Cluster 1: Key Ideas and DetailsArchived

In this lesson, students will listen to a mini-lecture by a history professor regarding two passages included in Thomas Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration of Independence but deleted from the final version. Students will then participate in an analysis of the two passages, then write an argumentative essay about the professor's argument.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will listen to a mini-lecture by a history professor regarding two passages included in Thomas Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration of Independence but deleted from the final version. Students will then participate in a close-reading analysis of the two passages to understand the professor's argument, explaining it in an essay. The hypocrisy of slavery is the primary theme: Can a people who enslave others validly plead for their own freedom?

Type: Lesson Plan

This close reading lesson focuses on Mark Twain's comical satire, "Advice to Youth." Students will close read the text three times to analyze Twain's powerful satirical style, as well as the power of nuances. For the first reading, students will focus on academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will answer text-dependent questions as a guide for their comprehension of the satire. In the third close reading, students will analyze the advice Twain gives, the ways in which his essay critiques society and its behaviors, and how he uses humor, irony, and exaggeration to reveal his advice. For the summative assessment, students will write an argumentative essay in which they make a claim regarding whether or not Twain's advice is still pertinent for the youth of today. Graphic organizers and worksheets, along with teacher keys, and a writing rubric have been provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will conduct several close readings of the article "SeaWorld, Activists Make Questionable Claims on Killer Whale Life Spans" by Jason Garcia. For the first close reading, students will focus on selected academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will analyze the claims made in the article, focusing, in particular, on the validity of each claim made. During the final close reading, students will analyze the argument presented in the article, choose a side, and participate in a Philosophical Chairs discussion.

Type: Lesson Plan

This unit from Student Achievement Partner web resources has been developed to guide students and instructors in a close reading of Learned Hand's "I am an American Day Address". The activities and actions described below follow a carefully developed set of steps that assist students in increasing their familiarity and understanding of Hand's speech through a series of text-dependent tasks and questions that ultimately develop college and career ready skills. This unit is recommended as an activity for a "Great Conversation" Module and can be taught in two days of study and reflection on the part of students and their teachers. A third day or more could be added if the time is needed or extension activities are desired.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is part three of a three-part unit that will explore and analyze how different authors convey American Puritanism. In this lesson, students plan to write and then complete an essay to explore how two different authors and texts portray American Puritanism, Jonathan Edwards in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Arthur Miller in “The Crucible.”

Type: Lesson Plan

This is Part three of a three-part series on the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Students will analyze F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspirations for both his characters and stories. In this lesson, students will analyze a 1928 portrait of Louise Brooks by Eugene Robert Richee as a stimulus for creating an original character living during the glitter and glamour of the 1920s. Finally, using compiled textual evidence recorded throughout the three lessons, students will create a narrative in the style of Fitzgerald for Louise Brooks.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read and analyze the "Narrative of the Captivity" for Rowlandson's use of allusion as it contributes to the meaning of her account. In addition, they will identify and analyze the central idea and supporting details as they contribute to meaning.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is part one of three in a unit that will explore and analyze how American Puritanism has been represented in different texts. The goal of this lesson is for students to analyze the central idea and how the authors' style (figurative language, persuasive techniques) contributes to establishing and achieving the purpose in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this four-day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to discover the rich language and life lesson embedded in Dillard's text. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will be equipped to unpack Dillard's essay. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Dillard's writing contains a deeper message and derive satisfaction from the struggle to master complex text.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the fourth and final lesson in a small unit on the life and works of Phillis Wheatley. Although details are given only for this final lesson, some information is given on the preceding three lessons.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will work in small groups to arrange moon phase cards into the correct sequence.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to identify common text structures used in nonfiction texts: problem/solution, definition/example, cause and effect, and compare and contrast. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read excerpts from Walden by Henry David Thoreau and examine how complex ideas can be expressed using various text structures.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this interactive tutorial, you'll hone your skills of analysis using excerpts of the essay "For Brevity and Clarity" by Ambrose Bierce. You will sharpen your skills identifying textual evidence to support what an author states directly and as well as draw inferences from the text. You'll then learn to distinguish what is stated through satire and determine what amiguities the author creates.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to provide a complex analysis of two or more central ideas in a nonfiction text in this interactive tutorial. You will also analyze how the author’s central ideas develop over the course of the text and describe how they interact and build on one another. This tutorial utilizes an excerpt from the closing arguments by Clarence Darrow at the trial of Leopold and Loeb.

*Due to the subject matter of the Leopold and Loeb trial, this tutorial is recommended for a mature audience.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Students can practice answering reading comprehension questions with engaging texts on the history of women's athletics. With an account, students can save their work and send it to their teacher when complete.

Type: Student Center Activity

This teaching idea is designed to help students analyze grammar pet peeves. Students begin by thinking about their own grammar pet peeves and then read a "Dear Abby" column in which she lists several grammar pet peeves of her own. Students become aware that attitudes about race, social class, moral and ethical character and 'proper' language use are intertwined and that rants such as this one reveal those attitudes. Finally, students discuss the pet peeves as a class while gaining an understanding that issues of race, class, combined with audience expectations, help to determine what is considered 'proper' language use.

Type: Teaching Idea

The goal of this two to three day exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students the opportunity to use effective reading and writing habits to make meaning out of complex text. By closely reading and re-reading the The Gospel of Wealth, and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will identify the ways Andrew Carnegie proposes his philosophy for the distribution of wealth and the responsibility of philanthropy. When combined with writing about the passage, students will discover how much they can learn from engaging with a text in the form of a close reading.

Type: Teaching Idea

This USA Today activity is perfect for combining Language Arts and Civics' lessons for close-reading of higher levels of text complexity appropriate to grade-bands. The activity uses cross curricular skill areas—reading/writing, speaking/listening—as students engage in close-reading activities, analysis of test questions, and formation of new test questions.

Type: Teaching Idea

After gaining skills through analyzing a historic and contemporary speech as a class, students will select a famous speech from a list compiled from several resources and write an essay that identifies and explains the rhetorical strategies that the author deliberately chose while crafting the text to make an effective argument. Their analysis will consider questions such as: "What makes the speech an argument?", "How did the author's rhetoric evoke a response from the audience?", and "Why are the words still venerated today?".

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

After gaining skill through analyzing a historic and contemporary speech as a class, students will select a famous speech from a list compiled from several resources and write an essay that identifies and explains the rhetorical strategies that the author deliberately chose while crafting the text to make an effective argument. Their analysis will consider questions such as: What makes the speech an argument?, How did the author's rhetoric evoke a response from the audience?, and Why are the words still venerated today?

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence