This lesson combines a lesson on genre with an opportunity for students to write and experience how genre changes a situation. Students first share what they know about letters and discuss books that feature letters. They then compare and contrast letters written for different purposes and situations. Then, by examining letters in selected picture books, students see how genres have flexibility and can be used in different situations. Next, they practice this flexibility with genres by writing a story using a series of letters to tell the story—using a book they have recently read, rather than creating one of their own, so that they can see the effect of genre choice. Finally, students make final revisions to their letter-stories and share them with the class.

In this activity, students will analyze and interpret a number of "letters to the editor", and use this information to write their own.

Students research the ways that humans impact coral reef ecology and identify some of the organisms that live in coral reef habitats. They will write a narrative essay as if they are one of these organisms and discuss how they are affected by human activities such as over-fishing, habitat destruction, pollution, etc.

For this lesson, students closely examine the different characters in a novel by keeping journal entries, meeting for group discussions, and using an online graphic organizer. This extensive character examination helps them prepare for a final project that involves creating an interview-style television show in which students write the script and assume the roles of the television host and the characters on the show. Questions can be about events from the novel as well as other topics that were not explicitly covered in the novel. Answers are based on students’ knowledge of the characters and their personalities.

In this lesson, students will brainstorm "crimes" committed by characters from that text. Groups of students will work together to act as the prosecution or defense for the selected characters, while also acting as the jury for other groups. Students will use several sources to research for their case, including the novel and internet resources. All the while, students will be writing a persuasive piece to complement their trial work.

Students will have an opportunity to develop such "live interviews" with ancient athletes; working in small groups, they will produce a script based on the results of their research and they will perform the interview for other students in the class.

In his essay, Mandela explains his shifting understandings of freedom based on different stages in his life. Mandela explains how his perceptions of freedom evolved from wanting freedom for just himself to fighting for freedom for others, and concluding that denying freedom to others robs the oppressors of their own freedom. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students will use the individual experience of Mary McLeod Bethune to analyze choice, its affects on social equality, and impact on their own life experiences.

In this lesson students examine how imagery is used to represent ideas, themes, periods of history, and make cultural connections to poem, "Still I Rise." Students will reflect through written expression how resiliency is in their lives, school, and community.

Students are immersed in popular culture. As educators, we have an opportunity to engage them in literacy activities that make use of this fun and engaging resource. In this lesson, students develop media literacy skills as they explore and analyze an episode of a popular television series. Possible shows include Zoe 101, The Secret Life of the American Teenager,or any of the High School Musical movies. Students reflect on characters, motivations, problems, and solutions as they view and interpret media. They then propose a new television series that more realistically portrays teenagers.

The emphasis of this lesson is on history and research rather than literature, selections from Jack London's The Call of the Wild are used to provide focus and structure for students' research in online databases of primary sources, and to serve as models of vivid narrative prose for students' own stories.

This article examines what happens when a sugar planter tries to save his sugar crops by importing a few mongooses. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

When a sudden and inexplicable force causes everything to stop working on Maple Street, the people there begin to wonder who or what is responsible. Fear begins to invade each person’s mind. This behavior reveals that the real monsters on Maple Street are the people themselves and the fears and prejudices they harbor. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students will discover how much they can learn from this mixed genre memoir/biography about what inspires life choices.

In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This lesson plan provides a selection of writing prompts for students to choose from, centered around baseball.

In this lesson, students will analyze primary resources to explain how the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the issue of fugitive slaves escalated tensions between the North and the South, and led to the secession of several states and finally to war. Respond to an ECR writing prompt to demonstrate understanding of how the North and the South had different cultures and how these differences eventually drove them apart.

This writing assessment can be used within an informational, research-based unit. Students will spend time, in class, reading myths based on natural disasters and researching a natural disaster. Students will create their own, original myth based on their independent research.

This lesson plan uses graphic organizers to help students create podcasts/ radio broadcasts using a Natural Inquirer article.

This resource includes six text-dependent questions, one constructed-response writing prompt, and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS and a mini-assessment.