How much progress has Claudette made at the end of "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves"? Ninth graders note evidence for and against Claudette's successful adaptation into human society with a graphic organizer. Additionally,...

How does one's experience reading a poem's text differ from listening to its audio version? Delve into the insightful question with the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, as pupils compare and contrast their experience using a note-taking...

How does word choice influence the meaning and tone of a text? To answer this question, class members listen to a masterful reading of a passage from David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and then work with a partner to conduct a close...

Why is Romeo and Juliet considered a tragedy? Class members conclude their reading of the play, focusing on the final lines of Act 5, scene 3. They also consider how Shakespeare structures the text, orders events, and manipulates time to...

The final session in this 20-lesson plan unit asks individuals to use their Quick Writes, discussion notes, worksheets, and annotated text to craft and support a claim about how Shakespeare develops either Romeo or Juliet as tragic heroes.

"We need forgiveness and someone to blame." True? Class members continue their analysis of the central claims in Walter Mosley's essay and the support he offers for these claims about people's fascination with crime.

Class members select a science fiction novel for independent study. To verify they have completed the reading, they write a summary, a critique, and an outline of the plot for a sequel or prequel. They then deliver a five-minute...

Future environmental scientists compare data from two different conservation strategies. Alone this lesson is sufficient, but as part of the Exploring Biomes unit produced by the Arizona Fish and Game Department, it becomes top-notch. 

Students participate in a lab activity in which they examine a simple energy transformation system. Students test the rebound of elastomers, produce rebound data, and determine the kinetic energy transformed by the impact of a free...

Students examine how Jack London tells a story from the point of view of an animal. They read and discuss primary source documents, analyze text and excerpts, complete a chart, and explore various websites.

Here's a formal plan for what many effective teachers already do: Provide a week's worth of aphorisms and have learners choose one to write about in their journals each day. They reflect on the meaning of each aphorism and project how it...

Students analyze Shakespeare's Macbeth in a variety of creative activities. In this Macbeth lesson, students read Act Two, Scene IV and Act Three, Scene I-VI. Students then complete the text given at the link.

Second graders analyze storytelling devices by examining sensory details in literature. In this descriptive writing lesson, 2nd graders define the 5 senses and practice using descriptive vocabulary words in their writing. Students read...

Students use the Live Access Server (LAS) to form maps and a numerical text file of snow cover for each continent on a particular date and analyze the data for each map, corresponding text file to determine an estimate of snow cover for...

Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library. As part of their study of War Horse individuals create an anthology of World War I poetry. 

Matt Black's photo essay, "The Geography of Poverty" provides a shocking reminder of the poverty that exists in the United States. The resource not only focuses attention on poverty but also conditions that have given rise to situation...

How did Abraham Lincoln begin to change the minds of American citizens? Join him in his quest with a reading passage about Lincoln's experiences as a congressman and public denouncement of slavery. The resource contains reading...

Ah, the dreaded college application essay. Here's a unique approach to crafting a powerful personal essay. Class members read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit, analyze the...

Students read poems with social themes. In this poetry analysis activity, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against social ills....

Students read and complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In this play analysis lesson plan, students read Act 4 Scene 1 and a summary of the scene. students complete close reading activities in discussion...

Young scholars complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In this play analysis lesson, students read Act 5 and a summary of the play. Young scholars complete close reading analysis activities including...

Students complete play analysis activities for Act 1 Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In this play analysis instructional activity, students read a summary of the scene and complete close reading discuss activities. Students...

Students complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Act 3 Scene 2. For this play analysis lesson, students read the scene and a summary of it. Students complete close reading activities of discussion points, and...

Students complete play analysis activities for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Students read Act 4, Scene 2 for the play and a summary. Students complete close reading activities including discussion points, themes, literary devices....