Create an urbane battle royal in class with the old Coke vs. Pepsi challenge that develops upper level high school learners skills in developing counterarguments in essay writing. The educator divides the room according to tastes, and...

Students research philanthropy in three genres: a play, a fable, and a parable. Students read an Aesop fable and answer questions in groups. Students complete steps in two worksheets from 'The Good San Franciscan' and 'Someone Should.'...

Seventh graders experience the satisfaction of writing for a purpose; their self-selected piece be published for an audience. They write using techniques appropriate to the selected genre.

Students create advertising with the intent of protecting wildlife. In this service learning activity, students craft advertisements and write persuasive essays regarding the protection of wildlife.

Students complete their activities related to writing persuasive essays. As a class, they review the components and structure of a rubric. They use this information to write their final essay on educational opportunities at amusement parks.

Those new to teaching an AP level language and composition prep course and seasoned veterans will find much to treasure in a unit that is designed to help young language scholars develop the skills they need to analyze the language...

To continue their study of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the beginning of the civil rights movement, class members watch the YouTube video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as an introduction to an examination of...

Is Yuki a selfish character? Analyze her motivation and behavior during a unit on Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori. Readers fill out two sides of a graphic organizer with reasons why or why not she is selfish, and then come up with...

Students compare and contrast the experience of the migrant worker as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath with the experiences of migrant children as depicted in the narratives and poems provided.

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....

What exactly is a visual representation? Scholars use a think-pair-share to answer questions and record their information on anchor charts. Next, they use what they've learned to create visual representations of their position papers on...

Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...

Read The War of the Worlds with your class. Then you can enhance the reading experience through the use of these worksheets. Keeping track of reading, recording reader response, and various activities pertaining to the book are included....

High schoolers write a well-organized persuasive essay which contains a thesis, supporting evidence, and uses at least one of the three persuasive appeals. They evaluate a peer's essay for correct use of the above elements.

Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...

High schoolers form opinions about children and television censorship after analyzing literature. They complete a journal writing activity to identify the topic and make a list of inappropriate television shows for children. Next, they...

Students write persuasive essays about their favorite breakfast cereal after seeing how advertisements are used to influence people.

The 2016 election is over, and now it's time to dig in to some data! An activity revolves around data gathered from the First Vote Project in North Carolina wherein thousands of students voted. After diving in to the data using...

Students examine the poetic elements of a piece of music. They discuss favorite songs, select a song, and write a persuasive essay identifying the poetic qualities of the song lyrics.

Students research the decision to place the image of Sacagawea on the Golden Dollar, then write persuasive essays either defending or opposing this decision.

Students persuade others to visit ancient times. In this ancient civilizations lesson, students participate in a webquest that requires them to encourage others to visit ancient Greece, ancient Israel, Ancient Rome, ancient China,...

Tenth graders consider the move westward. In this Westward Movement lesson plan, 10th graders compare and contrast the experiences of 2 pioneers by creating t-charts. Students analyze diaries, photographs, and political cartoons that...

Learners write a persuassive paragraph to the President stating their opinion on a topic. To do this, they start the message with a topic sentence such as "War is _____." The blank should contain a word or phrase expressing the student's...

Eleventh graders examine the Cold War.  For this American History lesson, 11th graders develop answers to comprehension questions about the song "We Didn't Start the Fire".  Students write a persuasive essay at the end of the...