Standard 2: Reading Informational Text

Students will use new vocabulary to complete a graphic organizer, and differentiate between the Loyalist and Patriot perspectives, and civic virtue as they read Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider by Jean Fritz in this lesson.

There are three CPALMS lessons that can be used to complement a study of Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider and help students take a new perspective by merging ELA skills with civics knowledge.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "Declaration of Sentiments," delivered at America's first women's rights convention in the United States, the Seneca Falls Convention. Students will identify the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) Stanton uses throughout her speech. Students will explain how Stanton's varied purposes are achieved through those appeals.

Students will also complete text-dependent questions to further analyze the speech. As part of this analysis, they will make connections between Stanton's speech and the foundational principles established in the Declaration of Independence.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson plan, students will read Sojourner Truth’s "Ain't I a Woman?" speech that was delivered in Akron, Ohio at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention. Students will analyze two distinct central ideas that emerge in her speech. They will identify textual evidence within the speech that supports each central idea. Students will also read and study the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution in order to make connections between the two texts.  

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech, delivered in 1851 to men and women attending the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Students will analyze how the use of rhetorical appeals, specifically ethos, helps Truth establish and achieve her purpose. Students will describe how this use of ethos supports Truth’s purpose to persuade Americans to support equal voting rights, especially for women, citing text evidence when appropriate.

Students will complete text-dependent questions to clarify their comprehension of the speech. In addition, they will make connections between Truth’s speech and the foundational principles expressed in an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze the Declaration of Independence, one of America's founding documents. Students will analyze two central ideas of this text and their supporting evidence. Students will also answer text-dependent questions to convey their understanding of the text, and they'll examine the foundational ideals and principles that are expressed within the document. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read President George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation,” delivered in the evening of September 11th, 2001. Students will analyze the two distinct central ideas that emerge in the speech. They will identify the textual evidence within the speech that supports each central idea.

Students will also complete text-dependent questions to further analyze the speech. As part of this analysis, they will make connections between President Bush’s speech and the ideas expressed in the Preamble of the Constitution.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read and analyze two nonfiction articles about future work at NASA. Students will track the development of central ideas throughout each text. At the end of the lesson, students will synthesize a written response comparing and contrasting how the two authors establish their purpose.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is based on Letter XII: Distresses of a Frontier Man by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. This "letter" is one of a collection of essays in an epistolary format from the collection, Letters from an American Farmer (1782). In this lesson, students will read and analyze the two central ideas in the text. Students will fill out a graphic organizer on the central ideas and participate in a class debate.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a lesson based on President Obama’s remarks on the 70^th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. His speech focuses on the anniversary of D-Day and the effect it had on soldiers and civilians who experienced the attack. This lesson provides an opportunity for vocabulary acquisition and an analysis of the meaning of President Obama’s speech.

Type: Lesson Plan

Explore excerpts from astronaut Scott Kelly’s autobiography, Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, in this interactive tutorial. Using these excerpts, you’ll identify several important experiences in Scott Kelly’s young life that had a crucial impact on his later success. You’ll also determine how these events shaped important ideas or life lessons that Scott learned along the way. Finally, you’ll examine the connection between these important life events and the ideas or lessons Scott learned to determine how he discovered what it takes to achieve the nearly impossible.

This tutorial is Part Three of a three-part series. Make sure to complete Part One and Part Two before beginning Part Three. 

Click HERE to launch Part One. 

Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore excerpts from astronaut Scott Kelly’s autobiography, Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, in this interactive tutorial. Using these excerpts, you’ll identify several important experiences in Scott Kelly’s young life that had a crucial impact on his later success. You’ll also determine how these events shaped important ideas that Scott learned along the way. 

This tutorial is Part Two of a three-part series. Make sure to complete all three parts!

Click HERE to launch Part One.

Click HERE to launch Part Three.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore excerpts from astronaut Scott Kelly’s autobiography, Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, in this interactive tutorial. Using these excerpts, you’ll identify several important experiences in Scott Kelly’s young life that had a crucial impact on his later success. You’ll also determine how these events shaped important ideas or life lessons that Scott learned along the way. Finally, you’ll examine the connection between these important life events and the ideas or lessons Scott learned to determine how he discovered what it takes to achieve the nearly impossible.

This tutorial is Part One of a three-part series. Make sure to complete all three parts!

Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Click HERE to launch Part Three.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This teaching resource provides the tools to help students analyze the use of figurative language in an 1853 speech by Sojourner Truth. Students will specifically examine her skillful use of imagery throughout the speech. Students will analyze how Truth uses imagery at key points in her speech to express her message and achieve her purpose (below). Students will also gain a deeper understanding of this speech and why it was a significant act of civic participation.

Type: Text Resource

This teaching resource provides teachers with guidelines to help students analyze the speech delivered by Sojourner Truth, during the period leading up to women’s suffrage. The speech contains many rhetorical questions that connect with her emotional appeal (utilizing pathos) that students will think critically about.

Type: Text Resource