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Creating a Found Poem
Teach your English learners about theme through this found poem project. Class members read two versions of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi": the original version and a synopsis. After learning about themes and connecting theme to their...
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Novel Ideas: History of the American Novel
Explore the history of the American novel in the contexts of literature and US history. How does a novel or piece of writing from a particular time showcase the mood during that historical period? After conducting research and discussing...
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Unicorns, Dragons, and Other Magical Creatures
Students exoplore the world of imaginary creatures (dragons, unicorns, etc.) They discuss the creature's special attributes and read stories about them. They create their own magical creatures in the form of puppets.
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Black Bayou Lake Short Story
Tenth graders use Microsoft Word to create an original short story. The setting must be Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The characters must be animals found at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The story must contain...
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The Greatest Generation: Capturing Their Stories with Digital Images
Students interview a family member of a different generation. After brainstorming story topic ideas, they choose a topic about which to write focused interview questions. Using their notes from the interviews, students write and essay...
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Language Arts: Creating Original Fiction
Fourth graders create fictional stories and demonstrate the use of various writing techniques. After selecting their main ideas, they find appropriate graphics to use as illustrations. In groups, 4th graders apply Hyperstudio in...
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Write to Read
Middle schoolers discover how to write to improve their reading skills. In groups, they take pictures of a variety of school events and compile them into a PowerPoint presentation. To end the lesson plan, they add a narration to the...
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Hajigul's Story: A Creative Drama
Students listen to stories about and research the life of an Uighur child from China. They investigate their own cultural heritage and design a mural.
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From Memoir to Expository Writing with Advanced English Language Learners
Students create a memoir. They compare writing with story telling and personal experience. They analyze how they learn, so they can begin to look critically at their own learning.
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Writing to Focus Reading and to Imagine Researching
Students examine several elements that would cue them into a newspaper article about community change without reading the main copy text. They discuss the details and write notes about the article. They first skim and then thoroughly...
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A Story of Democracy
Young scholars focus on the recent Mexican elections to evaluate how different journalistic accounts can present different aspects of the same event.
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A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Young scholars, after reading the book, "Esperanza Rising," create a virtual display by combining different story elements into a visual representation. They choose the setting and characters of a scene that will act as a springboard of...
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Muddled Words
In this rewriting sentences activity, students practice rewriting five sentences so that they make sense. Students write one original muddled up sentence for the teacher to correct.
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Gingerbread Baby's Point of View #8
Read the story Gingerbread Baby and use these various activities to connect to grammar, art, and point of view. In one activity, learners create character masks. They practice writing verbs on the back of the masks to tell what each...
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"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson
Middle schoolers who are about to read the chilling tale, The Lottery, do some writing beforehand. They are asked to write how their lives would change if they won a huge lottery jackpot. Then, they read the short story, and will be...
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Heraldry and Biography
Help learners discover more about their backgrounds. This family history activity includes links to sites about heraldry and family names. Begin by sharing your family history with the class and then allow learners to do some internet...
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Be a Vishnu Avatar
Students write a story about a problem on earth. They imagine themselves as one of Vishnu's avatars or create another avatar for Vishnu who can solve the problem.
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History Personified
Learners explore historical events by writing a research paper using personification.
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The Sand Horse
Fourth graders are introduced to the book THE SAND HORSE and discuss the title and cover illustration. They listen to the story listening for words and phrases to describe the setting. They then brainstorm key words to illustrate the...
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Scientific Method Project
Young scholars apply the scientific method and create a practical invention. In this science lesson, students design an original and practical invention and present the idea to the class. Class role plays the part of a CEO and vote on...
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The Luck of the Irish
Students are introduced to a variety of customs and traditions relating to the culture of Ireland. They view a video, explore the art of storytelling, research sport origins, cook Irish food and discuss well-known Irish proverbs.
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Making Choices
Students explore the life of Harriet Tubman. They examine a painting of Harriet Tubman and consider the tools used to communicate information about her. Sudents describe how the color of a painting explains the mood of the illustrator....
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Anticipation Guide
Young readers consider ten questions regarding murder mystery stories. The must choose from one of five options: strongly disagree, disagree, depends, agree, or strongly agree. A sample questions is, "A murder mystery must describe the...
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Archetypal Images and Polarities
Here is a rather esoteric resource that presents the archetypes found in “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” and would be appropriate for a college-level psychology or literature class, or as a teacher resource. Considered the “world’s oldest...