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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Word Choice: Understanding Working Conditions in the Mills

For Teachers 7th Standards
Ravenous or hungry, happy or ecstatic—why does word choice matter? Scholars continue to analyze working conditions in the mill and how the conditions affect the protagonist of Katherine Paterson's novel, Lyddie. They engage in a close...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Scaffolding to Essay: Using Details to Support a Claim

For Teachers 7th Standards
Show me the evidence. Writers analyze the Command of Evidence row of the rubric for A Long Walk to Water essay. Pupils work in pairs to determine how the writer of a model essay meets the demands of the rubric. They then use a Forming...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 1b: Writing Introduction and Conclusion

For Teachers 7th Standards
Writers continue looking at the rubric for their A Long Walk to Water essays. This time, they analyze the demands for the introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Pupils compare the rubric to the opening and closing of the model essay,...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 1a: Writing Body Paragraphs

For Teachers 7th Standards
It is not what you say but how you say it. Class members prepare for writing their A Long Walk to Water essays by analyzing row four in the writing rubric. Learners discuss the words used and talk about the importance of correct grammar...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Scaffolding for Essay: Planning Body Paragraphs for Survival Factors in A Long Walk to Water

For Teachers 7th Standards
Some things are complicated. Scholars continue to look at the model essay and rubric related to A Long Walk to Water. This time, they focus only on row three of the rubric because it is a more complicated portion. Writers think about the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Introducing Essay Prompt: Factors for Survival in A Long Walk to Water

For Teachers 7th Standards
An important part of any essay writing is to fully understand the prompt. Readers spend time stating the prompt for A Long Walk to Water essay in their own words, making a list of points to put in their essays, and discussing what the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Comparing Fictional and Historical Texts

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members pair up to discuss how the author of A Long Walk to Water altered history. They then work independently on Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Comparing Water for Sudan and A Long Walk to Water. Readers close the lesson plan thinking...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 3 Assessment: Using Strong Evidence

For Teachers 7th Standards
Young poets view a model two-voice poem while discussing capitalization and punctuation. Pupils also complete an end-of-unit assessment about using strong evidence to support a literary analysis. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Examining a Model Two-Voice Poem and Planning a Two-Voice Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Successful poetry writing requires three P's: planning, preparation, and practice. Pupils read a model two-voice poem and discuss how the author uses evidence to develop the theme. With a partner, scholars use a rubric to analyze the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit 3 Assessment and Planning the TwoVoice Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members prepare to write a two-voice poem that compares and contrasts two characters from Linda Sue Park's novel, A Long Walk to Water. Pupils also complete the mid-unit assessment, answering questions about juxtaposition from the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Gathering and Using Evidence to Analyze Points of View in A Long Walk to Water (Chapter 5)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members discuss how culture, place, and time influence a character's identity in A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Then, as part of a mid-unit assessment, they complete a Gathering Evidence graphic organizer to answer the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Practicing Structures for Reading: Gathering and Using Evidence to Analyze Salva’s and Nya’s Points of View (Chapter 4)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members discuss the gist of chapter four of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park with a partner and share their responses with the class. Next, they complete graphic organizers to answer text-dependent questions based on a close...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Practice Evidence-Based Constructed Response: Explaining One Factor That Helps Nya or Salva Survive (Chapters 11–13)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members work through a model lesson in answering constructed response questions. They begin viewing an Evidence-Based Constructed Response sheet and then watch the teacher model. Readers then work as a group to answer a question...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Practicing Routines for Discussing A Long Walk to Water and Gathering Textual Evidence

For Teachers 7th Standards
Welcome a new teacher (or two)! While most of the class works on the survival anchor chart, one pair begins the Salva/Nya chart and uses it to teach the class. Each day, scholars switch roles, giving every pair a chance to teach their...
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Growing up Is Hard to Do

For Teachers 7th Standards
Looking for a fountain of youth? Scholars analyze a group of texts by Gary Soto that pertain to the difficulties of growing up. Activities pertaining to vocabulary, close reading, and shared writing prepare learners for the final task of...
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Interactive
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PBS

Setting in To Kill a Mockingbird

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Can you understand more about how a person acts by learning about how that person lives? An interactive resource explores the setting of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird with several slides discussing the location, social conditions,...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Figurative Language and Foreshadowing in The Outsiders

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders is still relatable to teenagers today, even though it was written more than 50 years ago. Explore how the figurative language of the story works to establish characterization, and how foreshadowing lays out...
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Activity
PBS

Primary Source Set: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What did Jo write her stories with? How did the March sisters dress? A primary source set designed for Louisa May Alcott's Little Women prompts learners to look over images of household items and clothes from the 1860s before engaging in...
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Worksheet
Great Books Foundation

State of Affairs

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Good verses evil. Scholars make inferences after taking a close look at the short story, State of Affairs, in which Daniel Defoe goes back and forth comparing good and evil thoughts through his writing. After reading the text, there are...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Vengeful Verbs in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It's time for pupils to read, examine, and contemplate literature to explore the difference between vivid and generic verbs. Pupils distinguish between the two types of verbs as they read the ghost scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet. They...
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Lesson Plan
Pace University

The Harlem Renaissance - The Journey to Freedom: An Interdisciplinary

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The Harlem Renaissance if the focus of a carefully crafted, interdisciplinary unit designed to introduce middle schoolers to the contributions key figures made to American art and culture during the period. Class members select...
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Interactive3:27
British Council

Romeo and Juliet

For Students 3rd - 7th Standards
An engaging video featuring William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is accompanied by six activities designed to reinforce vocabulary, story elements, and comprehension. Scholars match words to pictures, place events in sequential order,...
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Interactive3:43
British Council

Twelfth Night

For Students 3rd - 7th Standards
Scholars experience Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night, with an engaging interactive. After watching the story, six activities extend the learning experience. Topics include characters, vocabulary, a sequence of events, comprehension, and...
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Handout
Penguin Books

Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald

For Students 5th - 7th Standards
A reading of Tanya Lee Stones' biography of Ella Fitzgerald lets middle schoolers get up close and personal with the First Lady of Jazz. Stone recounts details of Fitzgerald's life from her early days through her experiences as a teenage...