Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 8: Character
Characters often change over the course of a story or novel. Use the sample graphic organizer provided here to track how the narrator has responded to the sequence of events in chapter four through six of The Cay. In addition to this...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 9: Climax
Conduct a close reading of chapter 9 of The Cay. Read the chapter again and ask pupils to respond to a list of included text-dependent questions. Finish the class with the provided writing assignment, which asks learners to use textual...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 10: Character Development
Make a study of Timothy and his development as a character over the course of the first half or so of The Cay. This idea focuses in particular on chapters 10 through 12. Learners start out by working on double-entry journals created in...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Narrative
What is the difference between a news story and a personal narrative? This plan has learners write a personal narrative using the topic of service projects in their community. Consider completing a cross-curricular extension by bringing...
Curated OER
Telling Our Stories of Giving - Writing to Persuade
After identifying the parts of a persuasive piece of writing, young writers explore different prewriting activities for the persuasive essay. They have the option to write a news article, personal narrative, or persuasive essay to...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 2: So What's a Novel, Anyway?
What makes a novel a novel? Class members select a favorite novel, record their impressions on a worksheet, and then come together in groups to discuss the elements common to narrative writing. Next, they identify the characters, the...
Curated OER
Oral Presentation
Practice public speaking in this oral presentation lesson. Middle schoolers list the characteristics of a powerful speaker. They watch a video of two speakers, compare them and discuss the qualities of a good speech. Afterwards, they...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Autobiography
Have your middle schoolers write a short story about themselves with an autobiography unit about Rosa Parks. They learn the difference between biographies and autobiographies, define the different types of autobiographies and determine...
Curated OER
Civil War
Historical poetry is lyrical in form and rich with content. After examining the differences between the Northern and Southern states before and during the U.S. Civil War, learners complete a Venn diagram and create an illustration of the...
Curated OER
Harvest the Wind
Wind is a natural resource available around the world. Help your pupils appreciate the power and importance of wind by researching wind farms, making pinwheels, and designing windmills.
Curated OER
Just Lookin' For a Home
What is a boll weevil? Your class can find out that and more by following the activities included here. Pupils read an article, sing a boll weevil song, add to the song with their own original lyrics, illustrate the song, study the...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Time Management
In this video segment from TV411, Ruby and her mom plan a schedule so she can complete her homework and still have time for friends and sports.
Other
Best Evidence Encyclopedia: Middle and High School Reading
Looking for opportunities to improve your readers or to help your readers get ahead? BEE presents a number of programs that have been evaluated by their researchers to bring educators the best programs on the market. Learn about programs...
Daily Teaching Tools
Daily Teaching Tools: Additional Webs
This Daily Teaching Tools resource provides a series of graphic organizers. Middle schoolers will be able to plan the writing of summaries, paragraphs, and literary responses.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Setting a Purpose for Reading Using Informational Text
This lesson engages students in using a two-column graphic organizer to take notes. Students will record titles and subtitles and list questions that will correspond with each one.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Enlightening Explorations
This lesson engages students in making observations about different features of light. Students will circulate in different light stations, reflect on what they have observed, and then write about what they learned.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Write in the Middle: Workshop 5: Teaching Multigenre Writing
Workshop 5 centers on multigenre writing, an eclectic approach to writing instruction that offers students a wide range of options for expressing ideas and communicating knowledge. As students explore different avenues for translating...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Anticipation Guides
An Anticipation Guide is a strategy that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading a selection, students respond to several statements that challenge or support...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Frame Routine
The Frame Routine is a strategy designed to assist students as they organize topics, main ideas and details about reading assignments. This technique includes a basic hierarchic graphic organizer called a "Frame" that can be used to help...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Literacy Practices Interview
Literacy practices interviews are informal assessments that elicit information on students' reading and writing activities, including their free-time reading habits, their access to books, and their attitudes toward reading and writing....
AdLit
Ad lit.org: What Should an Assessment System Look Like?
The developmental nature of reading means that diagnosing the reading comprehension ability of adolescents is more challenging than diagnosing reading comprehension among third graders. In particular, assessments should not only capture...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Effective Reading Interventions for Kids With Learning Disabilities
Research-based information and advice for sizing up reading programs and finding the right one for your child with a learning disability.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Extended Writing to Learn Strategies
Writing enables students to process, organize, formulate, and extend their thinking about what they have been learning. In addition, teachers can also assign writing to help students evaluate what they know and understand about a topic....
Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center
Wisconsin Rt I Center: Writing to Learn [Pdf]
Teachers will learn how to use Writing to Learn as a formative assessment tool. Teachers will learn how to implement the strategy, measure progress, and find research to support writing to learn. A list of Writing to Learn activities is...