Cluster 2: Craft and StructureArchived

In this lesson plan, students will study the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. They will learn about its purpose and examine what the Founders hoped to establish and preserve for their own generation as well as future generations of Americans. Students will apply their knowledge of vocabulary skills to determine the connotative and denotative meanings of selected words used in the Preamble. Students will also practice their paraphrasing skills by paraphrasing the Preamble. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with two informational texts in the form of brochures, texts about Burmese pythons and lionfish. With the lionfish brochure, students will identify the text features used, determine the central ideas and key supporting details, and work with selected vocabulary. Students will then be provided with informational text on a different animal and they will put their skills to use to create a brochure of their own. Various graphic organizers and teacher resources have been included as attachments. Additional resources have also been provided in the Further Recommendations section to help teachers gather resources for students to use to create their own brochure.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the first lesson of a three part unit that will build towards having the students research child soldiers. In this lesson, students will read a series of news articles about Sudanese efforts to disband child soldier units. Students will then write an extended paragraph in response to their analysis of the articles as they compare each author’s perspective regarding the use of child soldiers in civil war.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will conduct research using informational texts to answer a question related to the invasion of lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico. Students will work to analyze how the use of text features convey purpose in text. A research graphic organizer for research and text features cards have been included with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will conduct a close read of the article, "Why Teenagers Really do Need an Extra Hour in Bed" by Russell Foster (published on April 22, 2013 in Issue 2913 of NewScientist). For the first reading, students will focus on academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will answer text-dependent questions to guide their comprehension of the article. In the third close reading, students will choose important facts in the article and cross-reference them with other articles to determine the validity and reliability of the evidence. Graphic organizers and worksheets, along with suggested keys and a writing rubric, have been provided. For the summative assessment, students will write a persuasive letter in which they make a claim regarding sleep and support it with textual evidence.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will create a research question based on The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Students will develop a research question about how a characteristic or event in the life of young Ben Franklin influenced an accomplishment of an older, mature Ben Franklin. Students will research the life of Ben Franklin to answer their questions and present their findings in a short oral presentation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read an excerpt from Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and will analyze how Rawlings’ use of figurative language affects the tone. Students will explain their analysis by answering a short response question and using textual evidence as support.

Type: Lesson Plan

This close reading exemplar uses an excerpt from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat. The goal of this two day exemplar from Student Achievement Partners web resources is to give students the opportunity to use reading and writing habits to unpack Pollan's investigative journalism of industrial farms. By reading and rereading the passage closely combined with classroom discussion about it, students will identify why and how farming practices have changed, as well as identify Pollan's point of view on the subject. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will begin to appreciate investigative journalism, as well as question from where their food is coming.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this three day exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students the opportunity to use reading and writing habits to absorb deep lessons from Charles Hirshberg's recollections of his mother. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussions about the text, students will identify how much his mother's struggles and accomplishments meant to both Hirshberg and the wider world. When combined with writing about the passage, and possibly pairing this exemplar study with Richard Feynman's memoir "The Making of a Scientist," students will discover how much they can learn from this mixed genre memoir/biography about what inspires life choices.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students investigate picture books organized in comparison/contrast structures to discover methods of organization and the ways authors use transitions to guide readers. Students can then decide what organizational patterns and transitional words work best to accomplish their individual purposes in writing and apply those to their papers. This lesson is designed to be used during a unit when students are writing a comparison/contrast paper. It will be most helpful prior to drafting, but it could also be useful during revision.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson by Deborah Kozdras, Ph.D. and James L. Welsh, provided by ReadWriteThink.org, a website developed by the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, with support from the Verizon Foundation, students will use the Internet to research unique engineering careers. Students will then create poems incorporating career-specific vocabulary terms and present their findings to the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity emphasizes the importance of teaching reading and writing strategies for students to use with informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how to use context clues—including definitions, synonyms, and antonyms—to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in this baseball-themed, interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about four text structures often used in informational texts: sequence, compare and contrast, problem/solution, and cause and effect. In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice identifying these various text structures using a short article about playing the lottery. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to distinguish between figurative and literal language in context. In this interactive tutorial, you'll examine excerpts of speeches from John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama. You'll practice identifying the following types of figurative language: similes, metaphors, personification, and onomatopoeia. You'll also practice determining the intended meaning of these examples of figurative language.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this ReadWriteThink.org lesson, students will be able to explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources. First, students define the science fiction genre and then read and discuss science fiction texts. Next, they conduct research to find science facts that support or dispute the science included in the plot of the science fiction book they read. Students then revisit their definition of the genre and revise based on their reading. Finally, students complete a project that examines the science fiction genre in relation to real-world science concepts and topics. This lesson plan makes the connections between the worlds in science fiction and students' real world explicit by asking them to explore the underlying science that supports the fictional world and considering its relationship to the real science in today's society.

Type: Teaching Idea