Class members pair up to discuss how the author of A Long Walk to Water altered history. They then work independently on Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Comparing Water for Sudan and A Long Walk to Water. Readers close the lesson plan...

Time for a good old fashioned match game! Readers complete an initial, second, and third read of Plantation Life to gain a deep understanding. After close reading the text, scholars practice identifying paraphrasing by...

Complete a puzzle one piece at a time. Scholars gather in triads to complete jigsaw activities over a monologue from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies. They read as a group and independently and use sticky notes to identify the gist of...

To stand up can have many different meanings. Examine the different usages in English and relate one of these meanings to a short film about homophobic bullying. Class members view and discuss the film as well as a short reading passage...

Analyze various excerpts from Hamlet and read articles to develop an argument about his sanity. Middle and high schoolers write an argument essay defending whether or not they believe Hamlet is insane. You could modify this assignment...

Clear up the difference between they're, their, and there once and for all! A reference sheets outlines when your learners can use each word, and ten practice sentences encourage them to fill the appropriate word in the blank. Use this...

“. . . the car looked as it had caught some terrible disease.” Pairs read and then illustrate a passage from either “The Year I Drove through the Car Wash” or “Riding Is an Exercise of the Mind” in preparation for a discussion of...

Get your junior high writers stimulated with the strategies and ideas available in this activity. Learners discuss and debate controversial subjects, and outline their reasons with an online graphic organizer (link included) that creates...

The Pledge of Allegiance, the Gettysburg Address, the National Anthem, and the Preamble to the Constitution all get close attention in an exercise that asks learners to rewrite these formally-worded documents into informal language....

Class members play an interactive game, matching strips of paper containing rhetorical devices with examples from César Chávez use rhetoric in his 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Next, partners discuss...

Video games may not be so bad after all. As scholars read the text "The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games," they summarize the gist in their researchers' notebooks. Next, pupils draft supporting research questions based on...

Does your class need to work on compound and complex sentences? Consider this worksheet! This fine worksheet has learners use connecting words to join 8 sentences, so that simple sentences become compound and complex sentences. They also...

Teaching grammar can be so difficult! Help your class master how to use hyphens correctly. The first page details different places one would use a hyphen. On the second page, learners are introduced to two practice activities. In the...

Go over the basics of restrictive and non-restrictive clauses with this grammar worksheet. After reviewing the concepts, as well as the definitions of parentheticals and appositives, young learners label ten sentences as restrictive or...

Who can tell the difference? Teach your class how to use who, whom, and whose - once and for all! One page provides an easy-to-understand instruction sheet, and the second page prompts learners to practice their grammar with thirteen...

Start by introducing your class to basic comma rules, and then give them this practice sheet. First, learners add commas where necessary, and then they write down which comma rule (or rules) used in each sentence. Great practice!

Here is a instructional activity which may be best suited for a library science teacher, or one that can be done by a regular teacher when in the library. In it, learners explore the best ways to use print and electronic resources to...

A good poem has form and structure built into it. Middle schoolers see that the structure of a poem consists of stanza, form, rhyme, and meter. The structure also contributes to a poem's meaning. After listening to, and discussing, a few...

Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...

Equip your high school writers for the rigors of timed persuasive writing by employing the preparatory ideas available in this exercise. Learners use persuasive essays, provided by the educator, to acquire how to identify persuasive...

Create or expand your college essay and career unit with a business and postsecondary writing activity. The exercise works for college-bound or job-hunting junior or senior learners. They bring their research concerning a college or...

Grab a debatable (or controversial) moment from your current reading, and use this task to progress the persuasive writing skills of your high school scholars. Divide your learners into four small groups and let them collaborate, debate,...

Time to go on a journey! Using a graphic organizer, scholars deconstruct Percy Jackson's hero's journey from the Rick Riordan novel, The Lightning Thief. Next, they begin planning their own hero's journey narrative, creating a profile of...

Oh, snap! Learners practice conversational English by learning the rules of the card game Snap. Then, they play the game in small groups before writing out instructions for another card game of their choosing.