This resource contains a list of questions for students to answer in argumentative or persuasive essays.
This resource details prewriting strategies for students to employ when writing arguments.
This resource from the New York Times contains 301 prompts and connections for student discussion and arguementative writing.
In this activity, students will work in collaborative groups to develop an advertisement for a political candidate in support of one side of an issue - should we build low-cost housing on part of the land presently occupied by an estuary? Each group will decide which side they want to support - either for or against building the housing - and write an ad that will be run in a local paper, or that will be viewed on local TV, to support their argument.
This lesson and resource helps students strengthen their persuasive writing by identifying and responding to counterarguments.
This resource includes an extended lesson designed to help students engage with ideals relative to the “American Dream”. The lesson is largely designed to accompany a reading of the novel The Great Gatsby. Students will read articles that discuss the “American Dream” prior to writing their own argumentative essay.
This project can be used as a summative assessment in Middle and High School.
In this lesson, students will compare/contrast the information in their textbook about Andrew Jackson to political cartoons of the era. Students will identify symbols, allusions and stereotypes used in these cartoons and infer the intended message and tone of the Jackson era cartoons. Students will also identify any biases in the cartoons and check for historical accuracy, and then formulate their own opinion about the Jackson Administration. As a culminating activity, students will write an opinion essay that articulates their personal stance on Andrew Jackson’s character, using proper writing conventions.
In this lesson, students who are reading Animal Farm, by George Orwell (All rights reserved-Copyright), will evaluate the behaviors of different animals. Students will then research the individuals/groups represented by these characters and they will start to make connections as they think about why the author chose certain characters to represent certain people. Once students have a better understanding of the characters and who they represent, they will choose one character and trace the development of that character throughout the text.
In this lesson, students will analyze an argument writing prompt and determine their approach to the writing task, focusing on how purpose and audience influence their understanding.
In this lesson, students will take a position on a writing prompt and analyze the best approach to creating a multi-paragraph argument using evidence to support their viewpoint.
In this lesson, students will identify elements of effective body paragraphs, then they will draft their own.
In this lesson, students will work on constructing an introduction for their argumentative essay.
In this lesson, students will create an outline that aligns with their statement of purpose and have an opportunity to work with the teacher or other students in order to clarify their approach.
In this lesson, students will work in pairs in order to analyze the article "Social Media as Community" by Keith Hampton and evaluate the pros and cons.
A teachers guide for Before My Eyes by Caroline Bock, including in-depth insight to the setting, characters, and author's inspiration, questions for class discussion, and activities to provoke deeper understanding of issues
This resource discusses techniques for prewriting and organizing ideas.
One of the most respected works of Chicano literature, Rudolfo Anaya tells the story of Antonio Juan Marez y Luna, a young boy who grapples with faith, identity, and death as he comes of age in New Mexico. The Big Read Reader's Guide deepens your exploration with interviews, booklists, timelines, and historical information. We hope this guide and syllabus allow you to have fun with your students while introducing them to the work of a great American author.
The repercussions of the Great Migration are far-reaching. Today, much of the restlessness and struggle that the Blues helped to articulate in the Migration era remains central in other forms of American music, including Hip Hop. In this lesson, students look to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf as case studies that illustrate why African Americans left the South in record numbers and how communities came together in new urban environments, often around the sound of the Blues.
The subject of this lesson is the music of which Fats Domino speaks: the R&B of the pre-Rock and Roll era.