Examine the characters in Willa Cather's My Antonia with a group project. Small groups illustrate their chosen character on a large piece of paper and choose quotes from the text that tell about the character. Where learners choose...

Assess your class's understanding of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with a fun and creative final project. Using what they have learned about the novel's characters, they create presentations featuring music and images that...

Combine informational reading skills with fictional text in an innovative historical fiction lessons. After reading a fictional text related to diseases, class members read non-fictional text to gain knowledge about specific infectious...

An effective lesson plan truly can make all the difference. Seventh graders read, analyze, and annotate Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" before writing an essay about what they believe to be the theme of the iconic poem.

Writing is a process, and lesson planning is, too! A personal narrative unit stresses the writing process to pupils, who first examine various stories and poems as a model of autobiographical writing and then write their own stories....

Don't just read a poem, recite a poem! Add speaking skills to a poetry unit with an activity that promotes successful poem recitation. Scholars choose a poem then recite it with the help of several tips and videos. 

Analyze chunks of Masque of the Red Death to determine Edgar Allan Poe's use of symbolism and development of allegory. Readers learn new vocabulary words, answer comprehension questions, and identify symbols throughout the story....

An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...

The end is in sight. Pupils complete an end of unit assessment, analyzing an interview with a rainforest scientist and then comparing and contrasting two informational texts. Next, they complete a self-assessment to reflect on their...

Come explore with me. Scholars complete an end of the unit assessment in which they write an essay describing how Meg Lowman explored the rainforest canopy. Pupils fill in an outline organizer before beginning their writing.

One, two, three go!  Scholars work independently to finalize the three components of their final task. They complete a science journal entry, scientific text box, and scientific drawing. While working, learners sign up for an...

Give me more details. Scholars complete an end of unit assessment by creating an information text box to go with their field journal entries about howler monkeys. Learners use the class time to work independently.

Students write a friendly letter to 5th graders welcoming incoming students. For this writing lesson, students identify the five parts of a friendly letter, write a friendly letter to a current 5th grader, and perform a peer review and...

First graders through a variety of strategies assess how to write in journals openly and effectively. Those strategies include integration of technology, story telling, group and team work, performance-based assessment/rubrics, visual...

After reading an excerpt from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, The Fun of It, learners explore various nonfiction resources about her life and write a short newspaper article on a specific event. They then develop a longer piece of...

Although the attachments for this travel brochure project are no longer linked, you can still use the idea here and create your own assignment sheet and rubric. Learners choose a parish in Louisiana (or a city in your state) to research,...

Have your class practice alliteration using this lesson. Learners listen to stories with alliterative elements and create their own sentences illustrating this technique. The lesson is incomplete, but could be enhanced to provide a...

The ninth in a fourteen-lesson series, this plan marks a sort of midpoint in a unit devoted to the study of short stories. Pupils learn about theme and work on their short story projects by adding to their blogs, checking in with the...

Here is a fabulous lesson on the Earth's radiant energy system. This amazing, 31-page document is chock-full of great activities, worksheets, lab sheets, quizzes, rubrics, and assessments. Learners model and explain cloud formation,...

This is a very general description of steps to follow when helping learners to improve their digital presentation skills. It allows for 10 minutes to revise the presentation; a 40-minute practice period in small groups; and a...

Introduce your class to the genre of mystery. Included is a vocabulary list, a rubric, and a sample mystery story called "Lethal Lesson." There are very limited directions on what to do with these resources, so you will need to plan some...

Expand your class's vision of the French-speaking world by conducting this research project. Pupils focus on building 21st-century skills while they look up information about a French country and put together presentations.

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...

What was life like for civilians who were home during WWII? The lesson plan uses a PowerPoint presentation with photos to explain life on the home front was like during World War II, including shortages of food, collecting scrap metal,...