LAFS.910.W.1.1Archived 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

The hero's journey is an archetypal plot structure found in novels and epic poems, yet it can also be found in popular poetry and music. After students have read the novella Anthem, the poem "Invictus," and the song "Run Boy Run," they will craft an argument proving that the appearance of the hero's journey in shorter texts is just as developed and apparent as its appearance in longer texts by synthesizing and citing directly from three different sources. They will find and organize evidence, draft their arguments, and perform a peer review as they complete the writing process. This lesson is lesson two in a two-part series.

Type: Lesson Plan

The hero's journey is still an archetypal plot structure found in modern novels and can also be found in popular poetry and music. After students have read the novella Anthem, they will examine the poem "Invictus" and the lyrics and music video for "Run Boy Run" for elements of the Hero's Journey. Students will work collaboratively to decide whether or not all aspects of the hero's journey are demonstrated efficiently in this variety of sources. Student worksheets, answer keys, and a writing rubric are included with 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

Lesson 3, "Interview of a Trafficked Child," gives students the opportunity to support their position on human trafficking by incorporating research and statistics into an article format.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students often have difficulty envisioning and making sense of a story that is set in a markedly different time or circumstance than their own. This two-day activity introduces students to the dystopian society of 1984 by George Orwell. By analyzing Orwell's carefully chosen words, details, repetitions, and characterizations in these first few pages, students can construct a strong understanding of some of the key features of this society that will give them a solid framework for comprehending the rest of the novel. Doing this kind of close reading work also reinforces to students that authors do not randomly select the details they include in a text; they choose words carefully to create a mood or construct a particular image of a character or place in a reader's mind. The overriding question that students should be able to answer at the end of this exercise is: What can we understand about Winston Smith and the society he lives in based on the descriptive details George Orwell includes in the first few pages of 1984?

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 identify and analyze rhetorical appeals in a speech and write a persuasive essay using multiple rhetorical appeals.

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

Students will evaluate a variety of medications and their potential benefits for a diabetic patient.

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. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

"Poly Wants a Bridge" is a model-eliciting activity that allows students to assist the city of Polygon City with selecting the most appropriate bridge to build. Teams of students are required to analyze properties of bridges, such as physical composition and span length in order to solve the problem.

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. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will complete a lab using indicators to determine which foods contain carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and/or starches. The lab includes pre-lab questions, discussion, lab experimentation, post lab questions, results and conclusion. The students will submit a completed lab report that will be graded based on a rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will explore the concept of Saints vs. Sinners in terms of the literature that has been studied throughout the ninth grade year. In this lesson students will identify protagonists (saints) and antagonists (sinners) and draw conclusions about the authors" handling of the material or any patterns that have become apparent upon closer examination. After their exploration, they will write an argument explaining their findings. Students will participate in peer review of each other"s writings to assist them with the revision process. In the closure for this lesson, students can share their writing with the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast the tone and theme of two poems about death. Students will annotate text, complete a directed note taking organizer and essay organizer, and will write a compare/contrast essay.

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

Through the use of extensive modeling with John Berryman's "Sole Watchman," students will understand the steps involved in the analysis and interpretation in poetry. The teacher will model how to summarize and analyze the poem, construct a thesis, and develop an essay. Students will review and discuss a sample essay complete with comments that highlight strong writing decisions. After reading and interpreting Berryman's "The Ball Poem," students will construct a 3-4 page essay on this poem.

Type: Lesson Plan

Practice creating a concluding paragraph for an argumentative essay. This tutorial will focus on four elements of an effective conclusion: transitions, summary, synthesis, and a gift.

This interactive tutorial is part 4 in a 4-part series about writing an argumentative essay. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

Part 1 - Planning Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 2 - Introductions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 3 - Body Paragraphs in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 4 - Conclusions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Practice creating a body paragraph for an argumentative essay on e-waste. This interactive tutorial will focus on four elements of an effective body paragraph: transitions; the topic sentence; reasons and evidence; and a brief wrap up.

This interactive tutorial is part 3 in a 4-part series about writing an argumentative essay. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

Part 1 - Planning Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 2 - Introductions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 3 - Body Paragraphs in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 4 - Conclusions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to create an organized, detailed introductory paragraph for an argumentative essay using the H.E.A.R.T. approach. H.E.A.R.T. is an acronym that standards for hook the reader, establish the context, address the argument, reveal the main points, and tie it together with transitions.

This interactive tutorial is part 2 in a 4-part series about writing an argumentative essay. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

Part 1 - Planning Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 2 - Introductions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 3 - Body Paragraphs in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 4 - Conclusions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to create an outline to help you prepare to write an essay. You will read an informational text about technotrash, also called electronic waste or e-waste. Then, you will work on creating an outline that could help you write an argumentative essay about this topic. The outline will include a claim/thesis statement, main ideas, reasons, evidence, counterclaims, and rebuttals.  

This interactive tutorial is part 1 in a 4-part series about writing an argumentative essay. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

Part 1 - Planning Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 2 - Introductions in Argument Writing: E-Waste 

Part 3 - Body Paragraphs in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Part 4 - Conclusions in Argument Writing: E-Waste

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This teaching idea addresses the pros and cons of discussion by analyzing the concept of utopia in a satire. Students collaborate in small groups to create a Discussion Web that addresses the question, "Are people equal?" Students engage in meaningful discussions analyzing all sides of their initial response, form a consensus, and present it to the class. Students then read "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and use supporting details to complete another Discussion Web that examines whether or not the people in the story are equal. Web-based graphic organizers, assessments, and extension activities are included.

Type: Teaching Idea

This lesson is intended to introduce students to the art of argumentative writing by familiarizing them with basic terms; allowing students to practice establishing the relationship between claims, reasons, and evidence; and analyzing an author's use of argument in a text.

Type: Teaching Idea

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

In this animated video from TEDed, students will learn the process of writing an engaging and insightful introduction. They will also examine how to compose an introduction that is tailored to a specific thesis. Looking at Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, they will identify the fundamentals of writing a great introduction by examining this masterpiece.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation