As part of a study of how writers structure their text so that readers understand events, class members do a close reading of "Is It Lawful to Make Slaves of Others Against Their Will?" a chapter in Aronson and Budhos' Sugar Changed the...

How does a new version of a Shakespearean play change in the adaptation process? Use this New York Times' Learning Network lesson to consider texts that have been produced in different media. Middle schoolers examine the latest...

How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...

Students examine the function of exposition in play structure. They will be able to develop multiple interpretations and visual and aural production choices for Shakespearean scenes and choose those that are most interesting.

Students view the film 'Black Robe,' which further develop students' abilities to see an event or era of history from multiple perspectives. After the movie, they utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan to write about what they've seen.

Students discover that the education of the Aboriginal was a government and church "mission." They develop respect for the Aboriginal people and their continuing concerns about their treatment at the hands of the missionaries and the...

After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...

Practice blending letters together to make the words learners are reading. They decode words familiarized with the concept of blending. This lesson utilizes the Body-Coda method of blending developed by Lloyd Eldredge. Each child...

Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...

What is a memorial and what should it look like? Learners will choose what they believe is important to remember about September 11 and how it should be displayed. They work in groups and brainstorm details about the memorial and present...

Who is the Donner Party? Find out why this group of pioneers lives in infamy. A lot of information is provided in this resource, but you will have to copy and paste the text to acquire the handouts. Learners will look at primary sources,...

Develop a world-wide, email chain on which class members can showcase their acts of kindness. After defining the meaning of random acts of kindness through discussion and through a reading of Random Acts of Kindness,...

Sixth graders write multiple pieces and create a writing portfolio each marking period.  In this writing lesson plan, 6th graders spend several weeks developing each piece of writing, conference with their parents at home, and...

Discussion doesn't always need to be spoken. Before you begin The Tempest by William Shakespeare, have kids connect their ideas and experiences to central questions of the play with a silent discussion activity. Once they have...

Encourage readers of Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, to develop their categorization and organizational skills with a strategy that asks them to list all the words they can...

Questioning a text is a very effective way for kids to develop their reading comprehension skills. Designed to engage all class members, a reading activity prompts pairs to develop and share their own questions about the ending of Neil...