known short film put together by Dove skin care. Class members examine some of the images from the film and discuss the message of the film as...
Film English
iDiots
Mobile phones have become an integral part of many people's lives. Examine the role and impact of technology through a short video and related activities. Pupils share what they use their phones for before viewing the film. Class members...