Review advanced grammar concepts with this standard online interactive multiple choice quiz. Young grammarians must know simple grammar principles such as verbs, prepositions and adverbs as well as higher-level knowledge like passive vs....

The format of a formal paper, according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Guide, is the focus of a text-heavy presentation that cites the rules but offers few examples. Consider adding additional slides or including a...

Here's a formal plan for what many effective teachers already do: Provide a week's worth of aphorisms and have learners choose one to write about in their journals each day. They reflect on the meaning of each aphorism and project how it...

Tune into C-Span and tape politicians delivering testimony before congress. Class members view these tapes, formulate a rubric for rating the effectiveness of such a speech, and then emulate best practices and include them in their own...

Test the true meaning of giving - and irony - with this activity about "The Gift of the Magi." Using textual analysis, details, and text organization, middle schoolers make predictions about future events in the story and determine the...

Students with special needs examine how to write an organized, basic, five-sentence paragraph. Students write a paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. They first practice by viewing and...

As a class, 7th graders observe examples of brainstorming and then complete brainstorming worksheets themselves. They compose and describe planning strategies. Prior to writing an essay, they identify the purpose and the audience.

Explore the sounds, importance, and effectiveness of dialect in literature.  Active participants read, listen to poetry, and explore dialect by developing a formal definition, discuss the benefits of its use, complete a Venn diagram...

Ninth graders use correct punctuation when writing. After defining the use of commas and semicolons, they discuss how punctuation can help eliminate confusion. They listen to a letter, first with correct punctuation, and then without...

While reading O Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," your class will define and identify situational irony and allusion. Use a study guide (not included, but easy to produce) to record and discuss examples of allusion as you read. Map the...

Explore the literary concept of theme through the The Gift of the Magi. Starting with a class discussion, the concept of theme is explored through examples from famous stories and movies. Next, the class analyzes the possible themes of...

Explore the concept of rhyme scheme within a Shakespearean sonnet. After writing out their favorite (appropriate!) rap song and explaining why they like it, middle schoolers define a rhyme scheme. Afterward, they examine a Shakespearean...

Learners explore kamishibai stories, Japanese stories told through illustrated picture cards, and become familiar with their form. Afterward, they develop their own illustrated kamishibai story. Students discuss the process of drawing,...

Fifth graders investigate bullying and nonviolent ways to deal with bullies.  In this conflict management lesson, 5th graders discover the definition for the word ahimsa and examine ways to incorporate that philosophy into their...

Students participate in a lesson of listening to a guest speaker. They pay attention to the information and are active in taking notes, generating follow up questions, and summarizing the presentation. Students practice clear speaking...

In this relative pronoun activity, learners fill in a chart showing which relative pronoun should be used in a sentence. Students are given information on informal, neutral, and formal, as well as human and non-human forms.

Students analyze three different ways a story is told, determine truth and fiction in each story, and discover and apply techniques to narrate a good story. Students listen to Bob Dylan's "The Hurricane" and watch the "R" rated movie,...

High schoolers select a theme-related essay topic from Night, by Elie Wiesel, or The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, and develop an essay that relates the theme to modern-day personal experiences. The essay follows a preset rubric...

Learners explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Learners identify and anaylze linear and...

Pupils role play proper greetings and etiquette in formal and informal work and social situations. Students compare and contrast introductions and conversational conventions in their native country and in the United States by writing an...

Students identify and use literary devices such as personification, idioms, hyperbole, and metaphors. They identify one literary device and illustrate the meaning. They write a letter using correct letter format and incorporates literary...

Cover higher-level punctuation concepts such as the difference between the en-dash and em-dash. This punctuation review is for formal writing and scholarly articles and is based mainly on APA style. The presentation is very...

Students investigate the writings of Thoreau. They read passages orally and look for words of imagery in the text. Students also answer a series of questions and they convert passages of writing into theatrical presentations in order to...

Young scholars discuss how color construct meaning in art. They will demonstrate a technical knowledge and creative use of formal elements and principals of design. Students then discuss the way their selection of color contributed to...