In this lesson on Emily Dickinson's poem, "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," students will examine the poet's use of structural choice and the use of capitalization, rhyme, and rhythm.

This lesson reviews the basic conventions for using quotations from works of literature or references from a research project, focusing on accurate punctuation and page layout.

This video demonstrates how to use commas to separative appositive phrases from sentences.

After reading books, students share book talks through digital storytelling. First, students plan scripts and then find images to illustrate their scripts. They also add text, narration, music as well as pan and zoom effects. Finally, the joy of reading is prompted through the sharing of the students' digital stories.

In "Paradox and Dream," a 1966 essay on the American Dream, John Steinbeck writes, "For Americans too the wide and general dream has a name. It is called "the American Way of Life.' No one can define it or point to any one person or group who lives it, but it is very real nevertheless." Yet a recent cover of Time Magazine reads "The History of the American Dream " Is It Real?" Here, students explore the meaning of the American Dream by conducting interviews, sharing and assessing data, and writing papers based on their research to draw their own conclusions.

This TED Ed video gives explanation and rationale for the use of commas. Specifically, the video goes into ways commas are used with conjunctions and subordinate clauses. There are a few questions attached to the lesson/video for discussion with students about the use of punctuation in communication.

This resource contains a Powerpoint on commas, colons, and semicolons, as well as worksheets on the correct use of commas.

This resource provides practice and explanation for students on how to use a semicolon as well as a conjunctive adverb for joining two independent clauses.

This video examines the use of coordinating conjunctions to avoid comma splice errors when combining independent clauses in sentences.

In this lesson, teachers scaffold student reading of websites that highlight science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Before choosing a text for close reading, the teacher models how to "read" the variety of texts and features of different websites, including images and interactives. Then the teacher models a close reading with students, setting a purpose and asking text-dependent questions to help students find evidence, use inferencing skills, and peer edit.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

Students will become familiar with general uses of punctuation marks using this tutorial. Special attention is given to the most common mistakes that occur when punctuation does not follow standard written English conventions. The section also covers the use of apostrophes and capital letters; these do not directly refer to punctuation but more to mechanics and spelling.

In this lesson, students will practice using commas to fix fragments and run-ons in their informative drafts.

In this minilesson, students first explore Dr. King's use of semicolons and their rhetorical significance. They then apply what they have learned by searching for ways to follow Dr. King's model and use the punctuation mark in their own writing.

This essay prompt can serve as a culmination of the study of Their Eyes Were Watching God. A thorough study of the text allows students to follow several motifs throughout the text like roads, fences and gates, horizons, and the stages of trees. 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.

Students are introduced to the idea of "The Simpsons" as satire by comparing what they did on a typical day to the things the Simpsons do in the opening sequence of the show. Students use the character profiles on the Simpsons website to analyze six characters, identifying satirical details that reveal the comment/criticism being made about society through the characters. Finally, students use a graphic organizer to record and analyze specific examples of satire as they watch a full episode.

George Orwell's experiences as a policemen for the British Empire in India formed the basis for his early writings, including this essay. After receiving some background information on British rule in Burma as well as on Orwell, students will read the essay in order to analyze its use of metaphors, symbolism and irony.

In this fourth unit of eight total, Think Alouds (pages 27-33 of the pdf), students will apply skills to investigate and understand text.