[Free Registration/Login Required] These lesson plans can help students practice identifying basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic.

This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text Sandra Day O'Connor and a linked passage about Margaret Thatcher and then complete questions over the paired texts.RI.11-12.5 Evaluate text structure

What kinds of evidence best support the points you make in a paper? Where can you find the evidence you need? This handout answers all these questions and more, including the difference between primary and secondary sources. You'll also...

This lesson explains how to reference an author's purpose when answering a reading comprehension question. This tutorial shares an audio version of the lesson's content. [3:14] RI.11-12.6 Eval Purpose, Rhetoric, Style

This page provides a detailed chart to aid students' understanding of texts. It goes through the steps of pre-reading, during reading, and after reading, outlining what students should be thinking about as they interact with a text. This...

Tips and information about how to evaluate resources, both print and electronic. Includes information about source authority, purpose, objectivity, currency, completeness, and relevance. It includes a printable handout (top right)with...

This lesson plan not only examines the message of Dr. King, but also the words themselves. This is a lesson plan in identifying the literary devices that he used in his "I Have a Dream" Speech. It will introduce the following literary...

The most famous speeches given by this powerful orator are recorded here with commentary. RI.9-10.9 US Documents, W.11-12.9b US Doc Analysis

Analyze the controlling idea and the specific purpose of the text, identifying the textual elements that support that purpose including the most important details. RI.9-10.2 central idea/summary [Unarchived version is accessible by TX...

This lesson focuses on using tone, language, and appeal to recognize and evaluate rhetorical approaches to building common ground. RI.9-10.4 word meanings/impact of choice

Background information about the literary traditions of the pre-Colonial and Colonial period. Includes information about Native American oral traditions and Native American cultures. Follow the links to the Early American era and to...

This is an example of how to analyze how an author unfolds an argument. It provides an example and links to use for practice. RI.9-10.3 author unfolds

This downloadable slideshow focuses on main ideas and supporting details including definitions, identification, and practicing with paragraphs. RI.9-10.2 central idea/summary

This site from Mind Tools reviews six different strategies to help you read more effectively. RI.11-12.10a Text Complexity

Reading and writing are essentially thinking. This site examines the aspects of critical thinking, including rationality, self-awareness, honesty, open-mindedness, discipline, and judgment. RI.11-12.10a Text Complexity

CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...

In this lesson, students will use several strategies to learn the meaning of new words they encounter in text. The students will learn specific strategies so when they encounter new words, they can figure out the meaning of those words...

The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...

This tutorial explains point of view in informational texts. Students will learn how to analyze multiple accounts of the same topic or event and identify similarities and differences in different points of view.

Read about the sinking of the Titanic and learn to identify key ideas in multiple texts, review similarities and differences between those key ideas, and identify the difference between important and interesting key ideas. This...

Young scholars will compare an informational text versus a narrative text about Earth Day. Included in this lesson are videos and pictures of the lesson in action, a printable Earth Day Venn Diagram, and a recycling activity.

Students will be able to compare and contrast two non-fiction books with a similar theme - in this case, plant life cycles. Extensive resources included such as worksheets, samples of student work, assessment ideas, extension activities,...

Using the book "Is My Dog a Wolf?" students will find "connections or similarities" in two animals. Included is a printable graphic organizer.