Curated OER
A Goldfish is the Best Pet
Provide your class with a list of possible topics (three are included here, but they're not exactly gripping), and polish their persuasive writing skills. This plan really emphasizes the prewriting process, and several graphic organizers...
ProCon
Daylight Savings Time
An entomologist named Geroge Vernon Hudson is credited with proposing Daylight Saving Time (DST) so he could better study his insects. Using the informative website, scholars read a brief introduction to the topic and then explore the...
Curated OER
Candide: Problematic Situation
"Would a rational and well-regulated world include human suffering?" "If the plight of human suffering is the 'best of all possible worlds' do humans have freewill?" Class members develop their position on an issue raised by Candide,...
Curated OER
Making the Personal Political
Students identify controversial topics on which they have strong opinions and model their own persuasive opinion pieces after the featured article. They compose persuasive essays on controversial issues that "hit home" for them.
Judicial Branch of California
The Constitution: What It Says and What It Means
Learners get the chance to act as representatives to the Constitution Convention, and must decide whether or not to recommend your state ratify the new framework. After examining the Constitution line-by-line, they consider their...
Curated OER
Giving a Persuasive Speech
Students explore persuasive speech writing. In this writing lesson, students select a topic for a persuasive speech and take a side on the topic. Students write a persuasive speech and present it to the class.
Curated OER
Editorial Writing
Students Write a persuasive essay that contains effective introductory and summary statements; arranges the arguments effectively; and fully develops the ideas with convincing proof, details, facts, examples, and descriptions. They write...
Curated OER
Figurative Language 2
Learners read nursery rhymes and advertisements to identify examples of figurative language. As a class, students discuss the use of figurative language and its effectiveness in advertising, children's books, rhymes, poetry, etc. ...
Curated OER
Opinion Writing: Live at Home or Move Out?
In this opinion writing worksheet, students write a piece expressing their opinion on whether or not they want to live at home or move out after college.
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 6
Is a college education necessary for success in today's world? The class investigates the question, along with others at the end of the sixth workshop in a 15-part series. The instructional activity has four parts with multiple...
WindWise Education
How Do You Feel About Wind Energy?
Tell me what you really think. The class reviews articles related to wind energy to see how the author uses words, phrases, and images to sway the reader. Through a class discussion, individuals share their feelings from the media...
Anti-Defamation League
Microaggressions In Our Lives
Defining, identifying, and learning how to counter microaggression is the activity's focus for high schoolers. Learners examine a definition of the term, write about their own experiences with microaggression, watch short video examples,...
Los Angeles Unified School District
Capitalism and Socialism
Capitalism, socialism, communism ... these may seem like a whole bunch of isms to your scholars. High schoolers won't confuse them after completing an informative resource. Your class masters how to use primary sources to...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Plyler v. Doe: Can States Deny Public Benefits to Illegal Immigrants?
Illegal immigration is an ever-changing source of consistent controversy. A reading passage about the rights of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants—and the lack thereof—guides high schoolers into a mock trial activity. Three...
Curated OER
The death penalty; What is your view?
Pupils write a persuasive essay about the death penalty. Students respond to pupils at St. Ignatius Catholic High School in Cleveland protesting the death of Adremy Dennis. Students research both sides of the debate, before writing why...
Curated OER
The Purpose and Power of Persuasion
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
Curated OER
Middle Ages Writing Journal
Students create a Middle Ages writing journal with narrative, expository and persuasive prompts. In this creative writing lesson, students are given a list of Middle Ages topics and begin working in their journals. This is a long...
Curated OER
The Education of Shelby Knox Lesson Plan: The History of Teaching About Sex
Students examine the current debate over sex education. They examine a variety of sex education approaches and determine which one is use in thier school district.
Curated OER
Analyzing a Writer's Stance
Should college admissions decisions be based on whether whose family members attended? Secondary students read and respond to a New York Times article on the issue of 'legacy preferences' in college admissions. Following class...
Curated OER
"Shooting An Elephant": George Orwell's Essay on His Life in Burma
High school readers examine George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" for examples of symbolism, metaphor, connotation, and irony. They analyze how these literary tools convey the writer's main point and contribute to the persuasive...
Federal Trade Commission
Ad Awareness
Movie theaters, shopping malls, television, the Internet ... no matter where people go, they are inundated with advertisements. Scholars discuss the topic of ad awareness using the first of four Admongo lessons about advertising. Pupils...
Theodore Roosevelt Association
Interpreting the Past; Assessing Its Impact on the Present
Even though the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt ended over 100 years ago, we can still learn something from his stances and policies that is applicable today. Class members first look over a list of prevalent political issues from the...
Carolina K-12
Compulsory Voting
Should voting in the United States be compulsory? In 2004, fewer than 60 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the American national elections. After reviewing arguments for and against compulsory voting, your young citizens will...
Santa Ana Unified School District
The Power of Point of View
Sometimes a whole story can change based on the perspective of the person telling it. Practice identifying and analyzing point of view in various reading passages and writing assignments with a language arts packet, complete with Common...