High schoolers prepare for Youth Voices Forum by writing resolutions using actual format employed by United Nations. Students explore components of resolution, including formal language, and practice writing and critiquing resolutions.

Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing activity. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers. 

Students explore Nobel Prize winning economist Thomas C. Schelling's strategic egonomics theory as it applies to making new year's resolutions. They make their own resolutions and develop plans to keep them using Schelling's strategies.

Young scholars analyze the characters and conflicts in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream. In this conflict resolution lesson, students read the play and track the character actions with the specific plots. Young scholars then...

What is a bully? Romeo and Juliet's Act 3 Scene 1 gives eighth and ninth graders the perfect opportunity to explore bullying. After doing some Internet research on bullying characteristics, groups reenact the scene to decide who is...

Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...

Students explore food. In this nutrition activity, 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...

Students write about New Year's Resolutions made about personal improvement, family and friends, and school and the outside world. They write a first draft and a final draft of a five-paragraph essay about their resolutions.

Our uniqueness should be celebrated, not teased. The story Chrysanthemum addresses having a distinct name and dealing with different perceptions. Pre- and post-reading questions are listed to help your learners understand...

Your class participates in a variety of shared reading and writing activities related to the book Julian Secret Agent. They complete a class story chart, examine how to use punctuation for dialogue, write an alternative...

Seventh graders create an original narrative story in a diary or journal format involving a fictional character with conflict, plot, resolution and falling action within the story line. They follow the steps of the writing process with...

Sixth graders analyze plot conflict with science fiction and TV programs. After discussing the conflict, they identify solutions for the programs selected. They examine Only You Can Save Mankind for conflict, and consider ways the...

An informative installment of the Writing for Specific Fields series helps readers learn how to interpret and write about fiction. The website details nine easy steps for writing a literary analysis—a useful method for all readers!

Third graders investigate nonviolent conflict resolution strategies. In this interpersonal communication lesson, 3rd graders explore conflict resolution. Students construct a newspaper/magazine article detailing nonviolent conflict...

Students examine ways to resolve conflicts. For this conflict resolution lesson, students define conflict resolution and write down situations where leaders deal with conflicts. Students work in groups to create a PowerPoint on ways to...

Students develop conflict mediation and resolution skills by applying the nonviolence philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King. In this conflict resolution lesson, students watch a video about Dr. King and review quotes from him. Students...

Collective story writing is a great way to reinforce the concept of story elements and collaborative learning. Young writers discuss story elements such as, setting, character, action, climax, conclusion, foreshadowing, dialogue, and...

Eighth graders implement plot summary organizers to identify essential elements such as conflict and resolution in literature. In pairs, they retell fairy tales to each other and complete plot summaries about them. As students read new...

Combining visual and language arts, here is a resource that prompts middle schoolers to write stories based on pictures of their surroundings. They use digital cameras to take pictures of favorite areas in the school. Next, they choose...

Young readers discuss how they would deal with problems faced by the main character in Maniac Magee. They write down their own problems and exchange them with others to analyze and provide possible solutions. They establish a "Dear Abby"...

Read a Hans Wilhelm story and complete creative writing activities. Start by reading Tyrone, the Horrible and discuss the behavior in the book. Then split your class into groups to create a "bully" situation and discuss possible...

Young scholars analyze the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. They read the background to the Vietnam War and the social, political, and miliary issues surrounding the War and how they affected President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society...

Young scholars identify and interpret the value of the dragonfly as a predator of the mosquito. They create their own folktales using the dragonfly or a creature of their choice to solve the malaria problem or another issue. Students...

Tenth graders research the Declaration of Independence and its impact. They assemble puzzle pieces of the declaration and create their own declaration of independence including grievances and resolution.