Learners read as many high-frequency words as possible in a given amount of time. Peer one reads a word from a list, and peer two points to the corresponding word as they are seen on the table. This activity is timed and peer evaluated.

Make a study of the First Amendment and its relationship to freedom. Pupils rewrite the amendment and discuss the central idea before focusing on a specific phrase. After discussing, class members write a journal entry about the included...

Taking turns, learners time each other as they read a list of high-frequency words and track progress.

How does word choice influence the meaning and tone of a text? To answer this question, class members listen to a masterful reading of a passage from David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and then work with a partner to conduct a close...

How does Shakespeare use dialogue to develop the idea that the star-crossed lovers are more concerned with their relationship as individuals than they are with their roles as children of warring families? That is the question facing...

Class members continue their reading of Ethan Canin's "The Palace Thief," focusing on how the relationship between the narrator and Sedgewick changes after the narrator meets Sedgewick's father.

Robert Hayden's poem "Those Winter Sundays" serves as the anchor text in a five-part instructional activity that takes the mystery out of poetry analysis by modeling explicit strategies for pupils to employ to conduct a close reading of...

Prefixes, affixes, roots, and word parts are the focus of a lesson designed to boost scholars' speed and accuracy. Peers work collaboratively to time one another while reading word cards. Answers, scores, and times are recorded to track...

Here's a fresh approach to the dreaded personal narrative required by most college applications. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the anchor text for a unit that, through modeling and guided practice exercises, encourages the...

Support English language development with a family-themed unit consisting of a series of lessons designed to get your scholars moving, looking, speaking, writing, and listening. Conversation topics...

Provide extra support with a unit that follows a teach, blend, guided practice, and practice/apply routine to reinforce reading, grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills. Reading and writing lessons include supporting details,...

What is a megalomaniac? Scholars discover the word's meaning as they read and analyze paragraphs seven and eight from Julia Alvarez's essay "A Genetics of Justice." They also read Mark Memmott's article "Remembering to Never Forget" and...

Rafael Trujillo was president of the Dominican Republic in the 1930s. Pupils read and analyze the first six paragraphs of Julia Alvarez's autobiographical essay "A Genetics of Justice," in which the author describes Trujillo's impact on...

How can you read a character's tone? What about a narrator's tone? Analyze Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a lesson that focuses on how word choice can change tone and how tone can affect the development...

Poets write love letters, but how often do the objects of their love write back? Compare Christopher Marlowe's "A Passionate Shepard to His Love" to Sir Walter Raleigh's response, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," with an engaging...

Class members continue reading "How Bernard Madoff Did It" and annotate how the author refines his idea that the Madoff scandal grabbed the attention of a public fascinated with crime stories.

Finding the central idea in a text can be as simple as deciphering the correct pieces of supporting evidence. As your class reads Stage 4 of "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell, they analyze the interactions...

After viewing an informational video that introduces Bernard Madoff and the concept of a Ponzi scheme, class members begin reading "How Bernard Madoff Did It," Liaquat Ahamed's New York Times book review that explains Madoff's crime, and...

Explore the text, Cold and Hot, with comprehension strategies for young readers. First, give them a purpose for reading: find out what the boy wore outside in the snow! Then have them use one-to-one matching and picture clues to...

After watching the scene from Romeo + Juliet in which Juliet argues with her parents because she does not want to marry Paris, groups do a close reading of Act 4, scene 1, lines 44-88, examining the word choices in the conversation...

Where does Friar Laurence's loyalty lie? After listening to a reading of Act 4, scene 1, lines 89-126 of Romeo and Juliet, groups examine the details of Friar Laurence's plan.

An activity boosts readers' fluency in reading common phrases and idioms. Peers time one another and track their progress using phrase cards and record sheets.

Readers of "The Palace Thief" focus on how the author's descriptions and word choices reveal the characters of the narrator, Sedgewick, and the senator.

Class members continue their study of Romeo and Juliet by watching scenes from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and then examining the figurative language Shakespeare uses in Act 1, scene 5, lines 92–109 when Romeo and Juliet meet at the ball.