Search results

The Wish Giver: Cause and effect

Through a discussion of the characters in the novel The Wish Giver, by Bill Brittain, the teacher will teach the students to identify and analyze the cause/effect relationship and its importance in reading comprehension.

Format: lesson plan (grade 5 English Language Arts)

By Becky Ellzey.

Reading for relevance in literature

A unit-length instructional plan for using graphic organizers to promote active reading of novels, using The Count of Monte Cristo as an example.

By Suzanne Micallef.

Cultural Symbolism and Themes of The Old Man and the Sea

Students will be able to recognize themes and cultural symbols in the novel. The novel's setting and Spanish cultural aspect will appeal to a large number of Hispanic background students.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Development)

By Sandra Hurd and Wilma Gale.

Comics in the classroom

Graphic novels aren't just “literature lite”: they're a genre you can use to explore philosophy, history, human interactions, visual literacy, and more with soon-to-be adults in a high school English class.

Format: article

By Ross White.

Night of the Twisters

Reading strategies are used to introduce a literary work.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts)

By Authurice Mitchell.

The Great Gilly Hopkins: Characterization and prediction

In the final chapters of the novel, Gilly's grandmother learns she has a granddaughter and decides to take Gilly out of foster care. Many of my classroom readers are often dismayed by this unexpected conflict and its outcome. In this lesson, the classroom becomes a courtroom where students predict the outcome of this conflict.

This activity can be used at the end of the novel, but I like to use it after reading chapters 10 and 11 so students can compare the courtroom decision to the end of the novel.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

By Emily Vann.

Analyzing significant events in Jim the Boy

This activity, to be completed after reading Tony Earley's Jim the Boy, helps students identify examples and details and then analyze them effectively. The class will brainstorm examples of life-changing events in Jim's life. The teacher will select one of the events, find the pages in the novel where it is discussed, and show the students how to annotate the text by marking details and commenting on them. Using a "T" chart, the class will then select three of the details to analyze.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)

By Vickie Smith.

Higher order thinking with Venn diagrams

Graphic organizers are powerful ways to help students understand complex ideas. By adapting and building on basic Venn diagrams, you can move beyond comparison and diagram classification systems that encourage students to recognize complex relationships.

Format: article/best practice

By David Walbert.

Issues, we've all got them: Language arts/visual arts integration

Students will learn how to deal positively with social issues important in their lives through personal investigation of social issues addressed in literature and art.

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and English Language Development)

By Runell Carpenter.

Visualizations: Black poet, Langston Hughes

Third grade or fourth grade students will have an opportunity to read and appreciate selected poetry of the African-American poet, Langston Hughes.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

By Floanna Long.

An integrated poetry unit

My students have always disliked poetry. The different ways in which this lesson approaches poetry and the connection it makes to their "March Madness" studies seems to make poetry more enjoyable, fun, and relevant for my students. In order to integrate with the sixth grade math and social studies teachers, I teach this unit during the ACC tournament to coincide with the "March Madness" unit that is covered in the math classes.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

By Nancy Guthrie.

Perfecting the circle

See how one teacher reshaped literature circles to fit her middle school classroom.

By Beth Salyers.

The secret cultural institution in your school: The school library

A variety of best practices and imaginative ideas that the school librarian can use to create an environment where students fuse together required learning with learning that is driven by individual interest.

By Kim Campbell.

Resources on the web

no flying, no tights

Graphic novels reviewed for teens. (Learn more)

Format: website/general

Provided by: Robin Brenner

Finding the science behind science fiction through paired readings

In this lesson, students explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

IPL TeenSpace

Web resources for teens selected, described and organized for research use. (Learn more)

Format: website/general

Provided by: Internet Public Library

Finding figurative language in “The Phantom Tollbooth”

This lesson provides hands-on differentiated instruction by guiding students to search for the literal definitions of figurative language using the Internet. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Style: Defining and exploring an author's stylistic choices

In this activity, students will find examples of specific stylistic devices in sample literary passages then search for additional examples and explore the reasons for the stylistic choices that the author has made. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Written in Bone - The Secret in the Cellar

Teach students about a real-life forensic mystery from colonial America with this Webcomic. (Learn more)

Format: website/activity

Provided by: Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History

Reading and analyzing multigenre texts

Teachers use Black and White by David Macaulay or another similar text to introduce multigenre literature. Afer reading the text, students work in small groups to consider all the connections Macaulay makes in the book and... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink