Standard 2: Reading Informational Text

In this lesson, students will read President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address from 2013. Students will paraphrase several important sections of President Obama’s speech to develop their paraphrasing skills and evaluate the president’s use of figurative language and emotional appeal to establish purpose. Students will also complete text-dependent questions to further analyze the speech. As part of this analysis, they will express their comprehension of the key elements and overall message of his speech.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze excerpts from W.E.B. DuBois' 1903 essay “The Talented Tenth", which advocated for the advancement of African American people through increased access to higher education beyond vocational training. Their study of the text will focus on identifying and evaluating the support of the central ideas of the text. In groups, students will read the excerpts and examine the textual support for each central idea presented in the text. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will anazlye the use of rhetorical appeals in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Students will read an excerpt of the letter and examine King’s effective use of ethos, logos, and pathos in achieving his purpose.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson plan designed for the debate classroom, students will read and critically analyze various American foundational texts, identify a common theme, and create a thesis statement that encompasses the identified theme. Students will work individually and collaboratively to find commonalities among the various pieces of literature.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this multi-day lesson plan, students will read a text and view a speech which include appeals to both logic and emotion. Students will recognize the importance of using short narratives and personal anecdotes in speech and will develop their own narratives/anecdotes to use in their original oratory.

Type: Lesson Plan

This close reading lesson focuses on Mary Schmich's comical commencement speech essay, "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young." Students will take an in-depth analysis to discover her powerful satirical style, as well as the power of social nuances. Students will focus on academic vocabulary and answer high-level text-dependent questions as a guide for their comprehension of the essay, evaluating if her choice of words and wisdom remain valid, relative, and sufficient for the youth of today.

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 War on Terror. Students will discover by looking at word choice and sentence structure how language styles have changed over time.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze examples of ethical appeals, pathetic appeals and logical appeals using an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail". Students will analyze 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

Students will read and analyze Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. Using the knowledge and textual evidence gleaned from multiple readings, students will write a short response to support their analysis of this famous speech.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using the case study, “Tough Talk at Work”, students will learn how to have a tough talk at work, while addressing concerns and improving morale, relationships, and employee performance. Students will brainstorm how to have tough talks at work and then will have an opportunity to role play.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is based on case study 207926 "Tough Talk at Work.” In this lesson, students will diccuss how to analyze employee evaluation data and create performance improvement plans.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the role of critical thinking and teamwork in diagnosing and troubleshooting issues within the engineering design process. This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, Finding the Important Detail that Makes the Difference. See CPALMS resource ID# 207924.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using the case study, "Should the Business Expand?" students will compare two student created arguments, one for expansion of a business and another against. Students will compare the two claims by evaluating them for effectiveness and validity. Using the claims, students will act as the business owner and make a final decision about the expansion.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to distinguish between questions that can be answered by science and questions that science cannot answer. This interactive tutorial will help you distinguish between science and other ways of knowing, including art, religion, and philosophy.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This resource provides teachers with the tools to help students analyze the speech delivered by President Ronald Reagan following the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. Students will focus on how President Reagan conveys and supports his central idea through the use of two specific rhetorical devices. Students will evaluate how effectively the president applies the use of allusions and anaphora to support his central idea.

Type: Teaching Idea

This teaching idea focuses on FDR’s use of rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, & logos) in his inauguration speech. Students will practice identifying his use of these appeals within the text. The resource will help students understand how the president uses rhetorical appeals to convey and support his central idea.

Type: Teaching Idea

Students will participate in a debate using the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. This could be a verbal, silent, or alley debate. One group will represent the Federalists and be given information relating to their arguments. The other group will act as the Anti-Federalists and be given information relating to their arguments. Provide students time to prepare their arguments either individually or as a team, then commence the debate.

Type: Teaching Idea

This assignment will enable students to search for and critically analyze news articles presenting differing perspectives on similar issues. Students will think critically about the role that media plays in affecting the way objective information is delivered to the general public.

Type: Teaching Idea

In this activity, designed for students in the debate classroom, students will use prior knowledge on ethos, logos, and pathos to analyze the grievances in the Declaration of Independence and classify the rhetorical appeals in each.

Type: Teaching Idea

This teaching resource provides teachers with the tools to help students analyze Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” following his arrest in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. This resource uses the original version of Dr. King’s letter before it was later revised and republished. This letter serves as one of the most important documents in civil rights history. It contains various vocabulary words that may be unfamiliar to students. Students must use the available context clues to determine their meaning.

Type: Text Resource

This teaching resource provides the tools for teachers to help students analyze the use of rhetorical appeals in President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This resource will help students understand how President Lincoln specifically used ethos, pathos, and logos to achieve his purpose.

Type: Text Resource

This lesson allows students to deepen their understanding of connotation by using background information to identify the connotative meanings of words and phrases in an argumentative text. 

Type: Text Resource

This teaching resource provides the tools to help students analyze President George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation.” This resource will help students examine the president’s rhetoric and how he uses figurative language to achieve his different purposes. This includes his use of both imagery and alliteration. Students will also examine how the president uses the rhetorical device antithesis to achieve his purposes.

Type: Text Resource