Scholars analyze various photos to determine how the people pictured take a stand. They use a Notice/Wonder Note Catcher to help organize their thoughts. Learners then study a Taking a Stand: Frayer Model handout to learn what it means...

May I take your order? Scholars read "Ain't I a Woman" and participate in a World Cafe. They work in small groups to discuss text-related questions and then complete a Note-Catcher sheet to organize their thoughts. For homework, learners...

As part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars draft their inside-out poems and then work on their "Back Again" poems. Learners use a rubric and graphic organizers to guide their writing.

Team up! Scholars begin working with their research teams to review the components of an effective poem. They then move on to independent work by beginning the end-of-unit assessment. Writers complete the draft of their "Back Again"...

Have you ever heard someone say the movie is not like the book? Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment to compare scenes from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to the movie version. The assessment contains short answers, multiple choice,...

Scholars partner up to review a model essay and talk through the process leading up to writing their essays. During a second reading of the essay, learners locate and underline the claim given, reasons, and counterclaim. They then...

Scholars use the model essay from the previous instructional activity to create their own argumentative essays. Readers make a claim about Atticus defending Tom in To Kill A Mockingbird. They then use graphic organizers to develop and...

Scholars take a close look at the life of Louie in Unbroken. They discuss events considered turning points in their life and use several graphic organizers and guides to help direct their thinking. After thinking about their responses,...

Pupils explore the narrative structure of a piece of literary text, mapping out the plot structure of the Greek myth "Pyramus and Thisbe." Next, they use their completed graphic organizers to write story summaries.

It is all in the details. Scholars read The Life of Miné Okubo and pay special attention to details that reveal Okubo's character. Completing their Understanding Miné: Character Traits graphic organizers and recalling the descriptions...

Have some dignity. Readers describe the word dignity using a word web and then sort Louie's actions into categories of reconnecting or dignity with a Visibility Double Arrow graphic organizer. They then use all of their ideas and...

Let's take a walk—a gallery walk. Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment relating to Unbroken by taking a gallery walk to view the various primary source mediums. They then use organizers to select three sources and respond to...

Scholars work in groups to compare Brown v. Board of Education excerpts and A Mighty Long Way. They use the Paired Text note catcher to organize their thoughts and divide the work using a jigsaw activity to track Carlotta's journey.

Text, speech, phone call. Scholars discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using speech and written text to express ideas. They use an Analyzing Mediums graphic organizer to analyze speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. They then...

Eeny, meany, miny, moe. It's time to choose a side. Scholars learn about taking a position by watching a video of a speech about local organic food. Next, pupils use graphic organizers to plan their speeches about which food chain is...

Scholars analyze the use of active and passive voice in The Montgomery Bus Boycott speech and refer to an Active and Passive Sentences handout while viewing the text. Pairs of learners then work together to identify passive and active...

Scholars begin the instructional activity by watching a video of media history and discussing it in a Turn and Talk. They then look at the texts A Mighty Long Way and Little Rock Girl 1957 to make a connection to the role of the press in...

How do authors play to people's moods? After briefly reviewing mood using a Conditional and Subjunctive Mood handout, learners practice identifying conditional and subjunctive sentences in the Montgomery Bus Boycott speech before reading...

After re-reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma using a Reading Closely: Guiding Questions handout, class members use sticky notes to annotate and determine the gist of the text. Finally, they use an Author’s Purpose graphic organizer to...

The best sandwiches aren't always edible. Pupils use a Quote Sandwich graphic organizer to plan paragraphs two and three of their position papers about the best food chain. Next, they begin drafting their body paragraphs for the mid-unit...

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...

How does an author develop and contrast character points of view in a work of literature? Using a graphic organizer, readers continue gathering evidence about character point of view from Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water. Next,...

Class members discuss how culture, place, and time influence a character's identity in A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Then, as part of a mid-unit assessment, they complete a Gathering Evidence graphic organizer to answer the...

Building on a previous lesson plan, readers continue using context clues to learn new vocabulary. Additionally, they continue working on their Gathering Evidence graphic organizers, making connections between an informational text and A...