Curated OER
Journey to Topaz: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Have you used the directed reading thinking activity in your classroom? Doubling as either a prereading strategy, or a during reading strategy, it helps readers connect the historical background of the text to the text itself. As the...
College Board
Reading—Synthesis and Paired Passages
Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the lesson plan,...
Curated OER
Sentence Completion 3: High-Intermediate Level
Need more sentence completion practice worksheets? Because this one comes with a detailed answer sheet, it could be used with those learners who need extra practice or as the basis of a reading strategies lesson.
Curated OER
Mythology: Reader's Theater
Build reading fluency and classroom community with a Reader’s Theater activity. Class groups select a myth, or if part of a myth writing unit, select a group member’s myth, craft a script, and perform for the class. Directions for...
Curated OER
Ordinary People: Cubing Strategy
Readers of Ordinary People employ a cubing strategy based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to analyze, from multiple perspectives, an excerpt from Chapter 10 of Judith Guest’s novel. The excerpt, a rationale and complete directions for the...
Curated OER
Cross-Cultural Dialogue Lesson
Use the Peace Corps to explore a different place and different perspectives. Your class reads the personal narrative "Cross-Cultural Dialogue" by Roz Wollmering, completing an attached story frame sheet in preparation for a class...
Novelinks
The Martian Chronicles: Literature Circles
Discussing great works of literature with peers is an excellent way to both comprehend and celebrate reading! Learners work in literature circles during a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and share paragraphs that...
Curated OER
Chapter Tableaux: Visualizing The Call of the Wild
Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...
Curated OER
Is Modern Culture Ruining Childhood?
There are a lot of different ways a learner could respond to this New York Times article discussing the effects of modern culture on childhood. After reading the article, pupils construct a thoughtful blog post. The guiding questions...
Alaska Department of Education
Gender Equity Activities
A male nurse? A female welder? Unequal pay? The "Glass Ceiling?" A 22-page Gender Equity Activity Book asks participants to examine the effects of gender role stereotyping on career choices. Class members also update job titles...
Curated OER
Literature Study Guide - The Native Son
Explore Inez Haynes Gillmore's The Native Son with this thorough and engaging book report form. A reading schedule provides the opportunity to assign outside reading, and the other reading comprehension lessons could be...
Curated OER
The Kite Runner: Cloze Procedure
A passage from Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is the text for a cloze reading activity designed to determine the comprehension skills of class members. The resource includes the worksheet, an answer key, and step-by-step directions.
Curated OER
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Chapter 5 Reading Check
A soft dress, a mouse, a puppy and now Curley's wife. Lennie's desire to pet soft things leads to tragedy in Chapter Five of Steinbeck's novel. Readers are asked to respond to what, where, why and how questions to indicated their...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: el carpintero
Assess your beginning and intermediate Spanish speakers and their reading comprehension with a short passage. The three-sentence paragraph describes Pablo the carpenter. Afterward, learners create a title, answer some basic comprehension...
Curated OER
Indispensable Listening Skills
It's true: listening skills have to be taught and developed. Read this story about a tiger to your high school class. Then, without giving them a copy of the story, divide them into teams and have them attempt to answer a series of...
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis: Request Strategy
Round out your unit on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a series of reading comprehension questions. As kids read, they challenge each other to answer specific connection questions from the text.
Road to Grammar
Health
Are your English language learners feeling unwell? Provide them with the tools to express how they are feeling and to talk about health in general. Included here are discussion activities, vocabulary, listening activities, grammar...
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis: Multicultural Strategy
Track the changes and developments in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a reading comprehension worksheet. Individuals copy important quotations from each of the book's three parts, record their...
Curated OER
Following Instructions
Designed to assess your class's ability to follow directions, this reading activity has learners split into groups, read a series of instructions, read a passage, and answer two lists of questions. Can they remember to raise their hand...
Curated OER
Santé
How is your health? Intermediate Francophones read a two-paragraph text about healthy eating and the problems associated with those who do not make healthy choices. Two exercises follow the reading passage: the first is a short...
Curated OER
Dandelion Wine: Problematic Situation
If forced to move and give away almost everything you own, what five non-essential things would you take with you? Prior to reading about Mrs. Bentley in chapter 15 of Dandelion Wine, individuals are asked to respond to this...
Curated OER
Our Computers, Ourselves: Imagining the Digital Lives of Authors and Characters
The guiding question for this instructional activity is "Do computers and their contents shape who we are?" Open with a selection of Apple's commercials to introduce stereotypes and people's relationships with their computers. Then, read...
Curated OER
Everyone's a Critic: Analyzing Sitcoms as Cultural Texts
Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...
PBS
Why Should Women Vote? The Suffrage Question
An online interactive activity asks learners to analyze a group of documents related to the women's suffrage movement and then place the documents on a timeline. The results assess users understanding of the progression of the women's...