Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Parts of Argument II: Article Critique
Break down the parts of argumentative writing with a critical thinking activity. High schoolers read an article of your (or their choice), and use a graphic organizer to delineate the ways the author structures his or her arguments.
Curated OER
Lesson: Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
A great idea for a fun homework assignment! The class fully and critically analyzes Daniel Sprick's painting, Your Plans. They then generate questions to ask the artist as they attend a mock press conference. They pretend to ask the...
Curated OER
What's the News? Articles of Deception
Students choose a event in the news involving deception. In this deception instructional activity, students develop questions and share them. Students answer critical thinking questions about their event and describe what they learned...
Curated OER
Reading Articles for Meaning
Third graders read and analyze an article. In this interpretation and summarizing lesson, 3rd graders listen to an article and identify the who, what, where, when and why of the article. Students pick their own article, switch with a...
Arizona State University
Journalism Lesson
Engage your pupils in a seres of journalism activities. For this journalism lesson plan, learners practice with AP style, analyze an article, practice writing leads, work with organizing information, and take a stab at writing headlines....
West Virginia Department of Education
Editorials: The Guiding Voice of Authority?
How much can opinion influence a news story? A standalone resource discusses the importance of John Brown's Raid through the lens of journalism. Learners analyze two different texts, one from the perspective of the North and the other of...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing an Author’s Argument and Text Structure
William Shakespeare: a writer, a poet, a fake? For their mid-unit assessments, scholars read an excerpt from the article "The Top Ten Reasons Shakespeare Did Not Write Shakespeare" by Keir Cutler. Next, they analyze the author's argument...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Claim and Supporting Claims: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”
Scholars continue to analyze Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown." They participate in a jigsaw discussion to identify the author's argument and supporting claims. Pupils also write objective summaries of the text.
EngageNY
Conducting Research: Analyzing Text from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA)
Scholars read excerpts from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association website as they begin researching their case studies on the Mary River Project. They read an article to build background knowledge and analyze key vocabulary words using the...
EngageNY
Informational Text Features: Analyzing “Hawaii’s Endangered Happy Face Spider”
Some things are better the second time around. Scholars reread an article about Hawaii's happy face spider, answering text-dependent questions as they read. Then, they use a Venn diagram to compare the text features of interviews and...
Media Smarts
How to Analyze the News
Teach kids how to watch television, specifically the news, with this creative idea for learners of all ages from the Media Awareness Network. The elementary school plan focuses on presenting news as a story and uses Jon Scieszka's story...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Author’s Perspective: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”
Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown" allows young writers to see how authors respond to conflicting viewpoints. Class members participate in discussion appointments with five peers to explore the author's point of view.
Purdue University
The Scientific Process of Conservation Biology: Analyze, Design, Debate
Scientists use data to learn about species survival—and your classes can too! A set of four lessons guides learners through a process to draw conclusions about the fluctuations in the population of the Hellbender species. They read...
Curated OER
Analyzing documents
Students sort information pieces by structure and purpose. In this resource analysis lesson, students view several types of informational materials and work in teams to look for the way that piece is organized.
Curated OER
Pop Concert in Iran
Read, analyze, and critique a newspaper article about a concert with a Western singer and an Iranian band. Scholars will assess key vocabulary terms within the article, learn how to understand a short news report, and hone in on how the...
Curated OER
Witness to a Brawl
Using The Musicians' Brawl, middle schoolers first impressions and the effect the title has on a piece of work. Then they analyze the narrative elements to art and write a newspaper article for the painting. In this narrative art lesson...
Curated OER
Remembrance of Things Past
Engage critical and social thinking by exploring the value of language and word choice. The class considers the article "The Silence of the Historic Present" and analyzes several presidential speeches. They engage in class discussion,...
Curated OER
A Pill with a View
Learners brainstorm a list of potential uses for micro-video technologies. After reading an article, they analyze the development of a new pill-sized camera. In groups, they create a children's book that shows them the various systems of...
Nemours KidsHealth
Drugs: Grades 9-12
What do drugs do to the body and to the mind? What are the dangers of using drugs? How can teens respond to the pressure to use drugs? After reading a series of articles related to drug use and abuse, class members prepare a skit to...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 4 ELA/Literacy)
Track the progress of your fourth graders' reading and writing skills with this practice Common Core assessment. Based on a collection of six reading passages that include narrative stories, poetry, and a series of informational...
Curated OER
Grade A: The Market for a Yale Woman's Eggs by Jessica Cohen
What would it be like to sell your eggs to a couple who can't have children on their own? Could you even imagine it? As most of us have never been in this position, this descriptive essay is really quite interesting. The reading itself...
California Education Partners
Summer Olympics
Quickly get to the decimal point. The last assessment in a nine-part series requires scholars to work with decimals. Pupils compare the race times of several athletes and calculate how much they have improved over time. During the second...
Center for History Education
The Founding Fathers and the Constitutional Struggle Over Centralized Power
Believe it or not, the Constitution was America's second attempt at a democratic government. Academics travel back to the past to explore the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation that would eventually lead to the Constitutional...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 5 ELA/Literacy)
Check in on the development of your fifth graders' reading and writing skills with this Common Core-designed assessment. Given a series of six reading passages ranging from narrative stories to informational texts, young learners answer...