Accuracy, phrasing, flow, and pace, the four traits of of oral reading fluency, are the focus of a series of exercises that are designed to help readers develop these comprehension and literacy skills.

Practice makes progress. Working in pairs, presenters rehearse and refine their presentation skills before the big day when they pitch their film choices. Rehearsing also allows for refining prompt cards based on peer feedback and...

Practice public speaking in this oral presentation instructional activity. Middle schoolers list the characteristics of a powerful speaker. They watch a video of two speakers, compare them and discuss the qualities of a good speech....

What makes a culture unique? Learners research life in the Appalachia region of the United States. Poetry, music, and oral history create Affrilachia, the term used to describe the lifestyle of the area. African-American mountain culture...

A "Magic Minute" activity asks class groups to develop a commercial to advertise a way to turn a time-waster into a time-saver. Ad groups begin by brainstorming time-wasters and then problem-solve was to turn them into time-savers. After...

As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....

Working in groups, learners create a mnemonic device, give an oral presentation, and create a pictorial representation of the correct sequence of the planets and asteroid belt from the sun. An assessment rubric is included in the lesson.

It's time to put the plan into practice. Using their plans from the previous instructional activity, scholars create multimedia and visual displays for their opinion speeches. Next, they watch videos of speeches and use a presentation...

Celebrate April's National Poetry Month or enrich a poetry unit with a wealth of language arts material. Class members develop an oral interpretation of a poem and/or develop a podcast interview with a poet. 

As a review of persuasive techniques, groups develop a one-sentence slogan designed to entice others to purchase a produce or adopt a point of view. The group then craft a storyboard for a commercial for their product.

Encourage effective internet research and e-mail correspondence as scholars investigate a US capital city they've never visited to find pertinent and relevant information. They begin by picking a city, then visit that city's chamber of...

Fourth graders give an oral report. In this state symbols lesson, 4th graders use the Internet to complete a scavenger hunt on the state symbols of Wyoming. Students choose one of the symbols and present it in an oral report.

Young learners need practice speaking comfortably in front of others. Post a list of oral speaking tips on the board during this unit. Over a week-long period, they create a story from their interview sheet and present it to the class....

One, two, three. One, two, three. Invite your language learners to practice the steps for researching and presenting information. Each small group has the task of explaining one Latin dance in full detail.

Pupils confront age-related stereotypes, explore how stereotyping impacts their lives, and discuss how they can make changes to reduce over-generalizations, unfair assumptions, and critical judgments about people groups. They use a...

To trade or not to trade. Young diplomats put their country's best foot forward in a series of briefings for other countries about their nations. The goal is to persuade others to engage in diplomacy and trade. Using a previous lesson...

The first lesson of a five-lesson unit designed for eighth graders has class members reading and watching a video of Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven." They then craft their narrative poem, illustrate it, and share their work...

Students interview a family other than their own to learn about oral history. In this oral history lesson plan, students also create a newspaper article about Leschi and pretend they interviewed him back in the past.

Seventh graders conduct an interview with a veteran of a recent war to provide an account of military conflicts. In this oral history lesson, 7th graders research a recent war and write interview questions for their research. Students...

After your class has completed The Cay by Theodore Taylor, assess understanding of the plot. First, model how to fill out a plot line for your class. Next, have class members fill in the plot of The Cay on the provided story map. Invite...

To conclude a study of social justice and tolerance designed to prepare classes for a visit to the Museum of Tolerance, class members brainstorm a safe and peaceful world. They then write about their own vision of this world.

Primary sources are valuable for understanding the context of historical events, but the diction and dialect in these documents can be difficult to understand. Middle and high schoolers participation in a transcription process in which...

Speaking of the Internet. The culminating lesson for the unit on the Internet challenges pupils to prepare short, two-minute speeches on an issue facing society. The pupils chose from three topics that connect the Internet and...

Read the story Green Eggs and Ham to practice phonemic awareness, rhyming, and writing skills with emerging readers. They will match oral words to printed words, create a graphic organizer, and the use rhyming words in an...