Curated OER
Short Story Lesson Plan: “The Californian’s Tale”
Middle schoolers explore the theme of "The Californian's Tale" by Mark Twain. After reading Twain's short story, they identify and study its literary theme. Additionally, they analyze information and relationships in the piece, and write...
Curated OER
Concealed Weapons Law Editorials: A Study of Persuasive Writing
Students research Ohio's concealed gun legislation using provided resource links, read editorials and commentaries from Ohio's daily and weekly newspapers, and analyze these opinion pieces.
Gourmet Curriculum Press
Author's Purpose
Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.
Curated OER
Paint My Counties: Map Coloring the Counties of Arizona
Fourth graders identify the counties of Arizona. For this social studies lesson, 4th graders color a county map of Arizona using the fewest number of colors possible. Students write a persuasive paragraph.
Curated OER
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum
Reflect on the art your class can view at a museum. In this art history lesson, students draw six elements of art. They discuss original art versus reproduction artwork and write about their thoughts of a museum. It would be wonderful if...
Trinity University
Julius Caesar: The Power of Persuasion
"Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." Those words begin one of the most persuasive speeches in literature. Explore the elements of persuasion in a series of lessons related to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In addition...
Curated OER
Persuasive Letter Writing
Students write a persuasive letter. In this persuasive letter writing lesson, students review the standard business form letter and the elements included. Students discuss ways to persuade in writing and write a short letter persuading...
Curated OER
Inventing and Presenting Unit 3: Persuasive Speaking and Invention Promotion
Students write a proposal for a speech. Students prepare appropriate visuals for use in the proposed speech. Students produce one or more graphs that summarize the results from the experimentation. Students deliver an effective speech in...
Curated OER
Help Me Learn About the Holocaust
Young readers select a book from a provided list to use as the basis for an intensive class study of Holocaust novels. After completing their novels, groups create a multimedia presentation highlighting the elements of literature...
Curated OER
Favorite Activity
Students write persuasive essays about favorite activities. They present on a topic of personal interest or one that has been studied in another subject area. They write a composition of a favorite activity, describing the activity and...
Museum of Tolerance
Immigration Journeys
Through the journey of four stories of immigration, scholars complete graphic organizers and apply knowledge to create a visual representation of their findings on a large poster. Third and fourth readers write a letter to their family...
Global Oneness Project
The Consciousness of Nature
Scholars voice their opinions about animal consciousness with an article that challenges common ideas about nature. After reading the article, learners engage in a thoughtful discussion before writing out their arguments in a persuasive...
Curated OER
Delivering a Persuasive Speech
Students demonstrate the appropriate classroom public speaking and listening skills that would be necessary to influence or change someone's mind or way of thinking about a topic. They define the elements of persuasion and recognize the...
Curated OER
Connotation and Denotation: How Word Choice Affects a Paragraph
Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation graphic...
Curated OER
A Thanksgiving Language Lesson!
Sixth graders, in groups, create restaurants, menus, and advertisements to attract Thanksgiving Day customers.
Curated OER
"Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
Students complete a variety of activities that revolve around the book "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen. They view and discuss stills from the move "Hoot" and compose original storylines, conduct Internet research about the life of Carl Hiaasen,...
Curated OER
I'm Convinced!
Students examine persuasive techniques used to sell products, and create and write an advertisement for peanut butter.
Curated OER
Techniques of Persuasive Presentations - Ebony, the Elephant Calf
Students watch a video to discover subtle forms of persuasion. In this persuasive techniques lesson, students watch a video about elephants as they determine which elements of persuasion were used. They discuss the language of...
ReadWriteThink
Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments
A speaker, a message, an audience. After analyzing these elements in Queen Elizabeth's speech to the troops at Tilbury, groups analyze how other speakers use an awareness of events, and their audience to craft their arguments....
Livaudais-Baker English Classroom
Literary Theories
Introduce ELA scholars to the basics of literary criticism with a 41-slide presentation that identifies eight different approaches to critical analysis. Each approach is defined, and advantages and disadvantages are listed. Also included...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Debate: Islam & Democracy
World religion or social studies classes studying Islam may find this debate-based instructional activity useful for exploring Islam and its compatibility with democracy. The final assessment is a five-paragraph persuasive essay. Some...
Curated OER
Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald Unit Plan
Learners read Joyce McDonald's, Swallowing Stones while investigating the literary elements used in the writing. They define a large number of vocabulary words to be applied when reading. Finally, they write a persuasive essay.
Curated OER
Once Upon a Genre
Young scholars examine fractured fairy tales before responding by writing in many different genres including a persuasive essay, a personal narrative, a letter, an advertisement, and a resume'. They create a pop-up book with their...
Curated OER
But We Need More, Where Will It Come From?
Students write a persuasive letter and create a poster about pollution and conservation. For this pollution and conservation lesson plan, students learn how humans are the number 1 cause of pollution.