Jefferson County Schools
Teaching Persuasive Reading and Writing
With the increasing emphasis on persuasive and argumentative writing, the lessons and strategies in the sample unit are sure to prove valuable—whether you are new to or an experienced pro at teaching persuasive reading and writing.
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Telling Our Stories of Giving - Writing to Persuade
After identifying the parts of a persuasive piece of writing, young writers explore different prewriting activities for the persuasive essay. They have the option to write a news article, personal narrative, or persuasive essay to...
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Writing an Informal Letter
What is the difference between formal and informal letter writing? Who gets a formal letter? What about an informal letter? This reference page presents different introductions and phrases you might see in each type of letter, and then...
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What Are the Issues?
Investigate and report on three issues related to a current election. Elementary aged learners research information about specific issues, develop an opinion, and write a persuasive essay using supporting details and evidence to support...
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That Is Not My Opinion!
Being an informed citizen requires distinguishing fact from opinion and understanding persuasion methods. Secondary learners evaluate newspaper editorials. They read opinion pieces, identify the writer's purpose and position on an issue,...
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Using Citations in a Research Paper
As a prequel to a research assignment, class members explore writing citations in the modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) formats. In pairs, or individually, researchers use books and magazines...
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Surviving AIDS
Enhance your middle and high schoolers' research skills with this lesson. After viewing a video clip about HIV and AIDS, high schoolers identify the facts and issues surrounding the disease. They work together to create a newspaper...
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Strong Convictions
How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...
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Punctuation (The Comma vs. The Semicolon)
Explore English by participating in a grammar correcting activity. Elementary and middle schoolers distinguish when to use commas from when to use semicolons. Then they correct twelve sentences by placing commas and semicolons in the...
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The Editorial
Students read several editorials such as those written by Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, and Ida Tarbell. They recognize the similarities between several editorials and summarize and outline the arguments presented in several editorials.
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide: The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter may be a classic, but keeping high schoolers engaged in the reading of Hawthorne's vocabulary, syntax, imagery, and historical references presents it own set of challenges. Here's a guide that offers readers...
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Weighty Matters
Students analyze political cartoons, and write short paragraphs explaining the cartoon's meaning and the cartoonist's point-of-view.
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News View
Young scholars read and analyze three different news sources that describe the same event. They compare/contrast the similarities and differences of the news sources, and write an essay describing the main event.
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A VIP - Present Perfect Simple and Continuous
Here is an interesting way to teach the present perfect and present perfect continuous. Individuals practice these verb tenses as well as the simple past by asking a partner questions about an imaginary biography. The biography is...
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Research Paper
An outline for a research paper assignment lists the expectations, grading rubric, and due dates for an extended research writing project.
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Separate But Equal Video
Eighth graders watch the video "Separate But Equal." They choose an incident or event from the video that is interesting or meaningful to them and write an objective news article and an editorial.
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Integrating Past Continuous
Students recognize the situations in which the use of the past continuous would be beneficial in writing. They focus on the use of the past continuous as a descriptive tense when something important occurred.
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Star Sullivan by Maeve Binchy
Learners read, analyze and discuss the novel, "Star Sullivan," by Meave Binchy. They research information about the author, outline the setting to the novel, and complete an extract assignment from Chapter 1 to be turned in on a specific...
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- Making Metaphors with Munchies
Young scholars brainstorm independently first, then ask their best friend on the team, or seat partners, depending on the year & student mix, to add to their list of personal characteristics and/or to name three words they think of...
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Baseball Statistics
Students read "Casey at the Bat" and then use individual player statistics (found through internet research)to determine if their players could be considered baseball "heroes". They must justify their choices for "hero" by creating...
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Introductory Lesson for Advanced Level Classes
Students participate in conversation exercises to introduce themselves and to review verb tenses. They interview each other and share conversations.
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Countable and Uncountable Nouns - Noun Quantifiers
Students solidify their knowledge of countable and uncountable nouns and their quantifiers. The lesson includes a number of overlooked or idiomatic expressions to help higher level students expand their knowledge.
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ESL Vocabulary Lesson Plan - Opposites for Beginners
Students work on vocabulary lesson plans.