Students will determine the significance of an event and the life lesson through sample memoirs (mentor text). They will evoke their own important memories by drawing upon emotions. Students zoom in on a moment and share stories with consideration for possible bias. This lesson was developed by Jaclyn Garing 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.

The final way students will examine ideas worth writing about for memoir writing is by looking for parallel moments in their lives. Often, we discover an issue has been a defining force in our lives when we have more than one moment that illustrates it. Students investigate patterns and possible themes for choosing a significant moment for memoir writing by studying personal social media posts (Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) and evaluating its authenticity in communicating a message. This lesson was developed by Jaclyn Garing 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 investigate social issues and struggles to determine how challenging issues lead to life lessons worth sharing. Students will evaluate the theme of a text and generate their own meaningful messages. This lesson was developed by Jaclyn Garing 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 use narrative techniques to develop personal experiences and events to convey a message. Learners engage in a range of collaborative discussions about global issues that drive stereotypes and misinterpretations, building on others’ ideas, and expressing their own clearly. This lesson was developed by Jaclyn Garing 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 can explore for themselves the problem Tom Sawyer faced, how he “solved” his conundrum, and what he learned about human nature in the process. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Twain’s humor contains a deeper message and to derive satisfaction from struggling to master complex text.

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

This resource contains a selection of different graphic organizers for students to use.

Within the physical science strand of 7th grade science, students focus on the motion of objects. In this task, students assume the role of a xenobiologist and explain the motion of a fictional organism over a given time period. Students will then trade narratives and graphs and are challenged to identify the graph based on the information provided in the fictional narrative. Students will critique the accuracy of each other’s graph-based narratives. The interdisciplinary and writing aspects of this lesson allow students to build meaningful connections among curricula while promoting creativity and 21st Century Skills. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students use Chris Val Allsburg's "Polar Express" as a writing prompt to create a holiday story while working in cooperative learning groups.

This article explains how to model a range of prewriting techniques and introduces several mnemonics to help students organize their writing.

The highwayman is an eighteenth century thief, who promises to return to his love Bess, the landlord’s daughter. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students write descriptive paragraphs describing the landscape around their houses.

A TED video that provides suggestions and tips for how to use language to make your fiction really come alive.

In this lesson, students study poetic devices included in conversation poems and explore their eloquent messages.

In this lesson, students apply what they learn about the persuasive techniques used to sell products to write an advertisement of their own.

In this poetry session, students learn that shapes don’t have to be silent, and poetry doesn’t have to be linear, as they write shapes in verse, and verse in shapes. This lesson bridges the gap between poetry and math!

Students will read sentences that contain misused transition words and will write better transition words to complete the sentences. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Students will read a passage and write adverb clauses in order to complete the passage. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Students will read a description and example of transition words. Students will then read sentences and rewrite them using transition words. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.