In this lesson, students brainstorm texts that they have read recently and map their choices using a Graphic Map to rate and make notes about them. Students then look for patterns connecting the texts that they enjoyed the most and those they enjoyed the least. Once they've analyzed their past readings, students complete a reading plan by first listing categories of books they want to read. They then use booklists, book reviews, and other resources to create a wish list of books they hope to read in the future.

In this introductory lesson, students engage in a hands-on, collaborative investigation of the definition of reading by participating in small group brainstorming sessions and an analysis of a variety of texts and the strategies they need to read them. Students also create individual Reader’s Profiles with an online tool modeled on social networking sites. Sharing these profiles and reflecting on their own learning, students ultimately develop a working definition of reading which they refine during the year.

Students will be taught the "drill skill and kill" method to be used on grammar concepts within an argumentative paper.

Students work together in small groups to read, discuss, and analyze fairy tales. After compiling a list of common elements, students collaborate on their own original fairy tales—based on events from their own lives or the lives of someone they know. Each student decides what kind of experience to write about, composes and revises a fairy tale, and then presents their story to the rest of the class.

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.

In this lesson, students participate in a Socratic seminar discussing a person's right to refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

This lesson will provide eighth grade students with an inquiry-based research project based on C.S. Lewis' classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Students will determine the author's purpose in writing this story. This will be accomplished by researching material using the Alabama Virtual Library and Gale Resources.

GIST is a strategy to help students write brief, accurate, and complete summaries of material they read. In this lesson, students work together summarizing larger and larger portions of text, keeping their summaries at 25 words or fewer.

In this lesson, students continue reading and discussing "The Vietnam Wars," focusing on the impending fall of Saigon.

In this lesson, using a Jigsaw protocol, students return to the novel, citing evidence from the poems “Choice” and “Left Behind” to explain how this incident reveals aspects of Ha and her family members.

In this lesson, students closely read the poem "Wet and Crying" from the novel to examine how word choice contributes to tone and meaning.

In this lesson, students reread "Saigon is Gone" and compare meaning and tone in this informational text to the meaning and tone of a poem in the novel.

In this lesson, students begin the novel Inside Out & Back Again and begin to make inferences about the main character, Ha.

In this lesson, students continue the novel, do a close read of the poem "Inside Out" and begin the routine of "QuickWrites."

In this lesson, students continue the novel, analyze Ha's character in contrast to her brothers, and use a "Chalkboard Splash" protocol to make some of their analysis visual.

In this lesson, students complete the mid-unit assessment, analyzing how critical incidents in the novel reveal aspects of Ha’s character, and also participate in a Gallery Walk protocol.

In this lesson, students build background knowledge about Vietnam by reading and discussing one section of "The Vietnam Wars."

In this lesson, students use a Jigsaw protocol to continue reading and discussing additional sections of "The Vietnam Wars."

In this lesson, students return to the novel, analyzing plot development in the days leading up to the fall of Saigon.

In this lesson, students continue reading and discussing "The Vietnam Wars," focusing on how Vietnam was a “Battleground in a Larger Struggle.”