Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Analyzing Text Complexity of Non Fiction Sources

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
This lesson will help students read and comprehend nonfiction, specifically biographies, through determining criteria for text complexity. Included is a PDF and Smart Notebook titled Determining Text Complexity, and an example of a...
Unit Plan
Academy of American Poets

Poets.org: Curriculum and Lesson Plans

For Students Pre-K - 1st Standards
This collection of resources assists educators in teaching students about the art of poetry. Includes links to poetry with grade level, lesson plans, discussion suggestions and classroom exercises. RL.9-10.10a&b text complexity,...
Unit Plan
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Critical Reading as a Learning Strategy

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...
Article
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

Ascd: Building Literacy in Social Studies: Ch 1: Reading Social Studies Texts

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Article provides excellent tips and strategies for building comprehension and critical thinking skills in Social Studies. It describes some of the challenges students have with reading and understanding their textbooks.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Analyze Development of Plot Through Characters in Literary Text

For Students 5th - 7th Standards
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Often characters are a driving force behind the plot. In this lesson, students will learn how complex, multilayered characters contribute to the development of a story's plot...
Graphic
Other

Ncrel: Reading Strategies: Before, During, and After [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This page provides a detailed chart to aid students' understanding of texts. It goes through the steps of pre-reading, during reading, and after reading, outlining what students should be thinking about as they interact with a text. This...
Primary
University of Virginia

University of Virginia: Noh Plays

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is a very comprehensive resource that includes discussion of Japanese Noh plays as well as the texts for thirteen plays. The texts are available in both Japanese and English. RL.9-10.10a&b text complexity, RL.11-12.7 Multi...
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Lesson 4: Faulkner's the Sound and the Fury

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
In this lesson plan, students will consider Lesson 4: Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury: Narration, Voice, and the Compson Family's New System. Worksheets and other supporting materials can be found under the Resources tab....
Handout
Other

Golgi Complex: Structure and Function

For Students 9th - 10th
How do proteins move to the Golgi Complex? What types of secretion are controlled by the Golgi complex? How does Golgi complex regulate the insertion of plasma membrane proteins? Can proteins be transported back to the rough endoplasmic...
Unit Plan
Department of Defense

Do Dea: English 4; Loyalty and Betrayal

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A learning module asking students to analyze fiction, examine symbolism and cultural context, read a section of The Kite Runner, practice context clues and Greek and Latin roots, and practice sentence variety with compound and complex...
Article
Mind Tools

Mind Tools: Reading Strategies

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site from Mind Tools reviews six different strategies to help you read more effectively. RI.11-12.10a Text Complexity
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Rl.4.10: Read and Comprehend Literature in Grades 4 and 5

For Students 4th Standards
Links to 94 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard RL.4.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4 and 5 text complexity band proficiently,...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Story Starting Participles

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
In this activity, Roni Schotter's picture book entitled The Boy Who Loved Words is used as the mentor text. This Language Arts Common Core Standards-aligned activity pre-writing task engages students in writing a collection of ideas of...
Unit Plan
Thinkport Education

Thinkport: Read Like This a Strategy for Close Reading of Literature

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Learn and practice close reading strategies to help increase your understanding of how to approach challenging and complex texts.
Unit Plan
REMC Association of Michigan

Remc Association of Michigan: 21 Things4 Students: 21. Computational Thinking

For Students 9th - 10th
Computational thinking can be used to take a complex problem, understand what the problem is and develop possible solutions to solve or explain it. In these six Quest, students will learn about the four stages of computational thinking:...
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: From Seed to Plant

For Teachers K - 1st
Students will use the illustrations and details in the text to describe how plants grow. This instructional activity uses a complex text to allow students to analyze the pictures in From Seed to Plant and From Seed to Pumpkin. Included...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Metamorphosis Stories of Change

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...
Article
Other

Shoreline Community College: Formal Properties of Literature

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
As students become more aware of text complexity, an understanding of the formal properties of literature becomes more important. This is an excellent examination of the kinds of choices writers make that change the way readers receive...
Unit Plan
TES Global

Blendspace: Sentence Types and Comma Rules

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
A 21-part learning module including links to texts, images, videos, exercises, and websites on simple, compound, and complex sentences and their rules for comma use.
Professional Doc
AdLit

Ad lit.org: For Middle Schoolers: Activities to Build College Level Reading Skills

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
ACT has developed this list of activities to help middle-school students improve their reading ability. Parents and educators can use this information to help ensure that these students are on target for college and career readiness.
Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Rhetorical Reading: Academic Reading Strategies

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This lesson focuses on reading strategies including understanding your purpose, and before, during, and after reading strategies.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Mc Graw Hill: Craft and Structure: Determine the Meaning of Words and Phrases

For Students 5th - 7th Standards
Learn how to use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word in a Social Studies passage.
Unit Plan
Other

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

For Students 9th - 10th
Here, critically read the text of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" with the help of accompanying questions about characterization, symbolism, plot, and narration. Organized into five pages, this website allows readers to...