Curated OER
Geographically Speaking
Students play a matching game to reinforce the retention of vocabulary words. In this geography lesson, students watch a PowerPoint to define vocabulary words associated with geography, play a memory game with the words, and write an...
Curated OER
Writing a Good Introduction
Fifth graders use a list of transitional words and hooks in order to write a good introduction. In this writing lesson plan, 5th graders view and discuss a PowerPoint presentation on introductions.
University of Chicago
Comparing Modern and Ancient Ideas of Ethnicity and Identity
Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...
Channel Islands Film
Island Cattle Ranching
Is cattle ranching on Santa Rosa island viable or non-viable? Rather than focusing on the issues of the transition of Santa Rosa island from a privately owned island cattle ranch to a national park, class members are asked to consider if...
Walden Woods Project
19th Century Lessons for 21st Century Lives
The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...
Curated OER
Do Heroes Have to Wear a Cape?
Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...
Curated OER
Essay Editing Lesson Plan
Young scholars discuss reasons to edit their written work and observe how to correctly use proofreaders marks to correct a paragraph. In groups of four, students exchange previously written papers and write suggestions and comments for...
Curated OER
Three Reasons Why I Want To Be...
Students investigate the process of writing an expository paper. The purpose of the paper is established in the introduction and the supporting details are sequenced in a logical order. The paper possesses punctuation and grammatical...
Curated OER
Informative Essay Outline Lesson Plan
Students are introduced to how to properly write an informative essay. In groups, they review the steps of prewriting and how to make an outline for their essay. Individually, they practice completing their outlines and share them with...
Curated OER
Students' Awareness of Environmental Issues
Students use their journals to record their reactions to various readings. They write one of their required essays on an environmental theme. Students are given a variety of articles on the environment. They discuss the format of a...
Curated OER
Change of Perspective
After reading an example of a Cultural Connection about a particular person, class members are asked to think about what this person might experience on a daily basis. They then craft a narrative from the subject’s point of view.
Curated OER
Living to Eat, Eating to Live
Students develop a five paragraph essay.They write their essays, review rules related to subject/verb agreement and the use of transition words or devices. They find examples of transition words or devices in newspaper or magazine...
Curated OER
Forced Potawatomi Migration
Fourth graders write about the forced Potawatomi migration. In this primary source lesson students are read journal entries from an emigrating party of Potawatomi Indians. Students reflect on the items the Indians might have taken with...
Curated OER
The Editing Process
Students read a sample essay and evaluate them in groups. They write their own essay on a topic of their choice and use peer editing. They share their essays with the class.
Beacon Learning Center
Challenging the Human Spirit
High schoolers select a theme-related essay topic from Night, by Elie Wiesel, or The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, and develop an essay that relates the theme to modern-day personal experiences. The essay follows a preset rubric...
Curated OER
Organizing Paragraphs
Learners brainstorm transition words, and utilize word list to order paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays.
Ogden Museum of Art Education Department
Literacy and Landscapes
As the saying goes, art often imitates life ... and literature! A series of activities designed to accompany a visit to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art encourage writers to find inspiration in various landscapes. The lesson includes a...
Curated OER
Point of View and Mentor Relationships
Tenth graders analyze the role of mentors, point of view, and prejudice using the texts of To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders review Scout's...
Curated OER
Paragraph Development In News Journalism
Students identify the qualities of a new paragraph. They develop news paragraphs. They gain an introduction to appropriate paragraph development in news journalism using professional models as a guide.
Virginia Department of Education
Maintaining Organization, Clarity, Central Idea, and Unity
Introduce and challenge the essay organization skills of your junior high writers with the paper reconstruction activity in this demonstration. Theydetermine what the word organization means, and discover the basic organizational...
University of Chicago
Using Artifacts for Clues About Identity
Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...
Curated OER
Persuasion and Parallel Structure
Discuss the definition of parallel structure with your high school class. In small groups, they read a section of "The Declaration of Independence" to identify examples of parallel structure. Each learner writes an essay explaining the...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, "I Have a Dream," is one of the most famous in United States history, but why was it so effective? Ask your class to determine the answer to this question. While the resource includes a description of...
Curated OER
Convince that Jury (Inspired by Roald Dahl's
What happened to a murder case when the police eat the murder weapon? After reading Roald Dahl's dark and ironic short story "Lamb to the Slaughter," students write a persuasive essay to convince a jury that the wife who killed her...