Use the platforms of the 2004 presidential candidates to bring persuasive writing to your class. Young voters identify the three issues most important to them in the election and research the issues and candidates' positions. They write...

Examine the characteristics of an effective persuasive paper. In a group, eighth graders discuss the analogy of a debate being like a persuasive paper. After brainstorming topics, they write an argument and then debate it. Secretly, the...

Merge technology and wellness. Class members complete inquiry-based research on a personal wellness issue and create an annotated bibliography, uploading their completed work to their personal wellness websites. Prior to beginning, your...

Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...

Walking in nature is the theme of a unit designed to support English language development lessons. Scholars look, write, speak, and move to explore topics such as camping, woodland animals, instruments,...

Do young people care about elections? Host a discussion about the role of young citizens in the electoral process with an engaging social studies lesson. As high schoolers read and respond to four statements about youth interest in...

Score a resource on ratios. Young mathematicians learn about different ways to express ratios. Using sports data, they write statements about the statistics in ratio form.

"Warning: Conducting this lesson may be harmful." Such statements, called "Trigger Warnings," are the focus of a two-part lesson that looks at censorship, especially the pros and cons of trigger warnings. Class members read two articles,...

In this title or topic sentence worksheet, students read a set of 20 statements, determining whether each if a title or a sentence.

In this logic worksheet, students answer six multiple choice questions by finding the inverse, converse, and contrapositive of a given conditional statement.

This lesson, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a list of things...

What is the difference between a fact and an opinion? Middle schoolers categorize statements as either facts or opinions before writing a persuasive essay to support a thesis statement they create. This is a great introduction to...

Have your class differentiate between fact and opinion using this presentation. Learners read a series of statements and identify whether the example is fact or opinion. This is a terrific and motivating way to explore this topic.

How do major religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, differ in how they view the role of individual freedoms within society, the definition of morality, and the importance of politically satisfying the greater...

The theme of a work is not a single word! Rather it is a statement that reflects what a writer believes or wants readers to understand about a topic or subject. Here's a short, but powerful lesson that utilizes passages from The...

Writing can be confusing and difficult at first. Make it easier by showing these slides to your class. Review what should be included in an introduction, thesis, and conclusion. Examples are given along with simple explanations to help...

Some of the best information to include when writing a research paper doesn't come from books, magazine articles, or informational websites—it comes from dissertations. However, reading an entire dissertation is often a daunting task....

Key parts of an introductory paragraph (grabber sentence, connecting information, thesis) are highlighted in a presentation that uses color-coded sample paragraphs to illustrate how these parts combine to form a complete opening paragraph.

How does an input affect an output? Assess your learners' ability to answer this question using this pre-test. Scholars answer questions about the basics of a function. Topics include determining if a table or statement represents a...

We live in a time of fake news, alternative realities, and media bias. What could be more timely than an activity that asks class members to research how different sources report the same topic in the news?

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the anchor text for a activity that teaches readers how to distinguish between a literary topic and a literary theme. Using the provided worksheets, groups first chart some themes and propose a...

Discussion doesn't always need to be spoken. Before you begin The Tempest by William Shakespeare, have kids connect their ideas and experiences to central questions of the play with a silent discussion activity. Once they have...

How familiar are your pupils with globalization? Hold a discussion on that topic using the questions and viewpoints provided here. Learners can study the vocabulary and read the points of view in order to prepare for the final talk.

Let's make a deal! Are real negotiations as simple as they are in the game show? Scholars learn the art of negotiation during the 8th lesson in a series of 15. The activity kicks off with a fun group negotiation, then explores the topic...