Students analyze characterization by creating their own superheroes or super-villains,
complete with related gadgets and settings.
Fantastic Characters: Analyzing and Creating Superheroes and Villains
Grades
|
Cut up, Cover up, and Come Away with Ideas for Writing!
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students rework their forgotten/abandoned drafts by cutting and covering up selected words. By creatively manipulating text, they explore portal writing, a strategy for envisioning a new story or story direction.
Grades
|
Utilizing Visual Images for Creating and Conveying Setting in Written Text
3 - 6
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
This lesson supports third-through-sixth grade students as they communicate story setting to their readers through the use of visual image prompts. Activities include individual and cooperative learning group work, as well as whole class discussion.
Grades
|
Building Vocabulary: Making Multigenre Glossaries Based on Student Inquiry
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students choose unfamiliar words from their reading and create a multigenre, multimodal glossary of terms.
Grades
|
Supporting Vocabulary Development with EASE
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson allows teachers to enrich students' oral and written vocabulary using the EASE sequence of instruction: Enunciate, Associate, Synthesize, and Emphasize the words you want students to use.
Grades
|
Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr.
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Nikki Giovanni's poem "The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr." is paired with Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, taking students on a quest through time to the Civil Rights movement.
Grades
|
Campaigning for Fair Use: Public Service Announcements on Copyright Awareness
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students explore a range of resources on fair use and copyright then design their own audio public service announcements (PSAs), to be broadcast over the school's public address system.
Grades
|
Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Paired Readings
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read science fiction texts and then use nonfiction texts to extrapolate the scientific principles presented as they discuss the "what ifs" within the context of scientific principles.
Grades
|
Focusing Reader Response Through Vocabulary Analysis
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students suggest and categorize words that they associate with a novel they have recently read, ranging from details about the plot to feelings about a character.
Grades
|
Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists to evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the resources will be valuable to the class.
Grades
|
Blending the Past with Today's Technology: Using Prezi to Prepare for Historical Fiction
6 - 10
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
To prepare for literature circles featuring historical novels, students research the decades of the 1930s to the 1990s and share their information using Prezi, a web application for creating multimedia presentations.
Grades
|
Vote for Me! Making Presidential Commercials Using Avatars
6 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After researching political platforms of past presidents through primary sources and other resources, students create commercials for these presidents using Voki, an online web tool that produces speaking avatars.
Grades
|
Animate that Haiku!
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Following the traditional form of the haiku, students publish their own haikus using Animoto, an online web tool to produce slideshows that blend text and music.
Grades
|
Glogging About Natural Disasters
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After researching various natural disasters, students share their findings with each other using glogs, or through poster presentations.
Grades
|
Book Report Alternative: Glog That Book!
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this alternative book report, students identify the elements of fiction in books they have read by creating glogs, interactive multimedia posters, and then share their glogs.
Grades
|
Digitally Telling the Story of Greek Figures
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this lesson students research Greek gods, heroes, and creatures and then share their findings through digital storytelling.
Grades
|
Sharing Information about Careers with Infographics
6 - 9
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students research careers of their own choosing. Then using Piktochart, students create their own infographics to illustrate their research.
Grades
|
Highlighting Out-of-School Language Expertise with Pop Culture Dictionaries
6 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students compose dictionary entries for words and phrases from pop culture texts (e.g., television shows, movies, lyrics, YouTube videos), connecting their definitions to their personal use of the terms.
Grades
|
Huge Mistakes that Led to Catastrophe: Learning about Human-made Disasters throughout History
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After researching various human-made disasters such as the BP oil spill, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Great Chicago Fire, students share their research in oral presentations. Then students pair up to compare and contrast their disasters using the Venn Diagram Student Interactive or the Venn diagram Mobile App.
Grades
|
Picture This: Using Instagram to Report
4 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After taking a field trip that students document using mobile app Instagram, students become new reporters as they use the interactive Printing Press to tell about their experiences.