Students use a tuning protocol to give and receive peer-to-peer feedback on student writing in a structured, safe environment.
In this lesson, students use previewing to activate their prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. Using a strategy called THIEVES, which is an acronym for title, headings, introduction, every first sentence in a paragraph, visuals and vocabulary, end-of-chapter questions, and summary, students are guided through a preview of a nonfiction text. After guided practice, partners work together to use the strategy to preview a chapter from a textbook.
In this unit from the Standford University The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute students develop a broader understanding of the struggle for equality from 1868 to the present by exploring first-person narratives from a diverse group of Americans. Beginning with a study of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, students determine the criteria for identifying an event as historically significant. Students then explore the impact of the struggle for equality by interviewing people in their community and utilizing resources such as Toni Morrison’s Remember: The Journey to School Integration, Voices of Civil Rights, a national oral history project by the Library of Congress, and StoryCorps, an independent non-profit project that focuses on oral history collections of individuals’ life experiences.
This resource is a collection of discussion questions to supplement the non-fiction war verterans' account, We Were There by Yvonne Latty.
Brainstorming actvities to help students generate ideas for creative writing.
The narrator of The White Umbrella is a Chinese American girl who struggles with feelings of embarrassment and longing to be like others. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.
Brian Aldiss describes a futuristic world in which machines are capable of thinking based on the tasks they have been designed to perform. One day the machines realize that the few remaining humans have died, leaving the machines to fend for themselves. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story with text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.
Diane Ackerman describes fall foliage and explains the natural processes that cause the leaves of deciduous trees to turn each year. Along with her observations, she also muses on the significance of the changing of seasons and on life and death. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story with text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.
The wind and water are personified as two women talking about their children. Mrs. Wind brags about her children, which annoys Mrs. Water who drowns Mrs. Wind’s children when they come to her for a drink. As Mrs. Wind calls for her children, white feathers come to the top of the water, causing whitecaps. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.
This poetry lesson uses hip hop and karaoke to inspire students to write and engage with poetry.
In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this document through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.
In this lesson, the students will focus their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will explore the questions Monk raises and perhaps even pursue additional avenues of inquiry
“The Wreck of the Hesperus†is a narrative poem about an arrogant ship captain (skipper) who takes his daughter on an ill-fated voyage across a wintry sea. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this poem through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.
In this lesson asks students to reflect on their writing process, and helps the teacher learn more about students' habits and techniques as writers. Students begin by reading and analyzing the poem "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur, particularly discussing the use of extended metaphor. Students then reflect on their own writing habits, compare themselves as writers to the writer in the poem, and brainstorm possible metaphors for themselves as writers.
This lesson, Young People Working for Justice, focuses on Dr. Martin Luther King and on the role of youth during the modern African American Freedom Struggle. The activities encourage students to envision their role in creating a just world.
In this multi-session lesson, students use computers or digital readers to read and respond to e-books. Students learn how to use e-book tools and features to support their reading processes. In particular, they insert digital notes into a book to record their thoughts and ideas in response to the text. Whole-class and small-group discussions about different types of responses encourage students to broaden their response repertoire. At the end of the lesson, students review their digital notes and fill out handouts that help them reflect on the value of the e-book reading experience and the subsequent response process.
Students make lists of their favorite and least favorite movies and brainstorm qualities that make a film good or bad. Next, students write a movie review for a film they have seen.