Students use an essay by de la Peña as a model for writing their own literacy autobiography.

After reading O'Brien's story "A True War Story" from The Things They Carried, students choose a powerful event from their own lives and map it using the Timeline Tool. They then create a fictional version of this event.

Students view Eleanor Roosevelt's resignation letter to the DAR in response to Andersen being denied permission to sing. Students write a letter to a newspaper editor about social injustice.

Students watch an excerpt of an interview with Tan and apply some of her principles to writing a story of their own.

Students use the Multigenre Mapper interactive to explore Macaulay's use of multiple genres by composing original multigenre texts.

Students brainstorm a list of human rights issues, research their group's issue in depth, examine the way journalists cover a story, and create articles for a classroom newspaper.

Students explore online resources about Ellis Island, interview an immigrant in the area, and publish their stories.

Students choose a small aspect of their lives to develop into a story, poem, or brief essay inspired by Cisneros' work.

Students read and discuss an editorial written by Frederick Douglass and then write the opening editorial for a contemporary publication devoted to a social cause important to them.

Students work in small groups to research a civil rights leader and do a creative writing piece, followed by a short story, with their group.