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
|
Language and Power in The Handmaid's Tale and the World
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students work in small groups to examine Margaret Atwood's use of and observations about language in The Handmaid's Tale. Through this activity, students discover and articulate overarching thematic trends in the book and then can extend their observations about official or political language to examples from their own world.
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
|
The Comic Book Show and Tell
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students craft comic scripts using clear, descriptive, and detailed writing that shows (illustrates) and tells (directs). After peers create an artistic interpretation of the script, students revise their original scripts.
Grades
|
Digging Up Details on Worms: Using the Language of Science in an Inquiry Study
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson, in which students research worms in order to create a classroom habitat, incorporates reading and writing across content areas as well as math and science activities.
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
|
"Roused by the Change of Scene": Analyzing a Film Adaptation of Jane Eyre
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
As part of their study of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, students read selected sections of the novel closely and compare their representation in the text to representations in the 2007 Masterpiece adaptation of Jane Eyre. They use the concepts of time/pacing, character, and theme to focus their analysis and to plan an adaptation of a scene of their choice.
Grades
|
Charlotte is Wise, Patient, and Caring: Adjectives and Character Traits
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students find examples of adjectives in a shared reading. Then students "become" major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using powerful adjectives.
Grades
|
Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students must "become" a character in a novel in order to describe themselves and other characters using powerful adjectives.
Grades
|
Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives.
Grades
|
Literature Circles: Getting Started
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Students practice different ways of collaborating to read a work of literature. They work in different roles as they compose and answer questions, discover new vocabulary, and examine literary elements.
Grades
|
Stapleless Book
K - 12
Student Interactive
| Writing & Publishing Prose
The Stapleless Book can be used for taking notes while reading, making picture books, collecting facts, or creating vocabulary booklets . . . the possibilities are endless!
Grades
|
Mystery Cube
6 - 12
Student Interactive
| Writing & Publishing Prose
The Mystery Cube helps students identify and summarize story elements in this popular genre. It can be used as a postreading or prewriting activity.
Grades
|
RAFT Writing Template
5 - 12
Printout
| Writing Starter
Students can utilize this printout to organize their writing as they learn to use the RAFT strategy. This printout enables students to clearly define their role, audience, format, and topic for writing.
Grades
|
Making Connections
Grades
3 - 8
Strategy Guide
In this strategy guide, you'll learn to model how students can make three different kinds of connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world). Students then use this knowledge to find their own personal connections to a text.
Grades
|
Brainstorming and Reviewing Using the Carousel Strategy
Grades
5 - 12
Strategy Guide
This strategy guide introduces Carousel Brainstorming, also known as Rotating Review, and offers suggestions to implement this technique in your classroom for brainstorming about new topics or reviewing learned information.
Grades
|
Preparing Students for Success with Reading in the Content Areas
Grades
6 - 12
Strategy Guide
In this strategy guide, you'll learn how to determine the level and type of support you need to provide students based on careful preparation as a content area expert.
Grades
|
Developing Academic Vocabulary
Grades
K - 12
Strategy Guide Series
In this Strategy Guide Series, you'll find creative and compatible ways to build, maintain, and extend students' vocabulary across academic disciplines.
Grades
|
Using Concept Circles to Develop Academic Vocabulary
Grades
3 - 12
Strategy Guide
In this guide, you will learn how to use the Concept Circles strategy to support vocabulary development and comprehension of complex text.
Grades
|
Using Word Walls to Develop and Maintain Academic Vocabulary
Grades
K - 12
Strategy Guide
In this guide, you will learn how to use Word Walls to support vocabulary development and retention.