This lesson asks students to write a profile of a classmate, with a particular focus on a talent, interest, or passion of that classmate. As an introduction to the feature article, students compare the characteristics of a hard news story to those of a feature story. They then practice writing about the same event in the two different styles.

This resource is a collection of discussion questions and resoures to supplement the film, Finding Antwone Fisher.

This speech, presented as an address in 1927 to the mayor of Chicago, William Hale Thompson, sought to reform the stereotypical image of American Indians in history textbooks and classes. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Suggestions on how to guide students through the writing process when writing editorials "” from brainstorming a topic to publishing their work "” and all the steps in between.

In this lesson students do a close reading of “Learning to Read,” a poem by Francis Watkins Harper about an elderly former slave which conveys the value of literacy to blacks during and after slavery. The activities also prompt students to examine the nature of literacy in the 21st century and the value they put upon it.

This selection provides an overview of two laws dealing with fugitives from slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 establishes monetary penalties for protecting fugitives. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 addresses the same topic but is more detailed. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Lesson 1 consisted of a reading about the true meaning of patriotism and another reading posed the question as to if a person should or should not stand during the anthem. This lesson investigates controversies with ways people express themselves during the playing of the National Anthem and will explore the controversial topic of how several National Football League players have protested during the playing of the United States National Anthem through a reading. As students read the article, the teacher will remind them that thoughtful readers annotate the text they read and sometimes reread the sections that seem especially important. As students mark and reread important sections, they draw inferences about bigger ideas within the text. This lesson was developed by Megon Mancini as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

In this lesson students will read and analyze the lyrics of "The Star Spangled Banner" and determine why it was written. This lesson was developed by Megon Mancini as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

This lesson is for 2, 50 minute, class periods. Students will begin research on a country of their choice and begin to explore how that country demonstrates patriotism and analyze the lyrics of that country's national anthem. Students will work to determine the meaning of the lyrics and think about why countries have a national anthem. By analyzing the lyrics of the coutry's anthem, the student will have to infer how that leads to patriotism in that given country. This lesson was developed by Megon Mancini as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Students will read about Galileo and his amazing creation through this comprehension worksheet. During this sheet, students will analyze the text to respond to the open-ended question that is asked.

This lesson's performance task prompt sets students up to revisit several poems from the novel with the focus on identifying the specific factual details Thanhha Lai has included in her poems about Vietnam at the time and why she has included them. This increases students’ awareness of the purpose for researching specific factual details (about a specific time and place in history when refugees fled) to use later when writing their own poems.

Lessons 3–6 focus on informational texts that help students to explore the refugee experience in preparation for the mid-unit assessment. Students are at a logical point in the novel (as Ha travels to America) to read informational texts to build more knowledge about the world—specifically to broaden their understanding of common refugee experiences.

In this lesson, students read an interview with four refugees and answer questions similar to those they answered in Lessons 3–5.

During today’s assessment, students independently read an unfamiliar informational text about a refugee experience and answer literal and inferential text-dependent questions, as well as questions that assess students’ ability to determine word meaning based on context clues. Students also answer three constructed-response questions that require evidence from the text to support their answers.

This activity emphasizes the importance of teaching reading and writing strategies for students to use with informational text.

This resource is a nonfiction, Common Core aligned reading passage with textual analysis questions about main idea, characterization, and supporting details.

Harriet Tubman's first journey to Canada on the Underground Railroad is fraught with danger, harsh conditions, and uncertainty. In order to keep her disillusioned party of runaway slaves safe during the long journey, she bolsters their spirits by telling stories of freedom and singing spirituals. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

These excerpts from Maya Angelou’s autobiography describe important points in her childhood. First Angelou describes the importance of her Grandmother’s store. Later, when she becomes withdrawn and unhappy, Mrs. Flowers takes an interest in her and encourages her to read aloud and share her thoughts. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This resource is a nonfiction, Common Core aligned reading passage with textual analysis questions about main idea, characterization and inferences.

This poem was written in letter format and was addressed to the U.S. authorities in response to Executive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066, dated February 19, 1942, authorized the internment of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. The speaker of this poem is a fourteen-year-old girl, who stresses that she is an American. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this poem through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.