Trinity University
Explain Yourself: An Expository Writing Unit for High School
Introduce expository writing with a unit that asks writers to craft an essay to explain a belief, value, or priority that is important to them. Mini-lessons within the unit focus on crafting thesis statements and conclusions, selecting...
Novelinks
Lord of the Flies: Outlining and Begin Drafting
Help young writers with the daunting prospect of a five-paragraph essay. Using William Golding's Lord of the Flies, learners work through a short process to shore up their brainstorming and prepare to write a longer essay.
Trinity University
Who Am I? Using Personal Narrative to Reflect on Identity
Who am I? Pupils work to answer this question through a unit that explores personal narratives and identity. Exit tickets for activities that examine different poems, short stories, and autobiographical writing serve as prewriting for...
Trinity University Digital Commons
Romanticism: Past and Present
With its focus on nature, individualism, imagination, and rejection of traditional authority, Romanticism has great appeal to young high schoolers. After examining classic paintings and poems as well as current works, class members...
Curated OER
Writing for Advanced ESL Learners
Students complete many creative writing assignments in their advanced ESL class. In this creative writing lesson plan, students complete book reports, folktales, biographies, historical journal entries, and more.
Curated OER
Exploring Selected Haiku by Issa
Students explore poetry by Issa. In this haiku lesson, students discuss and list the attributes of Japanese haiku as the read poetry by Issa. Students write their own haiku following the criteria presented.
Curated OER
Literature of the Islands and the Sea
Learners read an age-appropriate novel in which an island setting plays an important role from a provided list. This will help them understand life on an island. They will analyze the plot, theme, characterization, setting, and style...
Curated OER
How Tragic!
Learners study and interpret a classical tragedy and role play a character from the play. In this tragedy lesson, students discuss a specific work to discover the form, structure, and characteristics of the genre and interpret the...
Curated OER
Connecting Families through Folk Stories and Fairy Tales
Students engage their families to write down a folk story from their primary language. In this family literacy activity, students rewrite the story or fairy tales in English. Parents and students are invited to present the stories in...
Curated OER
Tattercoats
Students read the English folktale, "Tattercoats," identify basic literary terms, and respond to writing prompts. They compare and contrast with another Cinderella story version and create a graphic response to the story.
Curated OER
Memior: The Stuff of Our Lives
Fourth graders reflect upon the significance of remembered events and to keep a "notebook" of their thoughts and feelings. They read books that exemplify memior writing. They write their memiors, taking it through the writing process.
Curated OER
Poetry
High schoolers apply reading comprehension skills to poetry and synthesize the information to create a new piece of work.
Curated OER
It's About the Author
Students develop print awareness. In this literature lesson plan, students memorize and recite nursery rhymes and listen to stories of Maurice Sendak and Ezra Jack Keats. Students draw pictures to illustrate read aloud books and dictate...
Curated OER
Historical Fiction
Students discover how to identify historical fiction. In this historical fiction instructional activity, students read the story Meet Addy: An American Girl by Connie Porter. Students listen to the first chapter of the book read aloud....
Curated OER
Novel News
Learners, working in groups create a newspaper based on the events that take place in a novel. Groups complete sections of the newsletter based on criteria and publish it using newsletter publishing software.
Curated OER
Other Faces of Discrimination
High schoolers explore the bullying experienced by those who graduated from one-room school houses to large high schools. In this discrimination lesson, students read the 2 provided handouts on the topic and then complete the included...
Curated OER
Poetry Immersion
Students explore the genre of poetry through centers. They listen to the sound of poems being read aloud, visualize individual poems and observe and apply line breaks in poetry.
Curated OER
Using Supporting Evidence to Interpret Meaning-A Native American Folktale
Students read Native American folktales. In this multicultural literature lesson, students research the style of writing used in Native American folktales. They view a video of a folktale, and discuss the meanings of the...
Curated OER
Gettysburg: The Civil War's Costliest Battle
Learners research the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. In this Gettysburg instructional activity, students analyze journals and letters written by the Gettysburg soldiers. Learners define Civil War soldier vocabulary words....
Curated OER
Tells a Story
Students discover the concept of a biography. For this biography lesson, students read, A Picture Book of Amelia Earhart by David A. Adler. They see how biographies tell a story and then work together to identify the beginning,...
Curated OER
Fantasy Details
Learners identify fantasy details from a fairy tale they have read and give an explanation of how they know it is a fantasy detail. In this fantasy detail lesson plan, students make a list from the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood.
Curated OER
The Structure of Poems
First graders listen to and view the structure of various insect poems. For this structure of poems lesson, 1st graders compare to other text they have read. Students complete a vocabulary exercise about the word bold. Students...
Curated OER
Rhyme
First graders explore rhyme through the use of poems. In this language arts lesson, 1st graders read poems and identify words that rhyme within the poem. Students circle the rhyming words within a poem as they listen.
Curated OER
Realistic Fiction
Explore the characteristics of realistic fiction by reading and then analyzing the book, Allie’s Basketball Dream by Barbara E. Barber. Using the I do, we do, you do model, learners practice identifying realistic fiction...