In this lesson, students will demonstrate their understanding of the elements of a short story by collectively creating stories within a group.

In this lesson, students write their own autobiographies and share them with the class.

In this lesson, students will investigate how teenagers became a distinct demographic group with its own identity in the postwar years, and, in turn, how their influence helped push Rock and Roll into the mainstream. In so doing, they helped secure Rock and Roll's place as the most important popular music of the 20th century.

In this lesson, students will examine the emergence of the teen idols in the late 1950swith a particular focus on Dion and the Belmontsto understand how mainstream culture promoted the image of the "good citizen" teen during an era of increased anxiety surrounding youth culture. Students will listen to recordings of Dion and the Belmonts' "A Teenager in Love," as well as Dion's later recording "The Wanderer," in addition to viewing a 1958 instructional film outlining school dress codes, a 1953 trailer for The Wild One, a selection of teen magazines, and performances by Jerry Lee Lewis and Connie Francis.

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.

Students select a theme-related essay topic from Night, by Elie Wiesel, or The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, and develop an essay that relates the theme to modern day personal experiences. The essay follows a preset rubric.

In this lesson, students read and discuss poems about crossing borders before creating their own border-crossing poem.  Using a Readers'/Writers' Workshop format, students and teachers explore what it means to cross borders, either literal or figurative, and what we can learn about ourselves and others in a border-crossing experience.

In this lesson, students work with partners to create a short story lining unrelated details into a logical plot with a clear setting and established characters.

In this lesson, students will examine a narrative writing model and discuss what makes it effective, evaluating it in terms of organization and purpose.

In this lesson, students will continue examining what makes an effective narrative, focusing on organization and purpose.

In this lesson, students choose a character from a magazine, complete a character sketch, and develop a short story placing this character in a situation.

In this lesson, students write a five-paragraph essay on the topic: What mistakes have you made and then learned a life lesson from?

In this lesson, students will learn about narrative writing and work in small groups to examine a model and analyze how the writer organizes the elements of the story.

In this lesson, students will learn about the narrative writing process and then work in small groups to evaluate a narrative model.

In this lesson, demonstrate their understanding of the jazz age following reading The Great Gatsby by using jazz-age terms to create an original story, scene, or letter.

In this lesson, students write a character analysis of someone they know describing them through similes, metaphors, and hyperbole.

In this lesson, students work in small groups to make children's books that teach a universal rule that obeys both conscience and authority.

I use this lesson in my library and students have loved it. It's creative writing with a twist. Sometimes it's hard to get started on a creative story, so this lesson gives options and structure to start. Students can then take it as far as they would like. We start with creating a character. Students tend to get bogged down on this, so I kept it simple and short - no more than two minutes. We want the focus to be on the story. Encourage students to outline all the things they want to happen to their character. They can use the Misfortune Teller or they can pick the options. They must use at least one, but they can