K20 LEARN
The Million Dollar Question: Informative Writing
Introduce high school freshmen to the characteristics of informative writing with a 5-day lesson that distinguishes informative writing from other modes. Scholars learn how to search for and cite reliable resources, then research and...
K20 LEARN
Reframing the Argument: Examining Argument through a New Lens
As part of a study of crafting compelling arguments, class members tackle the problem presented in Lawrence Kohlberg's "The Heinz Dilemma." After discussing the dilemma with classmates, writers draft an essay with a claim, support...
Anti-Defamation League
Major League Baseball and the Negro Leagues: Correcting an Injustice
It's been a long time coming! In 2020, MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manifred, Jr. stated that "the Negro Leagues would be recognized as official major leagues." Middle schoolers investigate the history of the Negro Leagues and use evidence...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 23
In "How We Researched and Wrote this Book," the final essay in Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, authors Aronson and Budhos discuss their research methods and purpose in writing the text....
K20 LEARN
Barbie™: Blessing Or Curse? Style, Format, And Genre
How does a writer's choice of genre, style, and format impact the effectiveness of an argument about a social issue? After reading a poem and an essay about Barbie dolls, class members choose a social issue important to them, select a...
Curated OER
Writing Persuasion Papers: Thesis Statement
Using a "Hamburger" essay outline and actual hamburger buns, you will demonstrate the role a thesis plays in a persuasive essay. This is a simplistic visual representation of how an argumentative paper should be composed and not an...
Curated OER
Unit 2: Post-Revolution: The Critical Period 1781-1878
The post-Revolutionary Period of 1781-1787, also known as the Critical Period, is the focus of a series of lessons that prompt class members to examine primary source documents that reveal the instability of the period of the...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Cyberbullying—Alternate Lesson Plan
Should schools be permitted to punish young scholars for off-campus cyberbullying? After reading a passage that details statistics about cyberbullying and Supreme Court rulings about schools' ability to limit student speech,...
Pearson
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 7 ELA/Literacy)
Give your class a taste of the Common Core with a practice test that includes both literary and informational reading passages. Pupils respond to related multiple choice questions and longer written response questions. See the...
College Board
2007 AP® English Language and Composition Free-Response Questions
Looking to stretch the minds of your scholars? The 2007 AP® English Language and Composition Free-Response
Questions offer readers the opportunity to respond to reading at a higher level than many other high school resources. Writers...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Defense of the Electoral College
Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...
K20 LEARN
Let Us Start The Lettuce Club (Or Not): Writing A Thesis Statement
Let us be frank! Writers learn that crafting a thesis statement is not that difficult if one peals back the layers. After watching several videos about the elements of a thesis, class members read the article "Lettuce Club helps students...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Is Electronic Communication Helpful or Harmful?
Technology has undoubtedly improved the lives of people around the world—but has it improved communication? Seventh graders read two informative passages about the rise of texting and emailing versus in-person conversations before...
Curated OER
The Music and Message of Lauryn Hill
Students explore the music of artist Lauryn Hill and analyze the way she uses her music in a socially responsible manner. In this music artist lesson, students read the lyrics to Hill's songs and listen to some example songs. Students...
Polk Bros Foundation
Contrast Points of View
Compare two positions on the same topic and assess the positions for logical argument with a basic worksheet. Pupils fill in information about each position, note down which position is more logical, and compose a few sentences...
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis: Problematic Situation
Are you enjoying the use of all five senses? Imagine that you have to lose one of them; you can choose which one, but it's gone forever. Work through a lesson based on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis that asks class...
Mikva Challenge
Political Forum Viewing Guide
Is there a way to determine a winner of a political debate? Use a helpful rubric to evaluate the issues, specificity, evidence, reasoning, and delivery of candidates in a debate. After assessing each person's performance, high schoolers...
Minnesota Literacy Council
Introduction to Historical Thinking
Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.
Curated OER
Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen
It is entirely fitting and proper that Wilfred Owen’s powerful “Dulce et Decorum Est” is the poem used for an exercise in close reading, discussion, analysis, and argumentative writing. Class members discuss focus questions in pairs,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
Louisiana Department of Education
Fahrenheit 451
In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and...
Curated OER
Writing a Speech
In this writing a speech worksheet, students will read two paragraphs from a speech, then match 16 descriptions of parts of a speech with a phrase or sentence in the speech by drawing a line from the description to the text.
Teach Engineering
Considering Trade-Offs and Maximizing Efficiency in a Fast Food Restaurant
Make fast food restaurants even faster. Groups consider trade-offs when maximizing efficiency in fast food restaurants. Restructuring schedules and floor plans, as well reassigning job duties, all fall under this directive.
McGraw Hill
Writing Prompts, Student Rubrics, and Sample Responses
Whether you are teaching mainstream, advanced, or intervention language arts classes, you will find something helpful in a thorough writing packet. It includes prompts, rubrics, responses, helpful hints, graphic organizers, and many...