LAFS.910.RI.2.4Archived Standard

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. Graphic organizers and worksheets, along with teacher keys, and a writing rubric have been provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

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

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

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

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

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

In this lesson, the second in a three-lesson unit, students will explore Emily Dickinson's style by reading and analyzing a variety of her letters based on the historical context and audience of each. Students will use the letters, along with an Atlantic Monthly article, as sources for the summative assessment, a letter to the editor written in response to one or several of Dickinson's letters or topics.

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

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

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

Explore the effect of metaphors and imagery within a text in this interactive tutorial. First, you’ll practice identifying the use of these literary devices within a text, and then you’ll examine how they contribute to the meaning and beauty of the text.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to differentiate the connotative and denotative meanings of words in context. In this interactive tutorial, you'll  study excerpts from “Total Eclipse,” an essay written by Annie Dillard. You will analyze Dillard’s word choices throughout portions of her essay to better understand their impact and meanings. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases in an informational text about the Bermuda Triangle in this three-part interactive tutorial. In Part 2, you'll practice determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary using context clues and dictionary skills.

Click below to complete all three parts!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
  

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases in an informational text about the Bermuda Triangle in this three-part interactive tutorial. In Part 3, you'll practice determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary using context clues and dictionary skills.

Click below to open the first two parts.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases in an informational text about the Bermuda Triangle in this three-part interactive tutorial. In Part 1, you'll practice determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary using context clues and dictionary skills.

Click below to complete all three parts!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn several ways to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, including context clues, word parts, and dictionary skills. In this interactive tutorial, you'll apply these strategies to text passages from John Muir's book A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf, which includes vivid descriptions of Florida in the late 1800s.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Read and examine Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in this interactive tutorial. First, you'll practice using context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in the famous text. Next, you'll analyze Lincoln's specific word choice throughout the speech and examine how it conveys his tone or attitude.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to use context clues, including synonyms, antonyms, and inferences, to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

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

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This unit exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources has been developed to guide students and instructors in a close reading of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The activities and actions follow a carefully developed set of steps that assist students in increasing their familiarity and understanding of Lincoln's speech through a series of text dependent tasks and questions that ultimately develop college and career ready skills identified in the Florida State Standards. This unit can be broken down into three sections of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teachers, which is followed by additional activities, some designed for history/social studies and some for ELA classrooms.

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