Young orators demonstrate what they have learned about persuasion and persuasive devices throughout the unit by analyzing a persuasive speech and then crafting their persuasive essays. Class members engage in a role-play exercise, use...

Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth...

As a summative assessment for this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders listen to and read informational texts in order to demonstrate their ability to take notes, write summaries, and draw connections. Young scholars first listen as...

Students explore food. In this nutrition lesson plan, students investigate multiple facets of healthy eating and how the fast food industry impacts our society. They will participate in class discussions, read from their text-book, and...

Examine author's purpose in newspaper articles, comic books, cookbooks, encyclopedias and other forms of written materials. Working in groups, middle and high schoolers read teacher-selected articles and write an explanation of the...

Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...

What is really the best way to get rid of hiccups? Investigate some old wives' tales and folk remedies related to health. Middle schoolers explore the science behind why people might believe these myths to be true and find the real...

A carefully crafted three-day lesson plan integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson plan...

Middle schoolers read and review informational texts, analyze cause and effect, and distinguish fact from opinion. They assess a "one-minute mystery" you read aloud for cause and effect relationships. Resource includes complete set of...

Use a traffic light to model a very basic paragraph plan. The Go, or topic sentence, is written in green and expresses an opinion about the topic. Information that supports the opinion of the Go sentence is written in yellow and the...

HIgh schoolers respond to a persuasive article on using animal research. In this english lesson plan, writers listen to a conversation, and discuss the point of arguments. They write a critique on a certain film and share it with their...

Fourth graders work in small groups to become experts on different colonial trades in the eighth instructional activity of this unit. Working toward the long-term goal of writing a piece of historical fiction, young scholars read...

Scholars research and present on the historical happenings of 1919. After sharing their findings, pupils debate about how Congress dealt with the moral issues of the time. The evaluation asks learners to write a persuasive...

Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...

Learners study the decisions and solutions involved in winning the right to vote. After reading background information on the fight for women's suffrage, including one woman's story, and its eventual success in the United States and...

Students put their reading comprehension skills to practice. In this interpreting text lesson, students read "Chief Red Jacket's Reply," and then respond to questions that require them to reason, infer, and analyze the selection.

"And the award goes to. . . " High schoolers investigate bias in the movie industry by reading articles, watching a short video, and examining data about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) membership, nominees, and...

Use the power of the pen to persuade others to get involved in community issues! Individuals reflect on personal service learning activities and the writing process. They compose essays regarding service to others. While designed for...

Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation...

Advertisers target teenagers. Groups select three magazine advertisements for similar products, analyze the appeals used in each, create a poster that features the persuasive techniques used, and present their findings to the class. The...

If you are interested in having a basic framework for teaching expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive writing, this resource may help; however, you will have to find information on the different forms of writing to share with...

Capitalism, socialism, communism ... these may seem like a whole bunch of isms to your scholars. High schoolers won't  confuse them after completing an informative resource. Your class masters how to use primary sources to...

Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...

Looking for materials to accompany your study of Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes? Look no further! Included here is everything you need to go alongside your unit: worksheets, graphic organizers, writing assignments, an assessment,...