Cluster 3: Research to Build and Present KnowledgeArchived

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 part three of a three-part lesson on child soldiers. In this lesson, students will conduct research and write a formal paper on child soldiers. Students will learn about primary and secondary sources and how to determine the credibility of their sources. The teacher will provide support on how students should record their citations and how to take notes on note cards.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the second lesson of a three-part unit that will build towards having the students research child soldiers. In this lesson, students will listen to a song, watch a video, and read a biography from a former child soldier from the Sudan and current international hip-hop star Emmanuel Jal. Students will examine and analyze the information presented in each of the formats by completing two column notes and participating in a whole group discussion.

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

This lesson plan is a short research project designed to help students learn more about Kevin’s disease in Freak the Mighty.  Students will research Morquio syndrome using provided sources as well as reliable sources they have chosen on their own. Students will use digital media in addition to speaking and listening skills to present their findings to the class. Throughout the lesson, students will have ample opportunity to develop and refine reading, writing and speaking and listening skills to work towards mastery of the lesson objectives. Checklists and a project/presentation rubric have been provided with the lesson, as well as several sites that students can use to begin their research.  

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be challenged with self-discovery as they gain a deeper understanding of the poem, "The Hangman," by Maurice Ogden. Teachers will guide students using text annotation to focus on specific word choice and examine its impact on the poem. Further, students will gain a deeper understanding of the poem through responding and discussing the answers to text-dependent questions. In the culminating writing assignment, students will demonstrate their understanding through a written response that is supported by details from the text. Text-dependent questions and key, rubric for the writing task, and other handouts are included as attachments with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson two in a three-part series on "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll. Students will analyze how the setting and character attributes develop the plot.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson one in a three part series on "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll. Students will analyze the use of various types of figurative language, repetition, and rhyme and how they collectively impact meaning and tone throughout the poem.

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

The goal of this two day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to unpack the meaning of Jacques' soliloquy from William Shakespeare's As You Like It. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will be able to understand the structure and purpose of this particular soliloquy and how it delves into universal themes regarding the human condition. When combined with writing about the soliloquy, students will discover how much they can learn from even a very short selection of a text.

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

In this lesson, students will read "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. They will answer text-dependent questions that include having students analyze the text for foreshadowing clues, as well as use of situational irony. Students will use context clues and dictionaries to determine the meanings of selected vocabulary words from the story. Students will also work to determine morals in the story and will write two extended response paragraphs articulating the moral and how each is developed and supported by textual details. A PowerPoint on theme versus morals, foreshadowing, and situational irony is provided to help students with these concepts. Text-dependent questions, an answer key, a vocabulary handout, a teacher's guide for the story, and a rubric for the summative assessment are provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation" and an additional O. Henry selection to compare the themes of love and redemption. They will identify supporting details of the themes in each text and use them to support their analysis in a short written response.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read the poem "Uncoiling" by Pat Mora, analyze the poem's theme by identifying personification and connotations in the text and then composing a written analysis of the poem.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will discuss various ways to get involved in their community and will research current organizations and their roles in supporting community needs. Students will use their research to write a well-developed essay explaining the types of community organizations that are currently involved in supporting community needs and will determine how they might want to become involved.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read and analyze “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe and will analyze and discuss the poetic devices and figurative language used in the poem as it supports the topic of “The Death of a Beautiful Woman.” Students will write a short response to explain their analysis.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will need to rank the best hybrid car for the family to buy which shows the most fuel efficient, highest safety rating, best price, and most comfortable car for a family of four. The family is interested in a hybrid. Students will then be asked to look over their finding and evaluation checklist and change the four passenger vehicle to an SUV in order to fit grandma and grandpa that will soon be moving in. The students will be given new data set that includes all SUV's currently on the market. They will use the ranking formula they devised to figure out the best SUV for the family. Next, they write a letter to the family explaining their findings and the reasons for their choice.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this one 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 humor and moral lesson embedded in Twain'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 explore the problem Tom Sawyer faced and how he "solved" his conundrum. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Twain's humor contains a deeper message and derive satisfaction from the struggle to master complex text. At the end of the lesson, students are provided two writing prompts to constructive a narrative inspired by Twain's text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to paraphrase grade-level content in this tutorial that includes passages about some of America's most notable pioneers.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn more about that dreaded word--plagiarism--in this interactive tutorial that's all about citing your sources and avoiding academic dishonesty!

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

This text resource from Cornell University includes brief information on the what, why, how, and when of documenting sources in a research paper. The resource provides information on what plagiarism is, when and how to document sources, the difference between primary and secondary sources, and definitions of the following words: documentation, citation, and reference. The resource also provides a quiz to identify whether the writing sample in each exercise uses sources properly.

Type: Text Resource