Eighth graders craft a Petrarchan sonnet and respond to a performance assessment to demonstrate what they have learned in this five-lesson poetry unit.

Prepare, practice, perform. Using the resource, actors first revise their conclusions for their readers theater scripts. Then, groups perform their scripts in front of the class, while peers evaluate each performance using a rubric. 

Revisit, revise. Scholars receive their position papers returned with feedback from the teacher. They use colored pens to identify feedback related to the first two rows of the rubric and correct their papers based on the comments....

What to do with all that feedback? Scholars use colored writing instruments to circle any feedback that relates to the first two rows of the grading rubric. After working on revisions for their papers, learners view the performance task...

To assess what scholars have learned throughout a five-lesson plan poetry unit, seventh graders first craft a Shakespearean sonnet based on a poem they have studied. In part two of the assessment, scholars complete a four-texts...

Show your school spirit! Class members use instruments or sing along and employ what they have learned in the two previous lessons to perform their school's songs.

Musical theater is a trifecta, requiring cast members to be actors, singers, and dancers. Help theater arts students develop these skills with a unit designed to prepare them for a staging of a musical.

Prove it! In the end-of-unit assessment, scholars write a commentary and provide evidence to justify the connection between their reader's theater scripts and To Kill A Mockingbird. After completing the assessment, they practice...

This word or that, this picture or that. Individuals dive into the lives of The Little Rock Nine and the connotation used in the book A Mighty Long Way as they begin the performance task. The task scenario establishes literature lovers...

The presentation is the thing. Learners combine all their skills by creating a pitch for their films about the Little Rock Nine. They explain to classmates why they selected the images and songs using self-created prompt cards. The end...

Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...

Looking for a performance assessment that asks individuals to demonstrate their competency in writing about informational text? Use Frederick Douglass' essay "On the Dred Scott Decision," and an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's 1857 speech...

Young composers demonstrate their understanding of the stylistic features of descriptive music, including pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm, and timbre, by developing a melody and countermelody for a main character in a story. As part of...

How do the experiences of animals living in zoos differ from animals living in the wild? To prepare for a performance assessment on this question, class members are introduced to key concepts and vocabulary, and then groups use a Venn...

Are American young people prepared to become tomorrow's leaders in technological innovation, or does an obsession with being cool sidetrack essential skills? That is the question freshmen and sophomores must address in a performance...

This turn-key unit on ratios and unit rates walks through a 30-lesson unit on teaching proportional reasoning, with each lesson broken into detailed teaching notes and time allotments for all parts. An unbelievable resource when taken...

Cerebrum, cerebellum, brainstem, pituitary gland, and spinal cord. Prepare your class for a performance task assessment on the brain and how it works with a scripted plan that defines these terms and identifies the functions the...

What's the best way to learn the elements of the periodic table? The inventions of Thomas Edison? Patience? To prepare for the performance task assessment on how people learn, class members share ideas about ways to learn in a variety of...

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Scholars submit their final performance task, a letter to a publisher about an athlete's legacy. As a culminating activity, they share their work with classmates in small groups. 

Ready, set, write! Scholars work on the end-of-unit assessment by completing a writing prompt. They then look at the model performance task from instructional activity two to create a rubric for scoring the exercise. Using turn and talk,...

General music students learn about the history of popular American music by creating and performing a one-act musical. After researching and creating an American Musical timeline, class members write a song with lyrics using Jam Studio,...

Celebration time! The final unit in a 10-unit series asks learners to review their work and assess their progress. They complete another YOU! Scale and ME! Scale worksheet and compare the results with the worksheets they created at the...

The life of a tree is the focus of a packet consisting of several activities all covering a different subject. Second graders measure shadows, make pinecone critters, write poems, count rings, complete a word search, play tree tag, and...