In the magazine article, “The Story of an Eyewitness,” Jack London describes the effects of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. His account describes its immediate aftermath and utter destruction of the city by the ensuing fire. The National Archives article provides a brief third-person account of the San Francisco Earthquake that can be used to compare and contrast first- versus third-person accounts of the same event. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

A student interactive resource in which students read between the lines by using the power of inference, predict what will happen next in a story, and identify the main ideas in what they read.

Structured Notetaking is a strategy that helps students become more effective note takers. Using graphic organizers specific to a particular text, structured notes assist students in understanding the content of their reading. Initially teachers create the graphic organizers, but as students become more comfortable with using structured notes they are able to construct their own, matching the structure of their graphic organizer to the structure of the texts they read.

This resource is a multi-week assignment that has students creating their own anthology of poetry. Students will edit their collections, include relevant images, commentary, a table of contents, bibliography and glossary. The anthology is a personal collection that expresses each student's unique personality and taste.

Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group.  

Summary: Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group. 

Summary: Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group. 

Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group.  

Students will connect stage directions/movements to textual evidence. Students will analyze a scene and then create a performance that contains appropriate movement and tone.

Students read a passage and answer questions about summarizing skills. An answer key is included.

Summarizing teaches students how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for more concise understanding. Upon reading a passage, summarizing helps students learn to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them. It is a technique that enables students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth noting and remembering.

An interactive resource in which students summarize and identify the main idea of select texts.

Worksheets and Powerpoint lessons to help students of differing levels summarize selected passages.

A short video resource that demonstrates the beginning steps to analyzing a poem.

This set of lessons extends over several days. Students work with a partner to read and annotate G.K. Chesterton's "The Fallacy of Success." Students take notes which summarize each section of the text. Students write an objective summary of the text, identifying two claims and determining how those claims are developed in the text.

In this video, students explore the use of supernatural elements within William Shakespeare’s plays, focusing particularly on Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Tempest. Students examine supernatural beliefs during the 16th and 17th centuries, and they also identify how supernatural elements drive the plot of many of Shakespeare’s plays.

In this lesson, students take a summative assessment, then begin researching and organizing information for an oral presentation on significant leaders in history.

A teacher's guide to Aldous Huxley's, A Brave New World. Included are chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, writing prompts, and activities.

A teacher's guide to American Tapestry, Michelle Obama's biography. Included are chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, writing prompts, and activities.