What a great way to study symbols in a text! Give your class some support by offering basic pictures and the page number that is associated with symbols found in To Kill a Mockingbird. Readers analyze the mockingbird, Boo Radley, and...

“Desire + Danger = Tension.” Thus begins a PowerPoint that details how to create tension and maintain the reader’s interest in a story. Although text-heavy, the color-coded slides model how the D + D = T formula functions and the...

The first lesson plan in a unit that uses Christopher Paul Curtis' award-winning depression-era novel, Bud, Not Buddy, as the anchor text establishes the routines that will be used throughout the unit.

Common Core testing on your mind? Ease your class into the test by requiring pupils to take this practice test. The focus of this test is reading. Learners read several passages, both literary and informational, and respond to multiple...

Get an idea of how your class members might perform on the Common Core tests with a comprehensive practice test. The assessment includes literary and informational passages for learners to read an analyze. Pupils respond to a series of...

Common Core testing is approaching, so why not provide your pupils with appropriate practice? This practice assessment includes both literary and informational passages for class members to examine and answer questions about. Also...

Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...

A story about feral girls raised by werewolves will have some interesting character development! Track how the girls and their teachers act, speak, and change with a lesson focused on Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by...

How much progress has Claudette made at the end of "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves"? Ninth graders note evidence for and against Claudette's successful adaptation into human society with a graphic organizer. Additionally,...

How do writers develop a central idea in a text? How can readers identify this central idea? These are the challenges class members tackle as they continue their analysis of "Letter One" from Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet.

How does word choice influence the meaning and tone of a text? To answer this question, class members listen to a masterful reading of a passage from David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and then work with a partner to conduct a close...

Why is Romeo and Juliet considered a tragedy? Class members conclude their reading of the play, focusing on the final lines of Act 5, scene 3. They also consider how Shakespeare structures the text, orders events, and manipulates time to...

The final session in this 20-lesson plan unit asks individuals to use their Quick Writes, discussion notes, worksheets, and annotated text to craft and support a claim about how Shakespeare develops either Romeo or Juliet as tragic heroes.

As part of a mid-unit assessment, class members exchange their draft of a multi-paragraph essay with a classmate, review their partner's writing using the provided text analysis rubric, and evaluate the strength of evidence, the...

Socratic seminars are a great way to encourage the development of critical thinking, speaking, and listening skills. And Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a perfect text for such a seminar. Use the questions in the packet to...

How do journalists balance bias and ethical reporting? The final lesson in a series of five from iCivics examines the different types of bias and how they affect the news we read. Young reporters take to the Internet to find examples of...

Warning or prediction? Nineteen Eighty Four is the anchor text for a series of tasks that ask readers to compare the novel to the film as well as current events to those pictured in George Orwell's dystopian classic.

Delve into The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling with a helpful study guide. Crossword puzzles, comprehension questions, character descriptions, chapter summaries, and vocabulary exercises connect readers with the classic text of a boy...

Tasking class members to analyze a poem can strike fear into the hearts of many learners. Here's a worksheet that takes the mystery out of the process by providing questions about what to look for in the text and to the devices poets use...

How does Hamlet's state of mind change over the course of Shakespeare's most famous revenge tragedy? After a close reading of Hamlet's soliloquies in Act III, scene 1 and Act IV, scene iv, class members engage in a Paideia/Socratic...

What challenges did Bosnian refugees face as they fled home during the Bosnian War? Scholars read an interview with four refugees and identify common themes that connect the universal refugee experience. They also engage in a...

How might different authors approach the same topic? Scholars read a paragraph from an informational text about Canadian refugees using the resource. Next, they participate in a jigsaw activity to connect real-life refugees' experiences...

Class members review expectations for successful discussions before reading chapter one of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They engage in a think-pair-share to discuss the gist of the text and add their thoughts to their Readers'...

Class members discuss the gist of chapter four of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park with a partner and share their responses with the class. Next, they complete graphic organizers to answer text-dependent questions based on a close...