High school juniors learn how to construct a strong argument by crafting a claim and using neutral language backed by evidence from reliable sources. To do so, they learn to evaluate sources and evidence to support claims. They then...

A series of interactive exercises provide users with the ammunition they need to detect logical fallacies and defend themselves against persuasion. Learners read about 11 types of logical fallacies and identify the type used in sample...

Is Sherlock Holmes an inductivist or a deductivist? Users of this interactive to distinguish between inductive and deductive reasoning. They consider in various situations whether it is better to list evidence and then introduce a claim...

An interactive resource teaches readers how to annotate all kinds of texts. After reading an introduction that stresses the benefits of text annotations, users examine several models and then demonstrate what they have learned by...

An interactive resource introduces users to dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauri and the significant differences among these reference guides. Users learn which reference is best for which kind of search, examine sample entries from...

The key idea in this interactive exercise designed for high schoolers is that figurative language, especially similes, and metaphors, add layers of meaning to a text. Users examine examples from speeches, ads, movie dialogue, and poems,...

Did you know that "30-40 percent of all words in English have a related word in Spanish?" This fact launches an interactive study of cognates appearing the same in English and Spanish. Learners demonstrate what they have learned about...

Pairs of contradictory words introduce learners to paradoxes, the literary device writers use to get readers thinking deeply about their messages. An interactive lesson uses poems by Emily Dickinson and Wilfred Owen and excerpts from the...

Picture this! The first interactive in a set of 13 shows learners how writers use imagery and sensory details to create mental pictures in readers' minds.

An interactive lesson introduces readers to allusions, the literary device writers use to add depth to their work. Users record notes on the provided graphic organizer as they identify the allusions in poems by Walt Whitman, Langston...

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is, among other things, the study of a ruler's ambitions. Young scholars watch videos, read articles, and keep a Commonplace Book while studying the play. At the end of Act III, pupils stage the play that...

Claudia Rankine's poem "From Citizen, VI [On the Train the Woman Standing]," asks readers to consider direct and more subtle forms of prejudice. After discussing the format of the poem, its tone, and the emotions expressed, class members...

Read it, hear it, see it, do it! Young poets experience Edward Hirsch's memory poem, "Cotton Candy," by first closely reading the poem silently, then aloud, watching a video of the poet reading it, and crafting their memory poem of an...

To conclude their study of the letters of Abigail Adams, class members engage in a Socratic seminar where they discuss her writings and what her letters reveal about her.

Abigail Adams' letters reveal how the English language has changed and become more standardized over the last 200 years. To underscore this point, pupils edit one of Adams' letters

Different tones for different audiences. That's the big idea behind the second lesson plan in a two-part series that reveals Abigail Adams as a mother. Scholars examine letters Abigail Adams wrote to her sons, John Quincy Adams and...

In part one of a two-part series, scholars compare two of Abigail Adams' letters: one to her son and the other to her daughter. Researchers use the provided worksheets to contrast evidence of the tone and themes in the two letters.

In addition to her letters to her husband, family members, and friends, Abigail Adams also wrote to key political figures of the time. In this lesson plan, scholars examine letters Adams' wrote to and received letters from Thomas...

Scholars examine three letters from Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, compare them to previous letters in the series, and note the change in tone in these letters she writes to her friend.

The 10th lesson in this series has researchers examining a packet of letters from Abigail Adams to her sisters. Scholars note examples of the themes that appear throughout the letters.

Young historians analyze a letter 17-year-old Abigail Adams wrote to her cousin and identify the aphorism Adams used. Participants select a line from the letter and create an illustration of the aphorism.

People deal with grief in different ways. The series of Abigail Adams' letters in this lesson reveals how she dealt with losing her mother, father, and community members. The included worksheet helps young scholars identify the tone and...

Childbirth has never been easy and is not without risk, even in the 21st century. Young historians gain insight into the travails of 18th-century childbirth as they read letters between Abigail Adams and her husband about their loss of a...

Young historians examine a 1778 letter from Abigail Adams to John Thaxter and another from Abigail to her husband John Adams, written in 1776, that reveal her views on the perceived role of women and the laws that governed women's roles....