Cluster 1: Key Ideas and DetailsArchived

In this lesson, students will practice using close reading strategies as they read a high interest New York Times article about new methods companies are using to train and recruit skilled workers for entry-level positions. A vocabulary organizer, text-dependent questions, summative writing exercise, and extension ideas are all included to help students analyze the revolutionary potential of the NanoDegree.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students read a non-fiction text as they learn of the artifacts unearthed from the remains of a Salvadoran village preserved in volcanic ash much like Pompeii. Students will discover how researchers piece together evidence to determine the significance the artifacts reveal in illustrating the daily lives of this ancient people. As students come to understand the researchers use the artifacts to infer religious, cultural and economic aspects of the Ceren village, they will answer text-dependent questions and compose a multi-paragraph writing response (sample answer keys included) asking students to describe the power of this natural disaster to destroy this ancient culture yet preserve its details for future generations to learn from.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended for 10th grade students. The lesson's essential question asks students: what evidence supports whether or not it should be a legal requirement for food labels to identify products that have been genetically modified? Students return to a news article looking for information three times. Students present their understanding through citing text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is revisited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended to be completed with 10th grade students. The article asks students to examine the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms. Students return to the article looking for information three times. Students present their understanding using text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is revisited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended to be completed with 9th grade students. The article presents information regarding a town's ban on bottled water and asks students to determine whether bottled water is a wise consumer choice. Students return to the article looking for information three times. Students present their understanding through use of text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is revisited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended for 10th grade students. Students are asked to examine how technology and environment impact patient recovery in the health care system. Students return to a news article looking for information three times. Students present their understanding using text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is revisited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended for 9th grade students. Students are asked & to determine what causes beach erosion and explore how communities are impacted by erosion. Students return to a news article looking for information three times. Students present their understanding through use of text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is revisited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson provides students the opportunity to explore how the word ‘swagger’ has transformed over centuries through the writings of poets such as Shakespeare and rappers such as Jay Z. Students will read an article from NPR titled  “What do Jay Z and Shakespeare Have in Common? Swagger” and thereafter will be asked to analyze vocabulary from the article, respond to text-dependent questions, and complete a summary of the term swagger analyzing its previous and present day definitions. A vocabulary graphic organizer, answer key, text-dependent questions handout and answer key, a learning scale, and a writing rubric have been included with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the third lesson in a three-part series on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. In this lesson, students will analyze King's speech, which has been broken up into eight sections, for his perspective and tone. At the end of the lesson, students will respond to a prompt and write an essay based on what they have analyzed throughout the lesson. A graphic organizer, suggested answer key, and writing rubric have been provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the 2nd part in a 3-part series on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "I've Been to the Mountaintop." This lesson focuses on some of the figures of speech and rhetorical devices used by Dr. King in his speech. The speech has been divided into eight sections. As students read through each section they will analyze some of the figures of speech and rhetorical devices King used, record their answers on a graphic organizer, and analyze how use of the figure of speech or rhetorical device impacted the meaning of that section of the speech. Students will write an extended paragraph using the quotation sandwich method as the summative assessment for the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the first lesson in a three-part series on Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "I've Been to the Mountaintop." In this lesson, the speech has been divided into eight sections with text-dependent questions that are specific to each section. Throughout the course of the lesson students will determine a central idea for each section and examine King's ideas and claims and how they are developed and supported. At the end of the lesson, students will determine an overarching central idea of the speech and write an extended paragraph to explain the central idea and how it is developed and supported with specific evidence throughout the text. Text-dependent questions, graphic organizers, selected answer keys, and a writing rubric have been included with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read, paraphrase, and summarize an article that explores the benefits as well as the pitfalls of the unblinking, all-seeing basilisk gaze of extraordinary technology.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended to be completed with 9th grade students. The article presents a journalist's experience with his daughter's school lunch program and asks students to decide whether schools are making sufficient progress towards providing healthy meals. Students return to the article looking for information three times. Students present their claim and text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is re-visited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This CIS lesson is a deep reading lesson intended to be completed with 10th grade students. The article presents research on psychopathy and asks students to determine, based on the evidence, whether psychopaths are truly responsible for their criminal acts. Students return to the article looking for information three times. Students present their claim and text-based evidence in a short writing assignment that is re-visited and shaped throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

"The line between private and public space is as porous as tissue paper." Students will explore issues of privacy through the TIME magazine article "The Surveillance Society" by David Von Drehle. This article will provide students with an opportunity to be up close and personal with delineating, evaluating, and explaining an author's claim. Students will read chunks of text while interacting with a graphic organizer to assist them in drawing conclusions and creating an original response to whether or not privacy has become an illusion due to our technological advances.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will conduct several close readings of the news article "Parents: Disney Policy Targeting Faux Disabled Punishes Truly Disabled Kids" by Jason Garcia. For the first close reading, students will focus on selected academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will analyze the claims being made in the article, focusing on the validity of each claim being made. During the final close reading, students will analyze the arguments being presented, choose a side, and participate in a Philosophical Chair discussion. In the summative assessment, students will write a three paragraph argument in the form of a letter to the Disney corporation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will embark upon a journey of espionage and inquire how the rights of one can become a barrier for the greater good of a nation.

Students will read two informational texts about former NSA agent Edward Snowden. This close reading activity will require students to use textual support, reasoning and relevancy of the text, and analyze an author's claims to engage in discourse through Philosophical Chairs. Students will also synthesize the arguments, information, and claims within the text to write an essay proving that Snowden is either a hero or a traitor.

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

This lesson supports the implementation of the academic standards in the 9-10 classroom. It includes a copy of the text, a student activity handout, and links for background information and definitions of key terms. The purpose of this lesson is for students to read, understand, and analyze a speech through close reading and scaffolded learning tasks. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will write an essay that prompts them to use textual evidence to support their analysis of the claim Douglass makes in his speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro."

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson includes a close-reading and text-marking activity using two soldiers' letters, one from the Civil War and one from the Afghanistan War. Students will discover by looking as word choice and sentence structure how language styles have changed over time. After the reading lesson, students will write two RAFTs in the style of the times to show their understanding.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the 3rd lesson of a unit on Immigration and America. In this lesson, students will analyze the famous Four Freedoms paintings by Norman Rockwell and make thematic connections to the previous works studied. The culminating activity is students' production of short essays in which they compare the works (both print and non-print) in terms of theme. They will need to write a strong thesis statement and support their ideas with textual evidence. Extensions to this unit would be for students to create multi-media presentations or artistic expressions of the topic of immigration today (compared to past eras) or how immigration has personally affected them and/or their family. This lesson also contains alternate activities and prompts so that it can stand alone if teachers choose not to use it in conjunction with the first two lessons in the series.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn the importance of the senses to human beings and how appealing to the senses in writing is crucial to developing a connection between the reader and writer. Through vivid language, writers reach out to readers in order to share common human experiences and, even more importantly, the emotions that accompany them. Students view two videos and read a short article about the importance of the senses and practice using vivid descriptions themselves.

Type: Lesson Plan

Protest songs serve as a means to combat social ills and cover a wide array of topics, including racism, sexism, poverty, imperialism, environmental degradation, war, and homophobia. This lesson makes a connection to popular culture by asking students to work in pairs to research and analyze contemporary and historic protest songs. After learning about wikis, each pair posts their analysis of the protest songs to a class wiki, adding graphics, photos, and hyperlinks as desired. The class then works together to organize the entries. Finally, students listen to all of the protest songs and add information and comments to each other's pages.

This lesson works well with a unit focusing on a piece of literature in which a character(s) actively fights for social, political, or economic justice. For example, this lesson can build on a discussion of the issues that Atticus Finch contends with in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Type: Lesson Plan

The overarching goal of this series of three lessons is for ninth-grade students to be able to read for subtext in works of literature, write their own theme statements, provide text-based supporting details and a thorough analysis, proving their theme statements. Lesson One has students receive instruction and practice with writing theme statements and including primary support details. Students will use a series of three texts from Aesop's Fables. Lesson two presents students with a longer and more challenging children's story titled One. Students will draft their own theme statements and support and analyze the text using a literary analysis paragraph structure titled TIQA.

*Finally, lesson three culminates with students using their assigned fiction novel Of Mice and Men, and writing a TIQA TIQA paragraph, a longer literary analysis paragraph supported not only with textual evidence and/or quotes, but also with strong literary analysis.

Through collaborative discussions and repeated reading, responding, writing and analyzing, students will learn to consistently craft correct theme statements and support them with relevant textual details and analysis.

*The bolded section is relevant only to this lesson, the third in a series of three.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the second of a unit comprised of 3 lessons. In this second lesson, students will use Text Coding and small group discussion to analyze informational text, a speech given by Judge Learned Hand entitled "The Spirit of Liberty," in terms of content and persuasive techniques. This lesson will help students to read informational text closely, think critically and write in response to text.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces students to the history of how Africans were transported from their native countries (including the conditions they had to endure) to the United States and then forced to work as slaves on southern plantations. It examines the daily life of a slave in North Carolina and includes other informational texts about slavery and the slave trade, as well as a PowerPoint presentation, and links to two short videos. The summative assessment requires students to write an explanatory essay showcasing what they have learned and using evidence from the print texts and videos for support.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the second lesson of a three-lesson unit on rhetoric and persuasion techniques. It is technology intensive.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn how to define and identify examples of ethical appeals, pathetic appeals and logical appeals using an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" during the lesson and then through Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me death" speech for a summative assessment. Students will determine the author/writer's purpose in these works, how they use rhetoric to develop their purpose, how the author/speaker's claims are developed in specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions, while citing textual evidence.

Type: Lesson Plan

Upon reading, viewing, and discussing the characteristics of three diseases (including the fictional "Red Death" penned in Poe's allegorical tale, "The Masque of the Red Death"), students will complete a "3-Circle Venn Diagram" to help synthesize (first compare and contrast) the discussed elements. Students will use their Venn diagrams to help create a one-page summary of their comparisons of the diseases presented in the text/clips. Student summaries should be narrowed to discuss the defining characteristics of each disease (the fictional Red Death, the bubonic plague, and the Avian Bird Flu), as well as identify/evaluate similar patterns regarding the spread/evolution of each. Using their understanding of the material, students should assess whether plagues will continue to plague the human race while referring to the theme of Poe's work in their summary.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson uses a Socratic Seminar to deepen students' understanding of the text Night by Elie Wiesel. Students will use textual evidence during the discussion and in writing an objective summation of the memoir.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this introduction to Homer's The Odyssey, students will work with peers and technology to determine if the main character of Wreck it Ralph is an epic hero. Through this multimedia study, students will evaluate the characteristics of an epic hero through a webquest, film, and final paper. In the end, students will be prepared to apply this knowledge to Homer's epic poem.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read and write about the social, economic, and political effects of human trafficking. Students will be expected to annotate various texts, work collaboratively in groups, and demonstrate their understanding of the texts read by citing evidence to support a written summary.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will conduct research, go through the steps of the research paper process, and write a paper on the history of Miami. The teacher will provide support on how students should document their citations, will model summarizing material and using notecards to record their research, as well help students determine if a website provides credible information. Students will explore primary and secondary sources, will practice summarizing information they have read from their source materials and record that information on notecards. As the summative assessment, students will take their research and draft an informative paper using the material they have gathered. Students will receive peer and teacher feedback before turning in the final draft of their paper with a works cited page.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson (part one of a three-part unit), students will use close reading strategies to analyze Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and complete a written analysis of his speech.

Type: Lesson Plan

Through multiple readings, students explore the craft of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. Each reading leads students to more detailed analysis of the text by examining vocabulary, figurative language, author's purpose, inferences, and tone. Using the knowledge gleaned from these readings, students answer extended response questions requiring textual support.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will gather information on aspects of the 1930s and the Great Depression including how they are linked to current issues and events, then create a presentation based on their findings and present it to the class. This lesson will help to build background knowledge for reading literature set in the 1930s and would be a good activity to complete prior to reading novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird. This activity will develop students' research skills including evaluating sources, note taking, and integrating information from multiple sources, as well as giving students opportunities to engage in expository writing and public speaking.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will briefly examine the history and myths that led to the creation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by reading and discussing the article, "Frankenstein, Meet Your Forefathers" (link provided within the lesson). Students will then choose a text to research the backstory for how that written work came to be. A list of detailed research questions is provided, as well as optional book titles for students to research. Students will present their findings through creating a poster that illustrates the interesting points from their research. A number of engaging extension ideas, interdisiciplinary connections, and questions for further discussion are provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will identify rhetorical terms and methods, examine the rhetorical devices of JFK's inaugural address, and analyze and evaluate the effects of the rhetorical devices on the delivered speech.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze and interpret videos and speeches, both in multimedia and print formats, about and from Holocaust survivor, author, and professor Elie Wiesel. Students will use an MRIP Strategy (Mode, Relationship, Imagery, Purpose) as an analysis tool. Students will use the MRIP Strategy to help them develop a paragraph using an A-E-C format (Assertion-Evidence-Commentary) for each of the different accounts examined in the lesson. In the summative assessment, students will use their notes to write an argumentative essay that requires them to make a claim as to what central ideas are evidenced across the different accounts of Elie Wiesel examined throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore the concepts of individual rights and freedoms as opposed to the good of society using currently relevant topics. Students will participate in small-group and teacher-led discussions, research, collaboration, and debate to gain understanding and to present their findings and conclusions, supported by evidence, about the issues and implications of their assigned topics. Supporting materials will enable the teacher to guide students to consider, explore, and respond to the guiding question of whether it"s appropriate in a democratic society to give up essential liberties for temporary safety.

