Have you ever felt left in the dark? Scholars write essays after analyzing two poems pertaining to night and darkness. Pupils also read a passage and write an essay discussing the author's depiction of characters. A third essay allows...

"Don't go forth today." Why would Caesar's wife not persuade him to stay home? Scholars read an excerpt from the play Julius Caesar and write essays on why Caesar listened to Decius rather than his wife. Pupils then write two more essays...

As the class concludes its close reading of “The Palace Thief,” groups consider how the narrator's character has changed throughout Ethan Canin’s short story.

Is history "little more than a relic," as one of the characters in "The Palace Thief" contends? Has Hundert's love of antiquity kept him from changing with the times? Readers consider how the author uses these conflicting views to...

Whether the planks hide the beating of a hideous heart or they break away to the madness beneath, their presence makes itself known in the final instructional activity of a literary analysis unit. Having gathered textual evidence from...

Readers closely examine paragraph nine in Du Bois's "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" to understand prejudice's meaning and research Jim Crow laws.

Ever felt stuck in the middle? Some characters do. Scholars choose a novel or play and write essays describing how a character is stuck between cultures. Writers also analyze the techniques used in a passage from We Were the Mulvaneys...

Batter up! As an assessment task, learners write linear functions to model the cost of baseball jerseys. They then determine which of two companies would charge a cheaper rate to buy baseball jerseys.

Have you ever felt like you are pulled into two directions? Some authors depict this feeling in their characters. Scholars choose a play or novel in which a character is pulled or influenced by two different directions and write essays...

Music brings back a memory. One prompt from the 2017 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions asks scholars to read a poem and write essays analyzing the relationship between music and the author's memories. Two...

Scholars analyze two excerpts and compare and contrast the author's points of view. Readers then annotate and determine how word choice supports the points of view. To finish, they participate in accountable talk and transition their...

Simulate a real-life situation with a project proposal activity for an art installation. Learners look at work by Joe Fafard and examine his website for information about public art displays. They also search for other proposals for...

Students develop a working skill of using graphic organizers for writing. The instructional activity notes that the best kind of organizer is one that is engaging to the appropriate audience. The assessment follows the rubric given in...

Young scholars review and brainstorm the signs of autumn through a PowerPoint presentation/ lesson plan with embedded video clips. After brainstorming ideas as a group, Students use Kidspiration to develop a graphic organizer and follow...

Students creatively utilize a word processor in order to do daily journal writing. They explore with using simple, compound, and complex sentences in order to present ideas with clarity and precision. They gain computer skills while...

Fourth graders combine listening and writing skills in this lesson. After listening to Up North at the Cabin, Students are asked to write a piece from a specific viewpoint about a place that they like to visit.

Students write on a chosen topic. Students brainstorm topics and practice writing on the topic using a variety of templates. Students print a final work and fold it in half to create a Mini Zine.

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...

When it comes to love and midsummer nights, confessions are tricky. Learners place themselves in the shoes of a character from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and explain how a character manipulated another character in...

Bring life to your next California geography lesson with this great project! Learners design a three-dimensional wall relief map of California, painting and decorating regions using a variety of materials and labeling major geographical...

Jack London's heart for adventure has come to define the spirit of America and its frontier. Selected passages from the foreword The Cruise of the Snark take eighth graders through London's construction and voyage of his ship before...

As part of their study of the history of the Channel Islands, class members craft an informational article to post on a bulletin board that features the Chumash ancestral tradition of tomol paddling.

The Oscar for the Best Adapted Screenplay acknowledges a writer's excellence in adapting material found in another source. What do your class members know about adapted resources? Find out with an assessment that asks readers to...

Time is of the essence. Pupils spend time completing the first draft of their essays based on Katherine Paterson's novel Lyddie. Using everything they've learned throughout the unit, they craft their arguments about whether Lyddie...