In this lesson, students will discuss the poem, "If We Must Die," by Claude McKay. Then, students will apply what they have learned about poetic tools to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

In this lesson, students will continue to build their poetry analysis skills. They analyze poetry individually and with a partner or small group. The How to Read a Poem anchor chart guides their analysis and provides structure for their thinking and conversations. Students will work with a complex poem--"slave ships" by Lucille Clifton.

In this lesson, students will focus on the powerful content, language, images, and themes of Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery.

In this lesson, students hear The People Could Fly: The Picture Book by Virginal Hamilton read aloud. Students will discuss what makes it powerful.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the powerful language word wall, which will hold examples students collect of powerful language in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The word wall is divided into two sections: Figurative Language and Word Choice.

In this lesson, students will analyze how a storyteller uses tools unique to the medium to make a story come alive.

In this lesson, students will analyze Douglass's position and evidence, working in small groups to complete the Excerpt 4 Analysis note catcher.

In this lesson, students explore how to create their own metaphors for life.

In this lesson, students practice thinking abstractly to write a "Life Is..." poem.

In this lesson, students recognize loaded words when reading and purposefully use them in persuasive writing.

In this lesson, students will use the individual experience of Mary McLeod Bethune to analyze choice, its affects on social equality, and impact on their own life experiences.

When a sudden and inexplicable force causes everything to stop working on Maple Street, the people there begin to wonder who or what is responsible. Fear begins to invade each person’s mind. This behavior reveals that the real monsters on Maple Street are the people themselves and the fears and prejudices they harbor. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

A short instructional video that helps students decipher ambiguous newpaper headlines and dual meanings in language.

In this lesson, the students will read and reread the passage closely combined with classroom discussion about it, students will identify why and how farming practices have changed, as well as identify Pollan’s point of view on the subject.

In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this book through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

The main character, Mr. Johnson, embarks upon quite the opposite of an ordinary day. This day he spends as a do-gooder, wandering the streets of the city, purposefully taking time to insert himself into the lives of the people he passes. His perfect day is juxtaposed the moment he returns home to his grumpy, negative wife. The irony is: most ordinary days are not filled with all great deeds, but rather a mixture of positive and negative experiences. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

I bribed my family with brownies to participate in an educational game night! In this video, we play a farm-themed word association game called Expression Connections taken from the Food, Land, and People curriculum. Try it out with your own family or classroom, and discover how many connections exist between you and the food that you eat!

Correlations to NC Essential Standards: Depends on how the lesson is adapted, but there is a lot of flexibility in this activity to be adapted to many standards in Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies.

In this lesson, students read the novel "Out of the Dust" and create an autobiographical poem using figurative language.