Type: Lesson Plan

The purpose of this lesson is to help students learn how to compare and contrast fiction and nonfiction texts that explore similar topics. In this lesson, students will compare and contrast aspects of the popular novel The Hunger Games with an informative text on food shortages in Africa and an informative text on fear and the "flight or fight" response.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will analyze three texts (Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue," Richard Rodriguez's "Se Habla Espanol," and Zora Neale Hurston's "How it Feels to be Colored Me") looking at language, tone, and style. Students will be scaffolded through use of graphic organizers and a Socratic Seminar to culminate in an essay about tone.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use meta-cognitive skills, read multiple texts, conduct online research, brainstorm ideas, and analyze and synthesize information. Students will also practice the arts of note-taking, writing concise and informative summaries, and collaborating with peers. In addition, students will be encouraged to use their curiosity to dig for information related to Africa"s Anti-Apartheid (A.A.A.) movement and the hero who saved them.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to identify the text structure and its purpose within a nonfiction text. In this two-part tutorial series, you'll read excerpts from Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. You'll examine how the text structure contributes to meaning in the text, and you'll analyze how the order of events and relationships between events add to the meaning as well.

Make sure to complete both parts. Click here to launch PART ONE.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to identify the central idea and important details of a text, as well as how to write an effective summary in this interactive tutorial. This tutorial is the second tutorial in a four-part series that examines how scientists are using drones to explore glaciers in Peru. 

This tutorial is part two of a four-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in this series.

• Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 1)
• Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 2)
• Expository Writing: Eyes in the Sky (Part 3)
• Expository Writing: Eyes in the Sky (Part 4)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about how researchers are using drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, to study glaciers in Peru. In this interactive tutorial, you will practice citing text evidence when answering questions about a text.

This tutorial is part one of a four-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in this series.

• Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 1)
• Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 2)
• Expository Writing: Eyes in the Sky (Part 3)
• Expository Writing: Eyes in the Sky (Part 4)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify the text structure and its purpose within a nonfiction text. In this two-part tutorial series, you'll read excerpts from Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. You'll examine how the text structure contributes to meaning in the text, and you'll analyze how the order of events and relationships between events add to the meaning as well.

Make sure to complete both parts. Click here to launch PART TWO. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how speakers use rhetoric to achieve their purpose. In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how speakers can achieve their purpose through the use of pathos, ethos, and logos. Using excerpts from President Wilson's "War Message to Congress," you'll analyze how speakers use rhetoric to make their case effectively.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Remember the Holocaust and consider the cost of indifference as you read selected excerpts from texts written by the late Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In this interactive tutorial, you'll look carefully at his words so that you may think critically and deeply about his central ideas. You'll also identify the important supporting details of a central idea and explain how the central idea is refined by specific details.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to analyze evidence in an informational text using excerpts from a famous speech by President Ronald Reagan: "Address to Students at Moscow State University." In this interactive tutorial, you'll practice identifying what the text states both directly and indirectly. You'll also practice making inferences based on the specific textual evidence presented in the speech. Along the way, you'll learn some important background information on the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This mini-lesson explores verb choice in formal writing using a variety of online resources. Students draw conclusions about verb usage while working with their peers, using graphic organizers, checking for active and passive voice, and making necessary revisions. A lot of great web resources are provided in this teaching idea!

Type: Teaching Idea

How do places and experiences affect writers' lives and works? Is where a writer comes from relevant to reading their work? In this lesson, students consider the power of place in their own lives, research the life of a writer, and develop travel brochures and annotated maps representing the significance of geography in a writer's life.

Type: Teaching Idea

This teaching idea provides specific examples of a way to teach students to pull out the most important information from an article. Teachers have to provide their own article. This can be used across all content areas.

Type: Teaching Idea

This is a 10 day overview from the Library of Congress on a Historical Perspective of the time period surrounding To Kill A Mockingbird. Includes a lot of primary resources and writing activities.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text is designed to support reading in the content area. It describes the remains of a Salvadoran village preserved in volcanic ash, much like Europe's Pompeii. The unearthed village reveals artifacts that illustrate the daily lives of this ancient people. The authors use artifacts to infer religious, cultural and economic aspects of the Ceren village.

Type: Text Resource

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

This activity provides a reading passage with a Lexile of 1470 and text-dependent questions (with multiple choice answers) that teachers can utilize to give students practice at making inferences based on evidence from the text, examining an author's argument, and determining the meaning of selected academic vocabulary.

Type: Worksheet