Curated OER
Rave Reviews
A fun lesson that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is a...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
The Columnist Project
Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical strategies,...
Curated OER
Short But Sweet
After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...
Curated OER
Pioneer Values in Willa Cather's My Antonia
Included in this resource are a variety of activities to do while reading Willa Cather's My Antonia. The activities, which range from mapping out Nebraska to writing activities about pioneer living, are all designed with one guiding...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literary Text: Pygmalion and Galatea
Is it crazy to fall in love with your own work, or is that the purest love of all? Compare two renditions of the classic Greek myth Pygmalion and Galatea with a literary analysis exercise. After students compare the similarities and...
EngageNY
Launching Researching: Reading for Gist and Gathering Evidence Using the Research Guide
Let's get to the gist! Pupils work in research teams to gather information about specific refugee experiences from Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Kurdistan. Scholars then try to find the gist of informational texts about their topics,...
EngageNY
Researching and Note-Taking: Building Expertise about a Colonial Trade
Building on the previous activity in this unit on colonial trade, the ninth activity has young experts continuing their research and writing summaries of the information they find. To begin, children participate in guided practice where...
Curated OER
Writing Effective Thesis Statements and Introductory Paragraphs for Research Papers
After reading on the topic of their paper, high schoolers work in pairs to assess how to write powerful, precise thesis statements. The introduction contains three statements: a universal statement, a bridge statement, and a thesis...
Curated OER
When I Set My Hat at a Certain Angle: Trying on Zora Neale Hurston's Voice to Dress-up Prose
After reading and evaluating examples of prose nonfiction by Zora Neale Hurston and other authors, high schoolers write a personal reflective essay rich in figurative language. By incorporating this strategy, they utilize voice within...
EngageNY
Qualities of a Strong Literary Analysis Essay
Read like a writer. Scholars read a model literary analysis in preparation for a similar writing assignment before annotating each paragraph for the gist. Next, pupils devise a list of qualities of a strong literary analysis essay.
Curated OER
Minorities in Mainstream American Society
So many people fought for Civil Rights in the United States. Read about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and discuss what the act guarantees. Then pass out a slew of magazines and encourage them to observe how often minorities appear in...
Curated OER
Understanding Plagiarism--Worksheet 1
Understanding plagiarism is the goal of this worksheet. After reading the two definitions of plagiarism listed on the sheet, class members decide whether the eight listed scenarios constitute plagiarism. Their responses are used to...
Curated OER
Critically Surfing the Web
The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the lesson includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to valuable...
Curated OER
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
What are the pros and cons of prolonging life? Incorporate real-world issues into the study of literature using Dr. Heidegger's Experiment. Through the exploration of pre-determined websites, scholars consider several related literary...
Albert Shanker Institute
Economic Causes of the March on Washington
Money can't buy happiness, but it can put food on the table and pay the bills. The first of a five-lesson unit teaches pupils about the unemployment rate in 1963 and its relationship with the March on Washington. They learn how to create...
EngageNY
Individual Research
Class members choose an ad they want to analyze for their performance task. They then read specific text based on the ad they chose. The instructor guides learners through a Model Research Synthesis document in which they try to...
Curated OER
Reading-Author's Purpose
Students review what author's purpose is by understanding that authors either persuade, inform, describe, or entertain with their story. In this language arts lesson, students bring in junk mail and in small groups discuss what the each...
Curated OER
Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents
Arranged into small groups, learners read a paragraph of the news story "Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents." As one reads, others mark the text (underlining important information and writing notes in the margin of the story). After...
Curated OER
Persuasive Elements
Investigate letters to the editor and their persuasive qualities. Break your class into reading groups and give each one a different article. As they read, they complete a graphic organizer to record their thoughts and opinions. There is...
Curated OER
Essay Writing
Are your learners working towards their GED? First they study the GED essay rubric, and then they read a sample essay as a group. After studying the basic elements, they write an essay of their own. After peer editing, they revise their...
Curated OER
Study Guide for Lelavision's Physical Music
Students complete activities for physical music analysis. In this physical music lesson, students read the biography for Lelavision musical sculptures, complete a sound and motion activity, and a making music activity. Students also...
Curated OER
Clean Air
High schoolers read sales promotion reports and create a sales promotion summary using information from the report. They develop a graphic organizer to outline their information for a presentation. There is an assessment checklist...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.9
Encourage your pupils to support their claims with textual evidence, whether is is from literary texts or informational texts. You might use the assignment example, which suggests an assignment on what it's like to be an immigrant in...
Curated OER
Two Truths and a Lie: Internet Research Skills
It's tough for high schoolers to assess what is a credible resource and what is not. A helpful resource prompts class members to research a particular topic and record two facts—and create one lie—while documenting the sources. They then...