In this lesson, students will develop, draft, and elucidate information for a research topic. Students will work collaboratively to write a paper as practice for the final task of writing their own papers.

This pre-writing assignment prepares students for literary analysis. Writing one body paragraph gives students the flavor of the analysis. The students locate, interpret, evaluate, and analyze the relationship between a character and the theme.

In this lesson, students research information on inventions that occurred during the second part of the Industrial Revolution, and then write and publish articles on a selected invention.

In this lesson, students gain an understanding of the oral language tradition of Anglo-Saxon poetry and identify how existing lines were affected by this tradition.

This lesson uses creatures created from students' imaginations to teach hyperbole, simile, metaphor, and alliteration in association with creative writing.

In this lesson, students create a poster in the shape of a shield to represent their individual lives for the purpose of a one-minute personal introduction speech.

In this lesson, students work in groups to create inventions using common objects then draft expository essays explaining the purpose of the invention.

In this lesson, students select a reading genre and write an essay persuading the class to read that genre.

In this lesson, students watch the movie for "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte and visually discover the elements of the novel.

In this lesson, students respond to a fictional letter to defend Mark Twain and the study of "Huckleberry Finn" using persuasive techniques, appropriate word choice, and correct letter format.

In this lesson, students work with partners to create a short story lining unrelated details into a logical plot with a clear setting and established characters.

In this lesson, students read The Diary of Anne Frank and determine whether or not this book should be a classic based on the criteria given.

In this lesson, students cut pictures out of magazines that relate to their lives to glue on bags to share with the class.

This lesson reinforces the elements of a short story including character, plot development, point of view, and tone and has students create a “visual” report of the literary elements with a short story. The report is a 12-sided ball called a dodecahedron.

In this lesson students will work in groups to rank a list of words from one extreme to the other, such as cold-hot, love-hate, etc. Groups will share their results with the class. After discussion and upon reviewing model descriptive writing, students will apply their knowledge by making more specific word choices to complete a descriptive writing assignment.

In this lesson, students develop a message using Morse code and then practice communicating the message to classmates using alternate methods.

In this lesson, students explore figurative language and point of view in the novel "Jacob I Have Loved".

Students will read the story, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold and compare thier own lives with that of a girl in a tenement builidng in New York City. Through reading the story, students will better understand the hopes and dreams of the less fortunate.

Student will predict ideas or events that may take place in the text, give rationale for predictions, confirm and discuss predictions as the story progresses.