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Unit Plan
Syracuse City School District

Reading Comprehension Unit Plan

For Teachers 8th Standards
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...
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Assessment
California Education Partners

Eleven

For Students 7th Standards
It is difficult to articulate how growing up feels as accurately and beautifully as Sandra Cisneros does in her short story "Eleven." After seventh graders read the story and note the author's use of figurative language, they respond to...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1

For Teachers 9th Standards
Word choice can drastically alter the tone of a piece of writing. Ninth graders read Karen Russell's short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" and use textual evidence to help them analyze how word choice affects their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing a Narrative

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders read the short story "Eleven". They write a narrative composition focusing on the use of voice. Students use a computer to create a pre-writing graphic organizer and type their final draft.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plot Summary for Story Elements

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders identify story elements utilizing a plot summary organizer. In this plot summary lesson plan, 9th graders discuss the elements of a good story and listen to the story of the three little pigs. Students complete a group plot...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Thomas Jefferson and Monticello: An Introduction to Writing Historical Fiction

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Thomas Jefferson is one of the most recognized names and faces in America—but is there more to the third president of the United States? Upper elementary and middle schoolers conduct research on Jefferson, his famous home at Monticello,...
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Writing
3
3
East Side Union High School District

Biographical Narrative: Journal Prompts

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
The opportunities are endless with a worksheet containing 24 biographical narrative writing prompts. Although there are no directions or specifications for the writing process, the prompts promote the use of narrative writing techniques...
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Activity
Teaching Tolerance

Poetry and Storytelling Café

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Academics take turns as actors in an engaging poetry cafe. Elementary learners work in small groups to create original poems or stories addressing community issues and read their work in front of a live audience. Scholars also reflect...
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Lesson Plan
Missouri Department of Elementary

The Clique

For Teachers 9th
Mean girls and bully packs are favorite topic for films and TV shows that focus on the destructive power of cliques. High school freshmen are asked to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of cliques by reading a short...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tell Me a Story

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders read short story, "The Storyteller" by Saki, and expand on concept of stories for students by reading and evaluating several popular students's stories as well as writing their own original students's stories.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scene Writing

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders create an original scene or short one-act play within specified guidelines. Assessment is based upon the performance of student-created scenes during class time. Rubrics for assessment and connection to state standards...
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Lesson Plan
Art Institute of Chicago

Lesson Plan: A Writer’s Odyssey

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
Looking for a fresh approach to an end-of-unit project for The Odyssey? Check out a resource that has class members write their own hero's journey short story and then craft an illustration that depicts their tale. Apollonio di...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

For Teachers 11th
Who would you love to see at your table? Groups research a decade, ranging from the 1840s to the 1960s, read a short story associated with that decade, and plan a dinner party, complete with table set-up and menu. After researching...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Young Learner's Writing Workshop 1

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Pupils become familiar with writing an essay in English. They are given an overview of basic essay writing styles. Students develop skills that are used when analyzing texts as the basis of their essays.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Write It, Read It, Solve It

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Writers create an original mystery and have a chance to put it into movie format. The classic elements of a mystery must be present: the crime, the suspects, the motive, the solution and clues. Use iPhoto and Quicktime Movie to integrate...
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Unit Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Women in History: Research for Expository Writing

For Teachers 6th - 8th
After reading an excerpt from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, The Fun of It, learners explore various nonfiction resources about her life and write a short newspaper article on a specific event. They then develop a longer piece of...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
Premier Literacy

Point of View

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Incorporate technology into a literature lesson with an innovative language arts lesson. Middle schoolers read an electronic version of original stories or fairy tales, and after determining the point of view, rewrite the tale from a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Quotation Response Speech: Public Speaking Skills

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Improve high schoolers' public speaking with an engaging activity. Class members select three personally relevant quotes from a list. They then write a short speech for each quote, explaining how the quotes are personally relevant. The...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Story Pyramid and Summary

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners read a short selection of a story individually or as a class. On their own, they create a story pyramid for the selection and write a one page summary. They use text from the story for their supporting details. To end the...
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Activity
Washington Township Public Schools

Using Paired Text

For Teachers 4th Standards
Paired reading passages frequently appear on standardized exams, but finding text sets to use in the classroom is sometimes a challenge. A lesson plan on using paired texts includes a selection of passages and a graphic organizer for...
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Assessment
1
1
Balanced Assessment

Dollar Line

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Challenge the class to develop a story that matches a graph. The short assessment provides a line graph with the vertical axis labeled as dollars. The task asks pupils to develop a description of a situation that could be represented by...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Black Bayou Lake Short Story

For Teachers 10th
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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Lesson Plan
1
1
Channel Islands Film

Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 2

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
After watching West of the West's documentary The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, class members imagine how Juana Maria/Karana may have felt about living alone on the island for 18 years and craft a blackout poem or a narrative in her...
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

For Teachers 8th Standards
Was that supposed to be funny? Scholars analyze The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County to determine if Mark Twain's story is indeed based on humor. Learners work through short response questions, vocabulary, and active reading to make a...