Curated OER
"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare
Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis skills. Learners...
Heritage Foundation
Courts and Judges
If the Supreme Court is so supreme, why do all cases not just start there? High schoolers learn why every case does not start at the Supreme Court as well as the importance of hierarchy in the US judicial system in the 11th installment...
Echoes & Reflections
The Children and Legacies Beyond the Holocaust
Using video testimony, primary source documents that detail international agreements, and structured discussions, learners consider the precarious position of children during the Holocaust and other international conflicts, and how to...
Curated OER
Cells: Nature's Building Blocks
What you will find on this page is the general outline of a unit on the use of a microscope and the structure of the cell. There is no actual educational content here, so you will need to design the details of each of the four student...
Curated OER
Integrating Target Structures
Students read short essays on the characteristics of several cities. They discuss these characteristics focusing on the use of the passive and active voice in past tenses.
Curated OER
Can History Be Rewritten?
Can history be rewritten? Or, more precisely, is history documented accurately? High school juniors and seniors compare primary source material with secondary sources. For example, they compare President Roosevelt's December 29, 1940...
Curated OER
Writing Structure and Paragraph Lesson
Students review the correct form for writing paragraphs. In this paragraph writing lesson, students rewrite a poorly written opening sentence. Students make changes to a closing paragraph. Students write a plan for an essay of five...
Virginia Department of Education
Writing Counterarguments
This activity is better utilized as a peer-editing exercise and not as an activity on how to write counterarguments. Writers take their argumentative rough drafts, peer edit in groups of four, and review the author on common essay...
App State
Brainstorming
Get your young writers outside of the traditional essay writing mode with Free Write Friday. Free Write Friday encourages your class to use personal experiences or knowledge to write more creative pieces. Young writers could experiment...
Curated OER
Reading About Children from Other Places in the World: Structured Research Project
Young scholars read about children in Ghana, Sri Lanka and Haiti. They compare these children to themselves in a structured lesson that focuses on note taking and research skills. Students work in groups to write a short essay about the...
Curated OER
Young Learner's Writing Workshop 1
Students become familiar with writing an essay in English. They are given an overview of basic essay writing styles. Students develop skills that are used when analyzing texts as the basis of their essays.
Museum of Tolerance
Just What Kind of American Are You?
Your parents were both in different countries. You were born in the US. Documents and application forms ask you to identify your racial or ethnic classification. Which box do you check? Class members collect documents and application...
Oklahoma Bar Association
Into Which Caste Have You Been Cast?: India's Caste System
What was it like to fit into a certain class with no choice in the matter? Learners experience the caste system in a role-play activity, work individually on handouts to enhance their learning, and participate in an evaluation activity...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing
Use a quick bell-ringer to interest your class in the art of persuasion. They brainstorm where they find examples of persuasion in their lives and identify who is trying to persuade them. Then they either fish through magazines or look...
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Introductions: Formulating Problem Statements
Describing a problem efficiently doesn't solve it, but a well-crafted argument can move readers to action. High schoolers focus on structuring problem statements by reading examples of strong essays and working in groups to create their...
Curated OER
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
"The Gettysburg Address" is the basis of a series of activities that not only model for learners how to conduct a close reading of a text, but also how a close reading can help them comprehend a difficult text. The detailed, step-by-step...
Reed Novel Studies
Tuck Everlasting: Novel Study
Would you want to live forever? That is a question that Winnie, in Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting, must answer. Scholars read to find out what Winnie chooses and reinforce their knowledge with vocabulary activities, comprehension...
Echoes & Reflections
Contemporary Antisemitism
Despite the recognized atrocities of the Holocaust, anti-semitism continues. The 11th and final installment of the Teaching the Holocaust series explores the long-term effects of the Holocaust on modern anti-semitism, asking pupils to...
Curriculum Corner
Spring Break Writing Planner
Welcome scholars back from spring break with a prewriting activity that challenges them to draft a narrative account of one event that took place over the long holiday.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Space Shelter
Learners simulate that they need to develop a new home on a different planet. They design a shelter that will ensure their survival after researching the characteristics of the other planet. They write an essay about their home design.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Sor Juana, la poetisa: Los sonetos
Examine two of Sor Juana's sonnets in depth. Learners first listen to an audio recording or a reading of the sonnets and then analyze the structure and form, paying attention to elements of the Baroque and el gongorismo. Assess student...
Curated OER
Outline a Travel Narrative
Fourth graders are taught how to outline a fictional narrative essay. They review the definition and structure of narrative essays. Students use the activity to brainstorm specific ideas for narrative essays. They are given a...
Curated OER
Persuasion: Analyzing Persuasive Writing
Students examine and create persuasive essays. In this writing instructional activity students engage in activities that allow them to understand how a persuasive essay is constructed so they may compose their own.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Revision and Peer Editing
Students are able to evaluate their peers' essays to determine clarity, completeness, and persuasiveness. They are able to revise their own essays for greater clarity and fluency, adding explanation where needed and cutting extraneous...