LAFS.910.W.2.5Archived Standard

This lesson is the third in a series of three based on O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi." The previous lessons provide instruction in using context clues to determine word meanings and in analyzing the significance of literary devices as they support the theme of Love and Sacrifice. In this final lesson, students will apply their knowledge of context clues from lesson one and their analysis of theme from lesson two as they consider the use of irony in the texts: "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Shivering Beggar," a poem by Robert Graves.

Type: Lesson Plan

The hero's journey is an archetypal plot structure found in novels and epic poems, yet it can also be found in other text formats. After students have read the novella Anthem and the poem "Invictus," they will craft an argument supporting their claim of whether or not the hero's journey is evidenced in shorter texts. They will find and organize evidence, draft their arguments, and perform a peer review as they complete the writing process. This lesson is lesson two in a two-part series.

Type: Lesson Plan

Dramatizing life stories provides students with an engaging way to become more critical readers and researchers. In this lesson, students select American authors to research, create timelines, and write bio-poems. Then, they collaborate with other students in small groups to design and perform a 'panel of authors' presentation in which they role-play as their authors. The final project requires each student to synthesize information about his or her author in an essay. There are tons of additional links and resources included in this lesson plan!

Type: Lesson Plan

The focus of this lesson is to have students rewrite the ending of All Quiet on the Western Front. The newly created ending must include some form of irony in order to stay with the ironic elements of the book. Students will then peer edit each other's ending, and then revise their final draft. Finally, students will create a new cover for the book in which they will reveal their new title to the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this lesson (lesson 3 in 3-part unit) is for students to be able to analyze and interpret the ways in which an author's style (use of literary devices) develops the author's purpose, tone, and theme found in complex and challenging texts. Close-reading skills culminate in a literary analysis essay in which students analyze how an author creates meaning through deliberate choices of language devices.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the 3rd lesson of a unit on Immigration and America. In this lesson, students will analyze the and make thematic connections to the previous works studied. The culminating activity is students' oral presentation of a digital presentation in which they compare the works in terms of theme. They will need to support their ideas with textual evidence.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the third and final lesson in a unit analyzing rhetorical appeals. In this lesson, students will identify and analyze rhetorical appeals in a speech from President Obama and plan an outline for an essay to explain President Obama’s choices to establish meaning and achieve his purpose in the speech.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson (the third in a three-lesson unit), students will analyze an excerpt from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. Working collaboratively and independently, students will explore the diction, images, details, language and syntax of the text. The summative assessment requires students to write an essay analyzing how the author uses language and literary techniques to convey the experience of the soldiers in the Vietnam War. Supporting handouts and materials are provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students collaborate and connect to writing by learning how to review the work of their peers constructively. Using a structured reciprocal teaching method, students will read, revise, and provide feedback to their peers.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will collaborate to revise an expository piece of writing by expanding their details and varying their writing structure in this lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this lesson is that students will be able to analyze and interpret the ways in which an author's style (use of literary devices) develops the author's purpose, tone, and theme found in complex and challenging texts. Close-reading skills culminate in paragraph writing (Lesson 2) and then a style analysis essay (Lesson 3) in which students analyze how an author creates meaning through deliberate choices of devices of language.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to distinguish between passive and active voice and how to revise sentences by changing them from passive to active voice in this magic-themed tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about parallel form in this interactive English Language Arts tutorial. In this tutorial, you'll use parallel form with lists in sentences, identify sentences that contain parallel form and sentences that contain faulty parallelism, and practice editing sentences that contain faulty parallelism. You'll also examine how parallel form can add smoothness, clarity, and gracefulness to your writing. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to create an outline to help you prepare to write an essay. You will read an informational text about technotrash, also called electronic waste or e-waste. Then, you will work on creating an outline that could help you write an argumentative essay about this topic. The outline will include a claim/thesis statement, main ideas, reasons, evidence, counterclaims, and rebuttals.  

This interactive tutorial is part 1 in a 4-part series about writing an argumentative essay. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

Part 1 - Planning Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 2 - Introductions in Argument Writing: E-Waste 

Part 3 - Body Paragraphs in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 4 - Conclusions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Students read a high-interest short story. A PowerPoint mini-lesson explains the difference between freewriting and summary writing helping students distinguish between the two. An additional PowerPoint mini-lesson on writing thesis statements for literary analysis is provided. Students progress from freewriting to generating thesis statements to writing an outline for a literary analysis essay.

Type: Teaching Idea

From the resource:
"When students write argumentative or persuasive essays, they often ignore the viewpoints of their opponents, the potential readers of their essays. In this mini-lesson, students respond to a hypothetical situation by writing about their position on the subject. After sharing their thoughts with the class, students consider the opposite point of view and write about arguments for that position. They then compare their position with that of their potential audience, looking for areas of overlap. They then revise their arguments, with the audience's point of view and areas of commonality in mind. Examining the opposing view allows students to better decide how to counter their opponent logically, perhaps finding common ground from which their arguments might grow. Thus, the activity becomes a lesson not only in choosing arguments but also in anticipating audience reaction and adapting to it."

Type: Teaching Idea

Students are given a picture and asked individually to describe the picture in one sentence of less than twenty words. Afterward, the class analyzes syntax, imagery, and meaning in a chosen one-sentence poem by a canonical author to decide what makes it a poem. Students return to their own descriptive sentence to decide whether it is, is not, or could be a poem, justifying their reasoning. This exercise encourages students to dissect an established poem while defining the characteristics of the genre of poetry. Students then apply their knowledge during reflection upon their own work.

Type: Teaching Idea

This activity from the Online Tutorial for Effective Writing from Northern Illinois University provides you with a pre-test to identify any weaknesses in understanding how to organize and revise your writing. After reviewing the mini-lesson on the missed items, you will be presented with additional interactive quizzes for each error type. The arrows at the bottom of each mini-lesson will lead you to these quizzes for extra practice and support.

Type: Tutorial

This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice correcting two common types of run-on sentences: comma splices and fused sentences. For each practice item, you must identify the best way to correct either a comma splice or a fused sentence. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."

Type: Tutorial

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Dramatizing life stories provides students with an engaging way to become more critical readers and researchers. In this lesson, students select American authors to research, create timelines and biopoems, and then collaborate in teams to design and perform a panel presentation in which they role-play as their authors. The final project requires each student to synthesize information about his or her author in an essay.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

In this animated video from TEDed, students will learn how to use effective storytelling techniques to slow down time in a narrative. First, students will draw a parallel between film and writing in order to identify the principles of effective storytelling. Then, students will examine how to improve their own writing using these storytelling techniques to slow down time and emphasize important moments in their narrative.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

In this animated video from TEDed, students will learn the process of writing an engaging and insightful introduction. They will also examine how to compose an introduction that is tailored to a specific thesis. Looking at Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, they will identify the fundamentals of writing a great introduction by examining this masterpiece.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation