Students list different forms of communication, assess importance of writing, read and discuss article "String, and Knot, Theory of Inca Writing", research system of writing, and create "How It Works" posters.

For this describing trends worksheet, students read information about broadcast TV plus cable and satellite TV, observe an annual use of the media graph and describe the trends. Students also read a text about advertising, interpret a...

Not all sources are created equal, so how do you evaluate them? Writers learn how to evaluate print sources based on elements such as audience, tone, and argument in the sixth handout of 24 in the Writing the Paper series from the...

Ninth graders explore Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this reading comprehension lesson, 9th graders reach chapters 16 and 17 and complete reading check questions. Students discuss themes that reflect the historical...

As part of their study of Elie Wiesel's Night, individuals assume the voice of an Auschwitz survivor and craft a letter to a former SS officer who worked at the camp and claims he is not guilty of any crime. 

Pupils take part in a close reading of the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, in which they delve deep into its meaning and identify its rules to live by. As the grand discussion progresses, learners then relate the poem's rules with those...

Scholars work in pairs to decide whether leaders wrote the Declaration of Independence for the rich and powerful or for every man. To draw their conclusion, pairs read excerpts from two historians and complete a graphic organizer...

Partner up! Scholars continue their fishbowl activity with one partner sitting inside the circle and one sitting outside the circle. Participants add to sentence starters to analyze the perspective of the Pearl Harbor Attack seen in the...

Students research Australian History as it relates to the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. In this Maurie Japarta Ryan lesson, students apply specific skills pertaining to...

Students decipher factual information about manatees.  In this biological science lesson, students research characteristics about manatees.  They use that information to separate facts from common opinions about the...

Pose the question to your historians: who really freed the slaves? They critically assess various arguments, using primary sources as evidence. In small groups, scholars jigsaw 5 primary source documents (linked), and fill out an...

Have your class talk about the importance of the rainforest and the products that come from it. Learners watch a video showing the path of chocolate from the rainforest to the supermarket. They discuss how the rainforest and...

Use art museum paintings as inspiration for your class's creative writing works. Observing the paintings closely, middle and high schoolers list details and write descriptions. Their completed stories are displayed on bulletin boards...

A visual literary lesson provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy with a...

Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...

The ability to analyze an argument is a skill emphasized by the Common Core standards. Offer your class an opportunity to develop and hone their skills by providing them the testimonies in an Oregon court case. After reading the facts of...

When your pupils read an account of an event, are they conscious of the fact that this particular account might focus on certain details, while ignoring others? Open their eyes to bias and varying interpretation of facts with the...

An informative installment of the Writing for Specific Fields series helps readers learn how to interpret and write about fiction. The website details nine easy steps for writing a literary analysis—a useful method for all readers!

Round out your unit on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a series of reading comprehension questions. As kids read, they challenge each other to answer specific connection questions from the text.

As I Lay Dying is a beautiful book and a wonderful vehicle for understanding, interpreting, and comparing themes. The class reads and analyzes the novel, discusses possible interpretations, and characterizations. They compare the themes...

Teach your readers how to engage with a text by using the request strategy. As kids read Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince, they choose a passage of text and formulate questions to stump their partners or their...

Are you in need of a new way to teach learners sequence of events and how to interpret a character's external motivations? Why not engage them in dramatic play? The class will use tableaux to convey the sequence of events in a familiar...

Plays are meant to be performed! After reading the entire play, invite your learners to choose a scene from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead that relates to earlier class discussion about characters, motifs, and themes to interpret...

Analyze and interpret a literary work your class has read during the course. After reading a variety of literary works, middle schoolers alter the ending of a selection by creating an alternate ending. They generate five comprehension...