Are You a Writer Looking for Inspiration?

Listening is a skill. This lesson will provide your pupils with clear guidelines for what to do when someone else is speaking. Whether you ask them to note key words in a talk, to prepare two questions about the presentation, or to note...

How are you feeling? Language learners practice using subject pronouns with adjectives by responding to questions, engaging in games, and singing songs.

Encourage your class to use a variety of strategies to learn and retain vocabulary words. The plan suggests that near the beginning of your reading of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead pupils should find words in the text that are...

After reading through Act II of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, take some time to discuss the references to death in the play. For this fishbowl discussion, learners prepare questions, practice answering individually and with...

Trench art is a nontraditional art form created by soldiers in trenches during wartime. Artist Allison Smith connects her art to the American Revolution and the question: "What are you fighting for?" Kids examine her art, how it connects...

In this video episode [5:32] from Favorite Poem Project, Yina Liang, a 16 year-old girl, describes her life and explains why Emily Dickinson's poem entitled "I'm Nobody! Who Are You?" is an inspiration to her life. Liang reads aloud "I'm...

Research the necessary components of a planet that supports life after reading the article "All of a Sudden, The Neighborhood Looks a Lot Friendlier" from The New York Times. After finding their information, middle and high schoolers...

With this New York Times "Learning Network" exercise, high schoolers read an article about the death of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are and then respond to several prompts that require them to shape their own opinions...

Do the places you have lived influence what you write? Class members research the lives of writers and look for how places these writers have lived might have influenced their writings. 

Is being uncomfortable worth it if you look good? Inspire discussion about fashion and culture with a brief New York Times article about painful fashion. Whether used as a persuasive essay prompt or as a discussion starter,...