Curated OER
"Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa" by David Sedaris
David Sedaris is quite the story-teller. Read "Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa" and follow it up with this two-page worksheet. Readers will revisit the text to answer higher level thinking questions. Designed...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 4: Unit 3, Lesson 2
How do rhetorical devices advance an author's point of view? Scholars consider this question as they continue exploring Machiavelli's The Prince. They work in small groups, annotating the text for evidence of rhetoric before engaging in...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 8
Was freedom really free? Scholars analyze paragraphs six and seven of Du Bois's chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings." They look at how the author uses rhetoric to strengthen his point of view about freedom. Learners complete a Rhetorical...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Informational Text The Berlin Wall
On June 26, 1963 President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech close to the Berlin Wall at the Rudolph Wilde Platz. On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan Delivered his famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 21
Is there power in persuasion? After reading paragraphs six and seven of Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" speech, learners look at how Washington uses rhetoric and carefully planned word choice to add to the persuasiveness of...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 8
Readers analyze paragraphs from the "Letter From Birmingham Jail" and determine King's purpose and how he supports it. Scholars discuss given questions with their peers, learn new vocabulary words, and complete a quick writing prompt.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 9
The supplemental text, "How Your Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills," allows learners to compare how other writers use evidence to support the argument that "rich countries benefit from harsh and abusive labor practices in poor countries."...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 4-5
Should the excavation of what is believed to be the cave of the Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island be allowed to continue? As a practice exercise designed to prepare pupils for a timed writing exam, individuals read two Los Angeles...
Curated OER
Back to School: Style Analysis
Jump back into expository writing and analysis at the start of a new school year! Start with a review of an authors' stylistic choices in diction, syntax, treatment of subject matter, and figurative language. Writers choose a text to...
Curated OER
Eloquent Words
Logan’s Lament, a speech delivered by Mingo Chief Logan in 1774, provides pupils with an opportunity to not only study the historical events surrounding the battle between Native Americans and the Europeans for the West Virginia...
Curated OER
The Heart of Your Paper: 11 Methods for Writing a Topic Sentence (or a Thesis Statement)
Help your young writers produce high-quality topic and thesis statements that go beyond basic wording and really illustrate complex ideas and critical thinking skills. From however and compound sentence statements to using...
Curated OER
A P Literary Terms
Is a list of literary terms found frequently on AP English exams of value to test takers? Now there's a rhetorical question. Here's a list that provides definitions for everything from allegory to vernacular. To say the list is...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Innovation in America
Are American young people prepared to become tomorrow's leaders in technological innovation, or does an obsession with being cool sidetrack essential skills? That is the question freshmen and sophomores must address in a performance...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of The Crucible by Arthur Miller
A 20-page guide is a must-have for any instructor, seasoned veteran, or first year-teacher, using Arthur Miller's The Crucible as an anchor text. The guide begins with extensive background information about Miller and the McCarthy era...
Curated OER
Breaking News English: Mexican Border
In this Mexican border worksheet, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions, write,...
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....
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Text of “Prouder, Stronger, Better"
Political ads as primary source documents? But of course. Viewers analyze the strategies involved in the Republican Party's 1984 advertisement in support of Ronald Reagan's reelection.
Digital Public Library of America
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their eyes Were Watching God has been highly praised and severely criticized for its depiction of African American folk culture. A set of primary source materials, including photographs, articles, essays, and...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
A Mini lesson on Semicolons
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this...
Curated OER
Charles Darwin Meets John Paul II
If you teach AP English language and composition and are looking for a way to address the differences between written and spoken arguments, consider this lesson. Over the course of three days, class members research Charles Darwin or...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 4
Just read between the lines. Scholars analyze rhetorical devices in Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter by first discussing them with guided questioning. They then complete a rhetorical impact tracking tool before finishing the lesson plan...
Literacy Design Collaborative
"The Gettysburg Address" Close Reading Module
It's time to think deep and narrow. Scholars focus close reading on one short text but task take their thinking to a deep level. Readers use a Rhetorical Analysis Chart to analyze The Gettysburg Address and determine how Lincoln used...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 2: Unit 3, Lesson 5
A person doesn't have to be an adult to make a difference! Scholars examine a speech by a 16-year-old girl. They discuss her word use, answer guided questions, and complete a rhetorical tracking tool. Readers end their analyses by...
City University of New York
Woman's Suffrage and World War I
How did women use President Wilson's ideals and rhetoric in their bid for suffrage? To answer this essential question, class groups analyze primary written documents and visual images.