Curated OER
Communication Skills
Students practice and model good listening skills, become aware of the effects of cultural and other biases that affect communication.
Curated OER
Warriors Don't Cry
Students write a journal depicting a day in the life of a character and a newspaper article. For this Warriors Don't Cry lesson, students summarize the main events of integration and find out about the life of Melba...
Curated OER
Study Skills-Note Taking
Learners use a note card to record a direct quotation from a collection of famous speeches. The top right-hand corner should contain the name of the speaker, and the top left-hand corner should contain the name of the speech.
Curated OER
Outlining
Young scholars read and evaluate a piece of expository writing. They participate in a class discussion of the outlining process and individually outline a piece of expository writing. Finally, the students create an outline for the...
Curated OER
It's ALL Good!
Students work on summarization as a skill to increase their comprehension of full texts. They focus on determining the most important ideas from the texts they read by using the four steps to summarization. Using an online article, they...
Curated OER
What's the Point
Students practice the strategy of summarization to be able to understand and comprehend the text. They study how to get rid of unnecessary or repeated information and find the most important items or events and then write a statement...
Curated OER
Removing the 'Junky' Words
Students explore was to comprehend a story through summarization. They are introduced to a lesson by explaining that when we read there are a lot of extra, unnecessary, junk words. Students explore ways not pay to attention to the...
Curated OER
Summing It All Up
Students summarize a selected piece of text nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using a concept map and the process outlined by the...
San José State University
Essay Exams: Common Question Types
Novice writers often struggle to determine what style of essay to write when given a prompt. This instructional activity helps to identify an appropriate form based on the language of the question. For example, key words like prove or...
Curated OER
ELA Unit Planning Template Style One
Work with your department or on your own to create organized unit plans that connect to all parts of the Common Core standards. The three-page template includes space to summarize the unit, list standards for each category of the ELA...
Curated OER
From Graphic Organizer to Composition - Grade Six
How does one use a graphic organizer to plan writing? Introduce your writers to different types of graphic organizers by dividing the class into groups and assigning each group a particular organizer. Then, as they research chocolate...
Curated OER
Reading Study Guide: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Meant for use with Maya Angelou's first autobiographical volume I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the materials here are designed for a homeschool setting, but they'd suit any classroom or text. Graphic organizers, chapter summary...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 3 Assessment: On-Demand Note-Taking about Howler Monkeys
Get the facts straight. Scholars complete their mid-unit assessment by reading a text, watching a video, and observing a picture about howler monkeys. They take notes about the facts they discover to use in future lessons.
Curated OER
Literature Study Guide: To Kill a Mockingbird
Teaching tools designed to support student-centered literature study. Geared toward homeschoolers reading Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird, I would use these in my classroom. The materials are applicable to any text: graphic...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Why Do Workers Strike? (Chapter 11: "Los Aguacates/Avocados")
Make connections between Esperanza Rising and human rights with the activities outlined here. The instructional activity starts out with a brief quiz and review of the novel. After that, pupils circulate and share quote strips that you...
Alabama Learning Exchange
What You Know About the Bermuda Triangle?
Get lost in the classifications. Using the backdrop of the Bermuda Triangle, pupils classify it by angle and side measures. They also learn information about the triangle and its history.
Curated OER
Sexual Exploitation, Day 1: Communication
Learn about the two main components of good communication - being assertive and active listening - as well as passive, aggressive, and manipulative communication. There are skits to read out loud as well as scenarios to practice with a...
Curated OER
De-Mystifying Poetry: Understanding Narrative Poetry
Tenth graders explore narrative poetry. They analyze sections of a poem and present to groups. They compose their own narrative poems using pictures as prompts. They exchange their poems and analyze their classmate's poem.
Achievement Strategies
Unit/Chapter Design Template
A thorough lesson plan template allows teachers to design balanced and standards-based lessons for any grade. The template includes spaces for unit vocabulary and concepts, objectives, and additional resources.
Curated OER
Let's Get Ready to Summarize
Students practice a summarizing strategy in this lesson plan. They are given a copy of a "National Geographic Kids" article and are encouraged to read it silently. They then use the steps provided to write an individual summary of the...
Curated OER
Comparing and Analyzing Literary Works
High schoolers read two short stories by the same author. For each story, they identify the main structures and style of the author. They use the text to write a summary about each story and how the author used literary techniques.
Curated OER
Identifying and Describing Story Elements
First graders examine how to identify the different elements of a story and how they fit in a definite sequence. The use of comprehension skills is essential to retell the story as desired within the lesson.
Curated OER
Note-Taking Skills
Students take a closer look at their note-taking skills. In this communication instructional activity, students summarize information by taking notes using the various methods that their instructor presents to them.
Curated OER
Reading to Learn: How Do We Sum That Up?
Students explore the topic of summarizing. They read the book, Dolphins at Daybreak, to practice summarizing. They determine what information is important and choose sentences to summarize the passages they read. They write a summary...