LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

CEU courses open for enrollment

Adolescent Literacy for Middle Grades (formerly Reading in the Content Area for Middle School Teachers)
Acquire strategies for teaching reading comprehension across all middle school curriculum areas. You'll learn how to help students unlock the text to become more strategic readers.
Take this course: Begins March 23.

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Cause and effect writing: What it looks like and who reads it
Students examine the causes and effects presented in a brochure called “Ozone: The Good and the Bad.” They also examine the language of the brochure with regard to audience appropriateness. Students then write their own brochures examine their classmates' brochures for cause and effect and for audience appropriateness.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)
By Michelle Roberts.
Education Reference: Collection Policy
The purpose of LEARN NC's Education Reference is to provide definitions of common terms in K–12 education as well as information that contextualizes the terms and, where appropriate, links to examples and resources that will help teachers implement teaching ideas in their classrooms. These guidelines explain our policy for including entries in the Education Reference.
Format: article/help
Story tellers and poets
Students will examine the style, purpose, and organization of folktales and poetry in order to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of both genres. With this knowledge, students will use the word choice and repetition of traditional folktales to transform them into modern poetry.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)
By Heather Bower and Michele Hicks.
Getting hooked: Introduction for a narrative
Students will be able to identify techniques for writing an introduction for a narrative and use them effectively.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts)
By Leann Kelley.
Selection policy and disclaimer for "Best of the Web"
The purpose of LEARN NC's Best of the Web collection is to provide web resources that support the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. These resources have been selected according to our selection policy.
Format: article/help
Media mind control
Some research studies indicate that the common portrayal of violence on television has desensitized children towards it. The purpose of this lesson is to help students redevelop their sensitivity towards violence and develop a critical attitude towards the purpose of violence in television.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Guidance)
By Linda Nelson.
Thematic and organizational patterns in McLaurin's "The Rite Time of Night"
Students will learn to identify and color-code thematic and organizational patterns found in the narrative and then use two-column note-taking to highlight how these patterns helped McLaurin give his story focus and organization. As a suggested follow-up activity, students are given ideas for writing their own narratives, using similar techniques as McLaurin.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–11 English Language Arts)
By Vickie Smith.
Lesson plans for teaching style
A collection of LEARN NC's lesson plans for teaching style, the fourth of the five features of effective writing.
Format: bibliography/help
Determining the author's purpose: Analyzing a recruitment video
In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.10
In this lesson plan, students analyze a video about ROTC to determine why the video was created.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts)
By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
Effective communication for successful careers
In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.7
In this lesson plan, students consider the elements of effective communication and write an informative or persuasive paper with a particular audience in mind.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts)
By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
Two perspectives on slavery: A comparison of personal narratives
This activity for grade 11 will help students evaluate and critique authors' perspectives. Students will read two first-person narratives and analyze how each text is influenced by its author's cultural background.
Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)
By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
Ongoing assessment strategies for writing
Making final assessment easier by helping students improve the quality of their writing along the way.
By Sherri Phillips Merrit.
Modify a seed
This activity is set up so that students will try to modify their model seed, so that it conforms to an assigned seed dispersal strategy.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Science)
By Bert Wartski.
Tarantulas
Students will read Tarantula by Jenny Feely. Then they will summarize what they have learned about tarantulas by writing descriptive words or phrases on a graphic organizer. Finally, using the Kid Pix Studio Deluxe (or other similar drawing program), students will write sentences about tarantulas and make an illustration.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2 Computer/Technology Skills and English Language Arts)
By Jody Shaughnessy.
Focus activity using RAFT
Better writing requires consideration of RAFT: Role, Audience, Format and Topic.
Format: lesson plan (grade 10 English Language Arts)
By Kathleen Bost and Leigh Ann Webb.
Stone to roll in front of door
Stone to roll in front of door
A large dough nut-shaped stone is leaning up against a wall. The stone's purpose is to be rolled in front of a door for protection. The stone is dark grey and has several different types rock in the stone.
Format: image/photograph
Lesson plans collection policy
In Web Publishing & Collaboration Guide, page 1.1
LEARN NC's policies for accepting lesson plans for publication and managing its collection of lesson plans.
Format: article/help
Helping students understand text structures: Informational problem/solution
This exercise teaches students to understand the organizational structure of problem/solution essays by having them write "what it says" and "what it does" statements about a text. Asking students to write these statements about a text will enable students to read the text closely and will ensure that they understand the structure of a problem/solution text.
Format: lesson plan (grade 10 English Language Arts)
By Margaret Ryan.
Pre-writing planning guide
A graphic organizer to help students plan narrative writing. Includes space for author, audience, purpose, title, genre, time and place, narrator, point of view, plot, an illustrating image, comments, and questions.
Format: document/worksheet
Similes
"The Talking Eggs" by Robert San Souci is used to introduce and illustrate an author's use of language to paint a picture in the reader's mind. Students will draw a picture to show what this author meant, create similes to describe themselves, and finally use a simile in their next story in Writer's Workshop.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts)
By jennifer lettieri.