Learning Seed
The Art of Listening
Conversation isn't just about talking. Help you class work on the important conversational skills with a lesson plan about listening. As youngsters practice making statements and asking attentive questions, they reflect on the way they...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Reflective Listening Skills
Do you ever feel like your conversation partner is just nodding along as you speak? Encourage teenagers to become reflective listeners with a short activity in which they form responses to assertive statements to reflect what the speaker...
Curated OER
Listening Picture Check Sheet & Listening Picture Prompts
Help learners build greater self-awareness and improve listening skills with these visual prompt sheets. Beginning with an "Are you really listening?" overview sheet, the following pages use large visuals to remind pupils what it means...
Curated OER
What is effective communication?
Students practice a series of communicaton activities. In this communication skills lesson, students role play listening and active listening strategies to improve communication. Students write a set of guidelines for improving...
New Brunswick Department of Education
Personal Development And Career Planning Curriculum Grade 9/10
What is the difference between a proactive person and a reactive person? Scholars explore the topic, and many others, with helpful lessons, discussions, role play activities, and games. Each activity supports one of the key principles...
Do2Learn
Paying Attention and Listening to Others
It's always fun to talk about something you're interested in, but it's just as important to listen to what someone else has to say. Guide class members into becoming stronger listeners with an interactive brainstorming activity.
Curated OER
English Lesson Plans for Grade 7
Discuss the correct use of certain phrases such as "managed" and "could" in this English lesson. Middle schoolers listen to interviews on work customs in different countries and compare them. They make inferences after reading given...
Saskatchewan Elocution and Debate Association
Debate Games and Activities Guide
A must-have resource for classes that engage in debate, this packet contains 20 detailed plans for debate games and activities. Everything from how to select evidence to support a position, to structuring a debate on which candy bar is...
Curated OER
Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable Listening Library"...
Curated OER
Performance and Reflection on Listening and Speaking
Students prepare for and evaluate their performances in poetry slams. In this literature instructional activity, students write personal narratives about their poetry slam experiences.
Curated OER
Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) in the History Classroom
SAC is a specific approach to discussing history and controversial issues. Rather than adhering to an either/or debate-style paradigm, it fosters speaking and constructivist listening to enable learners to build consensus through...
Reed Novel Studies
The Hobbit: Novel Study
All it takes is a little adventure to interrupt a quiet, simple life. A study guide for The Hobbit explores the adventures that disrupt Bilbo Baggins' quiet life. Questions discuss key events found within J.R.R. Tolkien's novel and...
Curated OER
Speaker Report
Fifth through eighth graders think of themselves as newspaper reporters as they listen to a presentation by a guest speaker. As reporters, they take notes during the presentation. Using these notes, they create a rough draft and then a...
Franklin Covey
The Habits of Highly Effective Teens
Sally and Joe both want the last cookie in the jar, so they split it in half. That's an example of a win-win situation, one of the many principles Sean Covey outlines in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Using the...
Perkins School for the Blind
Silly or Sensible?
Is it silly or sensible? That's a great question, and it's the question that will drive this entire lesson. Learners with special needs and visual impairments work together to analyze verbal information. The instructor makes a statement,...
Curated OER
Teaching Debate to ESL Students
Language learners use the debate format to practice formulating, expressing, and defending their ideas. Working in teams, class members develop resolutions, use opinion indicators to express their opinions and reasons, and prepare...
Curated OER
Who is the Expert? Exploring Credible Sources in Healthcare
How do you decide what sources are credible when researching online? Evaluate sources with a focus on researching health issues. After brainstorming common health concerns and how they would try to diagnose these problems, class members...
Curated OER
Beautiful Noise Poetry
"What a beautiful noise comin' up from the street; got a beautiful sound, it's got a beautiful beat..." Use Neil Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" to guide your class through a Six Trait writing activity, in which they write an original poem...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Curated OER
English Lesson Plans for Grade 8
Demonstrate how to engage in a polite and professional conversation with this banking and interfacing lesson. Focusing on explanatory and informaitonal texts, middle schoolers write sentences using banking and finance terminologies....
Reed Novel Studies
Hatchet: Novel Study
Thanks to Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, teen readers now know it's possible to survive in the wilderness. A study guide for the novel discusses common topics and vocabulary words found within the text. Additionally, readers get the chance to...
Curated OER
Reading Meet Writing
Thinking about introducing your middle schoolers to reading log journals? Try the approach suggested by this resource. After reading to the class an article or portion of a novel, demonstrate a Think Aloud and then model how to transform...
Curated OER
Aerospace Engineering
Students are introduced to aviation history and aerospace engineering achievements. They assemble a class aviation history timeline from individual student research on people and events.
Curated OER
What are the Elements of Poetry
Middle schoolers read the poem "Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes" and analyze the form, figurative language, and mood. They complete a T-chart containing what they have learned about Pablo and the evidence from the poem supporting their...