Pupils use a helpful resource to begin a Writing Improvement Tracker, developing awareness of their writing strengths and challenges. Additionally, they continue planning their argument essays about Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's...

Scholars work together to compile a list of things good writers do to perfect their craft and write the ideas on a whiteboard. They then discuss the differences between passive and active sentences and use their knowledge to identify...

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...

The focus is on written communication as class members respond to questions about the text Unbroken in their Written Conversation note catchers. They trade note catchers with a partner every two minutes and then share ideas from their...

Check those sources carefully. Scholars learn to analyze and critique primary sources with the work they completed in the previous activity. Learners compare and contrast sources that agree and disagree about Japanese-American internment...

Have some dignity. Readers describe the word dignity using a word web and then sort Louie's actions into categories of reconnecting or dignity with a Visibility Double Arrow graphic organizer. They then use all of their ideas and...

Researchers review how to create citations, find reliable sources, and paraphrase. Next, using guided task cards and their researcher's notebooks, they investigate the question they developed in instructional activity eight about the...

It's time to gather nuts, berries, and lots of information. Scholars continue on their quest to determine the consequences of each of Michael Pollan's food chains from The Omnivore's Dilemma. Using research questions developed in a...

Class members dig into the expectations for the end-of-unit assessment for A Mighty Long Way by studying the rubric. The Rubric Criteria strips help pairs of readers look more closely at specific rubric points. They share ideas with the...

Readers use sticky notes and a Reading Closely: Guiding Questions handout to record the gist of a different section (pages 161-166) in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. They then pair up and share their ideas. To end the lesson, readers complete...

You wrote it, now what? Learners take their writing to the next level when they perform it for classmates. They then engage in a self-reflection and assessment of their work to determine how well they hit targets, such as identifying...

Do a 360. After completing their ad analyses, scholars now begin working on their counter ads. Once again, they use the model performance task for reference and guidance. When finished, pupils talk with one another about their work.

Class members read the chapter, "Serfs and Sweetness" from Sugar Changed the World, and identify the central idea that the development of beet sugar and modern farming technology changed the reliance on the plantation system and made...

Who bears the most responsibility for ensuring that goods are ethically produced? Using evidence drawn from Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, the unit's central text, and from the...

As part of their reading of Leslie Marmon Silko's "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit," class members analyze how the author develops her narrative through dialogue, description, and multiple plot lines.

Before your class reads the book James and the Giant Peach, check out this very handy set of learning activities. The reading guide provides you with several excellent ideas for building vocabulary related to the text and reading...

Get your class ready to read with this anticipatory set for Running Out of Time. Small groups each consider one thought-provoking statement. After each group comes to a consensus, the whole class participates in sharing ideas and voting...

Blundering, audacious, obscurest. Class members develop strategies for teaching each other vocabulary words drawn from The Hobbit.

Designed for teachers, this guide to The Scarlet Letter is divided into background information about Hawthorne and Puritan New England, suggestions for teaching various ability levels, and ideas for extensions that include...

Stanchion, spar, spinnaker. Right wing, sweeper, hip check. Every subject has specialized vocabulary. Here’s a fun way to introduce your learners to this jargon. Provide class groups with newspapers and have them search pre-selected...

Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw...

To develop their skill at drawing inferences from observations, sixth graders rotate through six stations, conduct a series of experiments, make observations, and draw inference from what they observe.

Make note of what readers know, what to know, and have learned during a unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As class members read the book, they jot down their ideas on a KWHL chart, and consider what they have...

Pick a topic, any topic! Working in small groups, scholars choose three topics they think would make interesting podcasts. Next, each group shares their ideas with the class to narrow down their choices.