Just read between the lines. Scholars analyze rhetorical devices in Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter by first discussing them with guided questioning. They then complete a rhetorical impact tracking tool before finishing the lesson plan...

"No flies fly into a closed mouth." Pupils consider the proverb's meaning as they read paragraphs 20–22 from the essay "A Genetics of Justice" by Julia Alvarez. They also engage in small-group discussions about how the author refines her...

Preparation is the key to success! Using the guiding resource, scholars plan their end-of-unit analytical essays' introductory and concluding paragraphs based on their reading of Inside Out & Back Again. To prepare, they complete a...

Learners study the decisions and solutions involved in winning the right to vote. After reading background information on the fight for women's suffrage, including one woman's story, and its eventual success in the United States and...

Aspiring artists and budding writers combine their skills in an interactive lesson. Young scholars become authors when they create their own picture books focused on social justice. The resource guides learners through the writing and...

The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...

Wrap-up a unit on global climate change with a instructional activity that examines the causes and effects of climate change. Learners fill out a chart that represents what they think causes climate change—natural and human-based—and...

Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...

Middle schoolers learn to show, not tell, in their narrative writing. A slide show takes them through the process of choosing strong, descriptive words, and then provides writing prompts for them to use as practice. The first two pages...

Are you one of the 100 million Americans whose ancestors passed through the doors of Ellis Island? Learn about the historic entry point for immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with an informative reading passage. After...

It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...

All good stories must come to an end. Writers review teacher feedback from their Children's Book Storyboards and make plans for revision. Next, they begin writing their final drafts and putting them together with their illustrations. 

Narrative or expository? That is the question readers face on a two-part comprehension worksheet that asks kids to read a short passage about these two different types of writing, and then to answer a series of comprehension questions...

Play a game of capture the points. Young scholars receive a number line with specific points graphed and must write an inequality that captures all the points. The second task of the algebra project is to write an inequality with...

Obviously, four is the perfect number when you're playing Four Square. Scholars first use multiplication and division to solve a set of problems on the number of balls needed, the number of games, and the number of players required for a...

Young writers examine dialogue conventions, including indentation, quotation marks, and expressing thoughts and feelings through a fictional text. By noticing where and when authors use dialogue, they decide how to incorporate dialogue...

Trading in Colonial America is the focus of a lesson plan that boosts reading skills. As a class, scholars examine the informational text for crucial details, use their newfound knowledge to share information with their peers, and write...

It's time to put down those pencils and celebrate! Scholars share the visual representations of their position papers with the class. They participate in a gallery walk to view each other's work, writing a piece of praise for their...

After reading a text, one way to find out how much your class comprehended is to ask your pupils to summarize. This worksheet helps class members prepare for writing a summary of a nonfiction text. They note down the topic, up to eight...

Recovery from substance addiction is an ongoing process. The final instructional activity in a series about painkiller abuse and addiction prompts learners to research various recovery options before writing a short story about a...

What did Earth look like 4.5 billion years ago, and what was the climate like then? Scholars explore a view of Earth throughout history. They observe continents moving, temperatures fluctuating, and huge changes in ecosystems. A...

A packet of materials from the 2011 AP® exam provides scholars with an opportunity to examine scored sample essays for the three free-response questions. Included are the prompts, the rubric, scoring guides and sample papers. 

How much would you give up for others? The last prompt in 2014 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions asks scholars to write essays about a character in a piece of work that has sacrificed and what the...

Scholars read an excerpt from the short story "The Bonfire" by Kunikida Doppo as well as a nonfiction passage about handcycling. Next, they answer comprehension-based multiple-choice questions. Additionally, they respond to short-answer...