Curated OER
Spinelli's Maniac Magee (excerpt): Reading and Critical Thinking Practice
A brief, dialogue-rich passage from Jerry Spinelli's novel Maniac Magee is accompanied by a well-written literacy assessment tool. Thematic content lends itself to age-appropriate discussions about race relations and social justice....
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Unemployment that Just Won't Quit
It's an economic Catch-22! Expose your scholars to the hiring/unemployment paradox using this political cartoon analysis worksheet. The cartoon shows corporations explaining to a job seeker that they cannot hire him due to the unstable...
Curated OER
Irony
Using examples from Socrates to Johnny Carson, this slideshow presents your students with the history and definition of dramatic irony, satire, situational irony, and tragic irony. This presentation would be useful in a language arts...
Curated OER
Errors vs. Rhetorical Devices
Is there a difference between writing errors and employing rhetorical devices? This presentation argues that there is a difference, but it might be a finer point than one would think. Addressing double entendre, oxymorons, and parody,...
Power Show
Introduction to Out of the Dust
Powerful images set the stage for Karen Hesse's historical fiction novel, Out of the Dust. The photos, maps, quotes from the text, critical thinking questions, and background information on the Dust Bowl period are all included, and will...
EngageNY
Contrasting Two Settings (Chapter 6: "Lost Melones/Cantalouples")
Continue working through Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, by looking into language choices and discussing text-dependent questions. Pupils converse in small groups and as a class about plot, setting, and figurative language. Using...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Illustrating Text
Ideas like this are highly effective for helping build better reading comprehension. The class listens to an excerpt from a grade-appropriate text, and they discuss what clues or words helped them visualize the scene. They then read a...
Curated OER
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Chapter 3 Reading Check
"I wisht somebody'd shoot me if I got old an' a cripple." Young readers examine one of the ways Steinbeck brings his characters to life by closely examining what characters say and imaging why Steinbeck choose...
Teacherfiles
Cause and Effect
Review the importance of cause and effect with a straightforward language arts worksheet. While reading a short story or novel, kids record three causes and their effects in a graphic organizer.
Write Away!
Voices In the Park
Explore the impact a narrator's point of view has on a story with a reading of the children's book, Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Written in four different voices, the story is told and retold from different perspectives to...
Curated OER
Activity Guide for Snow
Create a cross-curricular learning experience around a shared reading of Cynthia Rylant's book Snow. From writing poetry and a singing a song about snow, to creating paper snowflakes and solving math story problems, this resource...
Curated OER
Frindle: A Guiding Reading Unit
Guide your class through a reading of the popular children's book, Frindle, with this comprehensive literature unit. Starting with a brief introduction to the guided reading process, the class goes on to read the story two chapters...
Louisiana Department of Education
The Scarlet Letter
Use Nathanial Hawthorne's immortal text on the influence of religion on the early American settlements, as well as its continued impact on American culture, with a unit that focuses on The Scarlet Letter. In addition to Hawthorne's...
Brown University
Considering the Role of Values in Public Policy
Strong opinions come from deeply held values. Young citizens explore the values that are most important to them in a class discussion and activity. As they prioritize a list of values cards that include freedom,...
Prestwick House
The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien's powerful collection of vignettes about the experiences of a platoon of soldiers during the Vietnam War, serves as a text for a crossword puzzle. The 23 clues asks readers to recall characters,...
College Board
The Departure
Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...
Odell Education
Making Evidence-Based Claims: Grade 9
Sorry, Charlie. Scholars take a close look at Apology by Plato. Activities analyzing the text help pupils understand, make, organize, and write about claims. Learners work in groups, complete claim tools, and evaluate thinking by filling...
PBS
Satire, Parody, and Humor in Catch-22
Laughter is the heart of dark comedy. It makes the unbearable bearable. Joseph Heller crafted his dark comedy Catch-22 to enable readers to laugh at the painful realities and underscore the absurdities of a war where people you...
Curated OER
Weaving Heritage Through the Strands of Mountain Windsong
Tenth graders read a novel and then bring in their own artifact with a written description. They also are given a strand to read from certain historical pieces.
Curated OER
Made for the Movies
Students create a movie flyer to advertise the novel that the class has just finished reading in small groups. They search the Internet, format their flyer, select a slogan for their film, write a brief plot summary, without giving away...
Curated OER
Plot and Conflict
Pupils review the literary elements of plot and conflict. In this plot and conflict lesson, students read a story and answer questions about the plot and conflict within. Pupils create a concept map for the novel to identify the...
Curated OER
Read Aloud Lesson Plan
Students listen as the novel "On My Honor" is read to them. They identify similes and the characters differences in the novel.
Curated OER
Finding Buck Henry
Students read and demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process via the novel "Finding Buck Henry." They recognize complex elements of plot. Students analyze devices used to develop characters in...
Curated OER
Christmas Poetry
Middle schoolers explore writing using literary terms. For this Christmas poetry lesson, students write a poem about a Christmas tree or a snowman using at least one example of each: metaphor, simile, and personification.