Students will read, critically analyze and write about a series of poems dealing with poetry. Students will define poetry in their own terms.

In this lesson, students share their personal definition of poetry and challenge and revise that definition as they read poems from selected authors. In addition to reading poetry, students listen to poems to examine how the sounds of language are used to create meaning and mood. Students then write their own nonsense poem using common poetic devices, such as alliteration, assonance, and consonance. Finally, students write a descriptive poem, share their poem with the class, and write a reflection of their experience.

This lesson plan, The Power of Freedom, focuses on Dr. Martin Luther King’s most well-known and frequently taught classic works, like “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream.” Students read and discuss the themes in both works and connect to events in their lives today.

Speech writing is a rhetorical art and provides the content for these scaffolded lessons that support the increased cognitive rigor of literacy standards with presidential writings.

This lesson is designed to assist students through multiple sessions with identifying relevant propaganda techniques in literature, discussing persuasive elements found in print and non-print media and composing a persuasive essay. Lesson is appropriate for use with a provided list of novels to include Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

This lesson challenges learners to share individual writings while their peers attempt to identify the clear purpose of the work. Students will focus on forms of expository writing as well as author's purpose.

Students are guided through how to use quotes and quotation marks when writing about a poem. A specific example is given using the poem "Fifteen" by William Stafford. Students are then given guided questions and directions to practice the technique using Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" as a sample text. The students are directed to use specficic textual evidence from the poem to discuss the poem's meaning and figurative language.

In this performance task, students will work cooperatively to research the history of radio drama. Resources include original scripts from the 30's and 40's and an audio recording of Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds." Using what they've learned from their research, each group will create a script for a new mystery series. Students can extend the lesson by recording their drama complete with sound effects.

RAFT is a writing strategy that helps students understand their role as a writer, the audience they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the topic they'll be writing about. By using this strategy, teachers encourage students to write creatively, to consider a topic from a different perspective, and to gain practice writing for different audiences. Students learn to respond to a writing prompt that requires them to think about various perspectives.

Through various poems, students will consider the elements involved in reading poetry aloud.

Students read an article (which is included in this link) that asserts that all stories across time and medium can be put into one of seven models. Students will then search the newspapers and their own knowledge of books, film, television,etc. to compare and contrast with the nonfiction pieces as well as the article's theory about thematic connections. Any respected newspaper will suffice for this lesson.

In this lesson, students will discuss what myths are, identify how modern-day writers reinterpret myths to reflect contemporary themes and points of view, and rewrite a myth in a modern version from the point of view of another character in the story.

This lesson intertwines fictional writing with policy research and teamwork to engage students in an examination of these issues. The lesson uses clips from The Return - a film about people who have returned to normal life after being released from prison.

Studying Robert Frost's "Mending Wall," students explore the intricate relationship between a poem's form and its content.

In this lesson, students create video review of film versions of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Working in groups, students view one of a list of modern interpretations of the play, then plan, record, and publish a video review of their chosen film.

In this lesson, students investigate where on the bus Rosa Parks sat on the day of her arrest. They explore two primary documents—one that contests and one that supports—the account presented in the textbook. First, the teacher elicits students’ beliefs about where Rosa Parks sat, and asks where students learned their information. Then, students read a textbook passage and two conflicting primary documents. Finally, students decide which of the primary documents they believe is more trustworthy and write a paragraph defending their choice.

In this lesson, students engage in an historical inquiry about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They watch a short introductory movie, read six documents, answer guiding questions, and prepare to complete the final essay assignment using their notes as evidence from the documents to craft a more complete story of the boycott.

In this lesson, students critique a standard textbook account of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They read and analyze two primary documents and consider how this evidence specifically contests the textbook’s account. First, the teacher elicits students’ existing knowledge about Rosa Parks. Then, students read a textbook passage and two conflicting primary documents. Finally, students write a revised textbook account or an editorial pointing out the textbook account’s deficiencies and how these affect our understanding of this important event.

In this lesson, students learn how to use supporting details to support claims made in writing. It also provides a list of information about what makes for a quality supporting detail.

This resource provides a lesson designed to guide a reading of The Scarlet Ibis. Students will complete a guided reading initially before rereading the text independently. The lesson provides guiding questions, vocabulary, as well as a culminating writing task.