EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Presentation of Photograph and Song Selections
The presentation is the thing. Learners combine all their skills by creating a pitch for their films about the Little Rock Nine. They explain to classmates why they selected the images and songs using self-created prompt cards. The end...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Justification for Character and Scene Selection
When it comes to love and midsummer nights, confessions are tricky. Learners place themselves in the shoes of a character from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and explain how a character manipulated another character in...
Curated OER
Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this lesson to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear America" or "My...
Building Background Knowledge: Learning About the Historical and Geographical Setting of Esperanza Rising
Set up your class to read Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, through a class read-aloud and exploration of the setting. The detailed lesson plan outlines each step. First, class members read over the first few pages and focus on the...
EngageNY
Jigsaw, Part 2: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Three heads are better than one. Scholars gather back in their triads for another read of their monologues. They answer text-dependent questions and review their work. Learners then present their jigsaw monologues to the rest of the...
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....
Curated OER
Picture Perfect Poetry
Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this lesson to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several different...
Nemours KidsHealth
Eating Disorders: Grades 3-5
Explore the idea of self-esteem through different mediums. Research what is needed for increased self-esteem: list three things one might do well in, take a photo of an activity where each student is performing well, and examine how the...
Curated OER
Find Figurative Language
Meet with the school library specialist and work together to plan a visit and presentation on figurative language. After defining and examining examples of targeted terms, the class travels to the library where the SL has collected...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Plot Summary
Eighth graders implement plot summary organizers to identify essential elements such as conflict and resolution in literature. In pairs, they retell fairy tales to each other and complete plot summaries about them. As students read new...
Curated OER
Using Context Clues
Middle schoolers receive a handout that lists the five types of context clues. The class divides up into groups of three or four, and each group chooses five unfamiliar words. They write a multiple-choice question for each of their five...
Curated OER
It's Greek To Me!
In this language lesson, scholars use Greek root meanings to determine the meaning of words. After being shown how Greek roots are used in many words, such as, photosynthesis, pairs are given two excellent black line masters...
Curated OER
Jim Murphy, The Great Fire - Grade 6
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy provides the text for a study of the Chicago fire of 1871. The plan is designed as a close reading activity so that all learners have the same background information require for writing. Richly detailed, the...
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Parts of Speech Adverbs: Building Blocks of Grammar
What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb? Encourages scholars to explore the answer to this question while building a foundation of the English language. The lesson comes complete with an attention grabber, notes, and a...
Curated OER
Looking at Portraits: Literary Monuments
Examine artwork, research literature, and create art pieces for a monument to a literary figure. Young scholars analyze the sculpture Model for a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père and compare it to other well-known monuments. They...
EngageNY
Character Confessions: Peer Critique of Narratives
Shake up the writing process with a peer critique. The second of four lessons in the Grade 8 ELA Module 2B, Unit 3 series first has young writers compare their interpretations of a scene from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 3 Assessment and Independent Reading Check
It's time for scholars to be on their own. Individuals work independently reviewing sources to answer their research questions. Learners read "Are Your Clothes Made in Sweatshops?" to help complete the mid-unit assessment. After...
EngageNY
End of Unit 3 Assessment: Writing a Research Synthesis
Ready, set, write! Scholars work on the end-of-unit assessment by completing a writing prompt. They then look at the model performance task from instructional activity two to create a rubric for scoring the exercise. Using turn and talk,...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Impending Fall of Saigon
Scholars read "Doc-Lap at Last" and participate in a Three Threes in a Row activity in which they answer three questions about the text in their rows. They then discuss the central idea of the text. Readers finish the lesson plan with a...
EngageNY
Author’s Craft: Poetry and Prose
During a drama circle, scholars closely examine the play created in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. The pupils read Act 3 Scene 1 and turn and talk to their partners about the scene. They then complete a handout and discuss the...
EngageNY
Analyzing Douglass’s Purpose: Learning to Read
Three for three. Groups of three complete Analysis note catchers that cover excerpt three of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Before beginning, learners discuss group work by looking at the excerpt analysis role document...
EngageNY
Planning for Writing: Introduction and Conclusion of a Literary Argument Essay
After completing three body paragraphs of an argument essay about life's rules to live by from Bud, Not Buddy Christopher Paul Curtis, it's time to begin writing the introduction and conclusion. Independently, pupils draft the final two...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing an Informational Text about a Refugee Experience
Refugee & Immigrant Transitions is an organization that helps newcomers adjust to life in the United States through education and community leadership opportunities. As part of a mid-unit assessment, pupils independently read a...
EngageNY
Characters’ Decisions: The Flow of Consequences in Midsummer
Class members meet in their drama circles and share their thoughts on why it might be necessary for the audience to know something the characters don't. They read Act 3 Scene 2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream and complete consequence flow...