"The Dinner Party" is the anchor text in a lesson designed to encourage writers to use sensory details in their stories. After brainstorming descriptive words and phrases for the five senses, class members read Mona Gardner's...

Teenagers face many temptations, and just saying "No!" can be very difficult. Here's a lesson that provides some help. Learners use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast excerpts from The Odyssey, Tennyson's "The Lotus-Eaters," and the...

What's the story? Learners create the first of four storyboards about the invention of the television, incorporating narrative techniques and descriptive details. Next, they offer and receive feedback by participating in a peer critique...

Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...

If only there was a reference that listed all the formulas covered in calculus. Luckily, there is. This comprehensive 197-page handbook provides formulas and explanations for all topics in AP Calculus or in a standard college calculus...

A lot of writers really struggle very much with adding a lot of qualifiers and intensifiers in their writing. Part of a larger series to improve writing skills, a handout on the topic provides tips to help reduce a reliance on these...

"I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works." This colored view is the focus of a close reading activity that asks readers of The Great Gatsby to examine the way...

Some of the best information to include when writing a research paper doesn't come from books, magazine articles, or informational websites—it comes from dissertations. However, reading an entire dissertation is often a daunting task....

Young scientists develop their observation and writing skills as they craft and then post a detailed description of a plant or animal they have spotted and photographed.

Concept muraling helps learners improve their comprehension of a text by giving them a way to organize their understanding of the key concepts in that text. Introduce readers to this process with a carefully scaffolded instructional...

How can a screenplay create meaning and drama in ways that other forms of writing cannot? That is the question class members must answer as they compare the cantina scene of the screenplay for George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope...

When you come across an unfamiliar word in a text, do you skip it and move on? Practice using context clues to identify words you don't know with a thorough set of language arts lessons. The resource reinforces close reading and critical...

Leonardo da Vinci is the focus of a hands-on activity that encourages scholars to become inventors. Pupils brainstorm and sketch their idea, compose a detailed depiction using a mirror writing technique, and antique the paper for a...

The biopoem is a great way for instructors to get to know class members, classmates to get to know each other, and readers to flesh out their understanding of a character. Why not create a biopoem for a character from Oedipus the...

The odds that readers will enjoy a summer reading project will be in your favor if you choose Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games as the anchor text. The richly detailed plans included in this resource make it easy to volunteer...

Connect global examples of attempted genocide with a well-designed social studies instructional activity. It includes an excellent informational text with background information on the Holocaust, as well as worksheets, book report...

Have everything you need to know about the elements of poetry with a nine-page handout. Split into four categories—word sounds, meanings, arrangement, and imagery—budding poets may reference terms, read definitions, descriptions, and...

Suggestions for using Roberto Marzano's six-step approach to academic vocabulary instruction are detailed in a packet that includes graphic organizers, worksheets, and activities.

How far have California's Channel islands moved? What was the rate of this movement? Class members first examine data that shows the age of the Hawaiian island chain and the average speed of the Pacific Plate. They then watch West...

Literary theories are lenses through which a text may be analyzed. The question in this lesson plan is how a particular literary lens can influence the reader's view of the text.

Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass serves as the anchor text for a lesson on symbolism. Readers use the provided worksheets to examine the symbols in the novel as well as in the world around them.

Two sonnets provide seventh graders with examples of Shakespearean sonnets. After discussing the story of the poems and analyzing their rhyme scheme and rhythm, young poets craft a Shakespearian sonnet and share their work with two...

As part of a study of Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, class members create vocabulary squares for words drawn from the story.

While Thirteen Days is a fantastic film to use in the classroom in reference to the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis, it is important to take care to effectively and properly incorporate its contents into your curriculum. This...