EngageNY
Close Reading of Excerpts from My Librarian Is a Camel: How Do People Access Books Around the World?
Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Text-Dependent and Short Answer Questions: Excerpts from “A Limited Supply”
There's no such thing as an unlimited resource. Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment by reading A Limited
Supply. They answer text-dependent questions and complete a graphic organizer about key terms in the text.
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Excerpt from Reagan's Speech to the National Association of Evangelicals
Ronald Reagan's 1983 speech to the National Association of Evangelicals (also know as the "Evil Empire Speech") offers readers with an opportunity to practice their skills at reading informational text, specifically primary source...
Curated OER
Persuasive Arguments
Examine persuasive writing using this informational excerpt about natural habitat conservation. Readers examine the headings of three paragraphs to determine their effect, then copy the first sentences of each. They use these topic...
Digital Public Library of America
African American Soldiers in World War I
Finding good primary source materials to support any study of history can be a challenge and time-consuming. A set of 11 primary source letters, images, and text excerpts provide young historians with an opportunity to sharpen their...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Theodore Roosevelt, Excerpt from “The Square Deal” Speech
Talk about a timely resource! As part of a series of primary source exercises, individuals read and respond to questions about Theodore Roosevelt's "The Square Deal" speech. Roosevelt reminds us of what our social system should be.
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Theodore Roosevelt, Excerpt from “The Man in the Arena” Speech
Theodore Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena" speech not only provides individuals with a chance to develop their reading skills but also provides much food for thought about current political situations. Cynics, fops, and...
Take 10
Author’s Perspective
Gradually build understanding of author's point of view through a scaffolded set of exercises. Moving from direct instruction, to collaborative work, and eventually to independent practice, these steps will assist your class in...
Curated OER
Spinelli's Maniac Magee (excerpt): Reading and Critical Thinking Practice
A brief, dialogue-rich passage from Jerry Spinelli's novel Maniac Magee is accompanied by a well-written literacy assessment tool. Thematic content lends itself to age-appropriate discussions about race relations and social justice....
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based...
EngageNY
Writing Interview Questions
And now for the star witness! Scholars take a look at a model newspaper article and discuss the importance of eyewitness accounts. In groups of three, they take turns underlining text from eyewitnesses. They then regroup to talk about...
EngageNY
Inferring Laurence Yep’s Perspective on the Police, from the Crime in the Neighborhood Excerpt of The Lost Garden
Gist get to the point! Pupils read another excerpt from The Lost Garden, author Laurence Yep's autobiography. Working with partners, scholars annotate the text to look for the gist and record unfamiliar vocabulary in their word...
EngageNY
Inferring Laurence Yep’s Perspective of Being Chinese, from the “Being Chinese” Excerpt of The Lost Garden
It's all about perspective! Using the resource, scholars read a third excerpt from Laurence Yep's autobiography, The Lost Garden. As they read, individuals complete graphic organizers using clues from the text to infer the author's...
EngageNY
Close Reading Excerpt 2: Plantation Life
Time for a good old fashioned match game! Readers complete an initial, second, and third read of Plantation Life to gain a deep understanding. After close reading the text, scholars practice identifying paraphrasing by...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Ronald Reagan, Excerpt from Reagan's First Inaugural Address
A key challenge in teaching kids how to read informational text, particularly primary source documents, is finding suitable resources and then developing questions that guide readers. Never fear, help is here in the form of a series...
K20 LEARN
Between The Lines: Inferences In The Narrative Life Of Frederick Douglass Excerpt
Good literature can be much like an iceberg requiring readers to presume that the bulk of the meaning may be inferred to be found below the surface. Here's a lesson that asks scholars to conduct a close reading of passages from The...
Curated OER
Apply Post-Reading Skills and Discuss Persuasive Text
Students put their reading comprehension skills to practice. In this interpreting text lesson, students read "Chief Red Jacket's Reply," and then respond to questions that require them to reason, infer, and analyze the selection.
EngageNY
Analyzing Author’s Point of View: Immediate Aftermath Excerpt of “Comprehending the Calamity"
Analyze that! Scholars continue reading and analyzing a primary source about the immediate aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco fire and earthquake. Then, individuals use graphic organizers to identify the author's point of view.
Novelinks
Touching Spirit Bear: Directed Thinking Activity
Can you guess what is going to happen in a story just by looking at the cover? Readers engage in a directed-reading activity in which...
K20 LEARN
Just Say No!: Exploring Temptation Through The Lotus Eaters
Teenagers face many temptations, and just saying "No!" can be very difficult. Here's a lesson that provides some help. Learners use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast excerpts from The Odyssey, Tennyson's "The Lotus-Eaters," and the...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7
Comparing information found in images, charts, and graphs with that found in written text can be a challenge for even senior high scholars. Provide learners with an opportunity to practice this skill with an exercise that asks them to...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: Equality
What if society sought equality by handicapping the gifted and dispelling any traces of diversity? Kurt Vonnegut Jr. offers one possible answer to this question through his incredibly engaging and thought-provoking satirical...
Novelinks
Words by Heart: Guided Imagery
Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...
College Board
2015 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions
It is a cruel world. Scholars create essays about a piece of work that describes what cruelty reveals about a character. A prompt from the 2015 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions also contains two other essay...