US Department of Education
A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
Shakespeare Globe Trust
Fact Sheet: Shakespeare
When it comes to William Shakespeare, there seem to be more questions than answers! Using the fact sheet, pupils uncover information about the Bard's home and family life, as well as his schooling and career. Readers also learn about his...
Education.com
Pablo Picasso
Introduce your class to one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. After reading a brief biography of Pablo Picasso, pupils create their own collages on the next page on the theme of music.
Curated OER
If the Career Fits, Explore It! (Part 2)
Seventh graders brainstorm and discuss various careers and then complete a career interest inventory and two activity sheets called, "Who I Am..." and "Researching a Career." They engage in a comparison of career paths and different...
Curated OER
Dream Career Presentation, Part 2
Fifth graders brainstorm a list of characteristics people have when they are happy with their career. In groups, they review their material from the previous lesson and share their information with the class in the form of presentations....
Apple
A Curriculum for Digital Media Creation
Consumer technology has made it possible for filmmakers to create entire movies from the comfort of their home computer. Guide high school film buffs through the process of designing a documentary with an extensive unit published by...
Fluence Learning
Writing Informational Text: Lemonade Stand
Use a performance task to assess third graders' ability to read informational text. After they plan a lemonade stand business, young entrepreneurs implement that plan through informational writing. The task assumes learners can...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 11
Class members take center stage as groups perform scenes from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. Actors are encouraged to add stage directions to the script, as well as create costumes and props to...
Curated OER
Career Magic
Fifth graders gather information about the roles, responsibilities, skills, and training and education requirements of workers. Then they input this information into a graphic organizer chart and identify the similarities and differences...
Odell Education
Building Evidence-Based Arguments: “Doping can be that last 2 percent.”
Even the most thrilling sports career can end in an asterisk if the player uses performance-enhancing drugs. Focused on the topic of doping in sports, a seventh grade unit breaks down the arguments for and against steroids in five...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Innovation in America
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 task...
Curated OER
Educational Skills/Career Skills
How can you help first graders be aware of the relationship between work and learning? By having them think of five jobs that use math, reading, and writing you will help them understand the need for an education. Each job will be...
Curated OER
It's Magic: Understanding the Roles, Responsibilities, and Requirements of Workers
Fifth graders investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions. Then they break into groups to complete the training and education for two careers selected from a listing in the lesson....
Curated OER
So You Want to Be a Copy Editor?
Explore what a copy editor does and take a copyediting test. Pupils practice spelling while identifying the skills and knowledge necessary for a career in journalism. The resource is well done.
Fluence Learning
Writing About Informational Text: The Dred Scott Decision
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...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Free Speech
How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...
Fluence Learning
Writing a Narrative: Two Frogs
Three options offer young writers the opportunity to read a short story, answer questions, and write a response. A handy language arts resource focuses on reading comprehension and analyziing the story's lesson: look before you leap.
University of North Carolina
Essay Exams
For decades, the sight of blue books has struck fear in the hearts of collegians. Those books usually signal an essay exam, the topic of one of the handouts in a larger series on specific writing assignments. Using the handout, writers...
PBS
Broadway and The American Dream
Considering a unit study of American Musical Theatre? What better way to start than at the very beginning. Eight pairs of cards provide class members with background information about the genre from 1893 through 2004. The cards are...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 2
Ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM. The force will be strong in the hearts of your young Jedi as they use their lightsabers to strike the accentted syllables in lines from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New...
Curated OER
My Four to Six Year Plan (My Personal Plan of Study)
Eighth graders examine what they need to do to meet their career goals. They design a four to six year plan for the classes they need to take in high school after listening to high school mentor tell about their experiences with this...
Curated OER
Nursery Rhyme
After reading several types of informational and narrative text involving Nursery Rhymes, have your young readers create a dramatic reading of their selected tale to perform for the class.
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature: Nature in the Writings of John Muir and Emily Dickinson
As an assessment of their skill in crafting a compare and contrast essay, class members read and compare the portrayals of nature in excerpts from naturalist John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra and from poet Emily Dickinson's "The...
Fluence Learning
Writing Informative Text: Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...