In this lesson, students explore the different purposes readers have and how to determine what their purpose for reading is. Students also learn how to evaluate whether a book is at the right reading level and length for their abilities.

This article discusses how creating Readers Theater scripts from informational text can improve fluency and build comprehension.

This lesson will allow students to demonstrate comprehension of a text by using a wide variety of strategies and by making personal connections to stories. Students will learn how to develop deeper understanding of character and theme, as well.

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

It's raining cats and dogs! Students explore figurative language through read-alouds, teacher modeling, and student-centered activities, further developing their understanding of the literal versus the metaphorical translations of idioms.

Students will create posters based upon graded readers and present the posters to classmates. The lesson provides a template for the posters, instructions for presentations, and tips on student notetaking. This resource supports English language development for English Language Learners.

Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of monitoring.

Students learn to use the QuIP (questions into paragraphs) comprehension strategy to organize information and then synthesize it in writing.

This cross-curricular lesson combines Social Studies and Language Arts to demonstrate how the study of an historical topic can be developed to make learning nonfiction more exciting, and also improve fluency and comprehension. This project about Benjamin Franklin includes a series of lessons in which the students: 1) read for information from multiple texts, 2) write a script for a Readers Theater play, 3) read for expression and fluency by using their script, 4) enhance their reading with visual arts, and 5) demonstrate dramatic interpretation through role-play. This approach engages students throughout in active participation and collaboration. Included are many supporting resources, such as a read-aloud rubric, an audition sheet, and ideas for student assessment and reflection.

This resource supports English language development for English Language Learners. This resource provicdes the entire text of the O. Henry short story plus accompanying audio. Students can build fluency, reading vocabulary, and both listening and reading skills with use of this online resource.

This article discusses explicitly teaching and assessing listening comprehension skills in the elementary grades and provides templates for classroom use.

This lesson plan uses graphic organizers to help students create podcasts/ radio broadcasts using a Natural Inquirer article.

This retelling of the Greek myth "Pandora's Box" includes accompanying audio and graphic illustrations. This resource can be used as scaffolding for reading comprehension, as differentiation for a multileveled classroom, and can build listening comprehension skills and vocabulary development. This resource supports English language development for English Language Learners.

In this unit, students will become aware of the importance of retelling and essential story elements through teacher modeling and progressive levels of independent work. Students demonstrate their understanding of stories through the use of online interactive graphic organizers and present story elements of an individual book through a book talk.

In this lesson, students write reviews for popular retail website Amazon.com in order to develop their reading, critical thinking, and persuasive writing skills. Students will employ the writing process after reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, "The Yellow Wallpaper," to create their own published reviews of the story.

This article provides an overview of questioning as a reading strategy and includes templates and links to books, lesson plans, and web sites for more information.

What does close reading look like? This video shows students in an eighth-grade classroom are engaged in the close reading process for an EL Education 8th Grade ELA Lesson. The students discuss the complex non-fiction text, Unbroken, to deepen their understanding of the book’s central character and of the World War II era.

This article discusses the importance of teaching students to reflect on text through direct instruction and modeling. The article includes a template that can be used with elementary students.