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Activity
Shmoop

ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
What does the author believe about his topic? Why did he write in the first place? Challenge your class to figure out the answers to these questions as they read through informational texts. The resource provides a breakdown of the...
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Handout
Deer Valley Unified School District

Close Reading: Analyzing Mood and Tone

For Students 9th - 12th
The AP Literature and Composition exam is all about close reading. Test takers are presented with a passage and asked to analyze how an author uses literary devices to create a desired effect. Prepare your students for the exam with a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Skill: Determining Audience and Purpose

For Teachers 9th - 12th
“. . . 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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Author's Day

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Have your learners choose an author to study. One resource link gives a list of approved authors. Scholars read at least three works produced by that author and produce three separate book reports as well as a two-page author report....
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Organizer
Curated OER

Identify Author's Purpose

For Students 4th - 6th
In this author's purpose worksheet, students complete a graphic organizer, writing clues that help determine author's purpose in an essay: explain, express feelings, persuade or entertain. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetic Justice: Understanding the Life of a Tethered Dog

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The Humane Society provides a activity in which class members explore the issue of tethering dogs. Through the resources used -- a comic, a poem, and narrative and expository writings -- class members realize that messages can be...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Author’s Point of View: Immediate Aftermath Excerpt of “Comprehending the Calamity"

For Teachers 6th Standards
Analyze that! Scholars continue reading and analyzing a primary source about the immediate aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco fire and earthquake. Then, individuals use graphic organizers to identify the author's point of view.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Analyze Author’s Techniques, Including Figurative Language

For Students 8th
Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "He Had His Dream" is the focus of a quick exercise. Pupils read the poem and answer four multiple choice questions and one short answer question about specific lines in the poem and the author's purpose....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pointed Comments

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders analyze pieces of writing to identify the author's purpose of writing. In this writing lesson, 5th graders consider a variety of pieces of writing such as, poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction. Each student completes an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jason's Gold: Chapter 9

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students collect details from chapter 9 of the book Jason's Gold and connect them back to the author's purpose of the book. In this details lesson plan, students listen to a read aloud where they discuss the details with the teacher as...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Setting Purpose for Research: What are Fair Working Conditions?

For Teachers 7th Standards
Life may not be fair but working conditions should be. Scholars research working conditions at Wegmans by studying the company website. They complete a working conditions anchor chart and discuss their findings in a think-pair-share...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Can You Find It?

For Teachers K - 3rd
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
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Organizer
Edmond Public Schools

SOAPSTone

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Break an article down with a SOAPSTone chart. Class members determine the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone. The chart includes a question for each of these elements, provides some clarifying text for each, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Evaluating Accuracy and Adequacy

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Evaluate non-fiction works with your English class. While practicing a variety of strategies detailed in the plan, readers compare and contrast the information in three non-fiction passages about the same topic. They then discuss the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Awesome authors (Elementary, Reading/Writing)

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders use technology to research and collect data. They develop awareness and appreciation of authors and genres. They organize information for presentation.
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Assessment
Fluence Learning

Writing About Informational Text The Berlin Wall

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
On June 26, 1963 President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech close to the Berlin Wall at the Rudolph Wilde Platz. On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan Delivered his famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

"Champion of the World"

For Students 10th - 12th
“Champion of the World,” a chapter from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is the subject of a study guide that asks readers to consider the author’s purpose, the function of the chapter in the entire narrative, and...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

"The Chase" Reading Questions

For Students 9th - 12th
"The Chase," a chapter from Annie Dillard's autobiography, details an iceball project the narrator and her friends used to play. After your class reads the chapter, give them this reading assessment. Provided here are five short-answer...
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Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Sounder: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Only one character receives a name in William H. Armstrong's novel, Sounder—the dog! With the novel study, scholars explore the author's purpose in the unusual decision. They also write similes, answer comprehension and analysis...
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Worksheet
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E Reading Worksheets

Tone Worksheet 2

For Students 6th - 9th Standards
The beauty of a poem is lost without an understanding of its tone. Middle schoolers connect author's purpose and word choice to four poems in a literary analysis activity, which prompts them to note each poem's tone and meaning.
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Lesson Plan
2
2
Star Wars in the Classroom

"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 1

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
"Now is the summer of our happiness/Made winter by this sudden, fierce attack!" Luke Skywalker meets Hamlet in a 10-instructional activity unit based on Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope. Using Star Wars®...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Active and Passive Voice: Finding Examples Online

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Incorporate technological fluency with a search for examples of active and passive voice in online resources. Discuss how use of active or passive voice influences mood or tone and contributes to author's purpose. List of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Identifying an Author's Purpose

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students read, "Research Shows TV PSAs Effective In Reducing Teen Marijuana Use", discuss the article with questions imbedded in the lesson and write their own PSA.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...