Name | Description |
Advice to Youth - A Satire by Mark Twain | This close reading lesson focuses on Mark Twain's comical satire, "Advice to Youth." Students will close read the text three times to analyze Twain's powerful satirical style, as well as the power of nuances. For the first reading, students will focus on academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will answer text-dependent questions as a guide for their comprehension of the satire. In the third close reading, students will analyze the advice Twain gives, the ways in which his essay critiques society and its behaviors, and how he uses humor, irony, and exaggeration to reveal his advice. For the summative assessment, students will write an argumentative essay in which they make a claim regarding whether or not Twain's advice is still pertinent for the youth of today. Graphic organizers and worksheets, along with teacher keys, and a writing rubric have been provided. |
Shakespearean Soliloquy Fluency: A Close Reading and Analysis of "To be or not to be" | In this lesson, students will perform multiple close readings of the well-known "To be or not to be" soliloquy from William Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet. The lesson is appropriate for 11th or 12th grade students who have some familiarity with reading Shakespeare but would benefit from fluency practice with the difficult text, as well as vocabulary building and argumentative writing about literature. The closure and extension activities provide suggestions for taking this study further using other Hamlet (or other Shakespearean) soliloquies. |
Free Willy? An Argument Analysis of the Controversy over Captive Killer Whale Populations | In this lesson, students will conduct several close readings of the article "SeaWorld, Activists Make Questionable Claims on Killer Whale Life Spans" by Jason Garcia. For the first close reading, students will focus on selected academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will analyze the claims made in the article, focusing, in particular, on the validity of each claim made. During the final close reading, students will analyze the argument presented in the article, choose a side, and participate in a Philosophical Chairs discussion. |
"The American Puritan Tradition: Part III" | This lesson is part three of a three-part unit that will explore and analyze how different authors convey American Puritanism. In this lesson, students plan to write and then complete an essay to explore how two different authors and texts portray American Puritanism, Jonathan Edwards in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Arthur Miller in “The Crucible.” |
The American Puritan Tradition: Part II | This lesson is part two of a three lesson unit that will explore and analyze how different authors convey American Puritanism. In lessons two of this unit, students will analyze key literary elements and Miller’s use of rhetoric to create mood in the play, "The Crucible." |
The American Puritan Tradition: Part 1 | This lesson is part one of three in a unit that will explore and analyze how American Puritanism has been represented in different texts. The goal of this lesson is for students to analyze the central idea and how the authors' style (figurative language, persuasive techniques) contributes to establishing and achieving the purpose in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." |
Comparative Close Reading Poetry Analysis: "All that lives must die..." - Shakespeare | The goal of this lesson is that students will be able to analyze and interpret the ways in which an author's style (use of poetic devices) develops tone and theme in challenging grade-appropriate poetry. Close-reading skills culminate in a compare/contrast essay analyzing how two poets express a similar theme. The student handout with all of the activities and questions, links to the poems, and a compare/contrast essay model is provided. |
Close Reading Exemplar: Living Like Weasels | The goal of this four-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 language and life lesson embedded in Dillard'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 be equipped to unpack Dillard's essay. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Dillard's writing contains a deeper message and derive satisfaction from the struggle to master complex text. |
Name | Description |
Word Prodigy: Using Context Clues | Learn to use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in this interactive tutorial. You'll learn how to identify and apply three important types of context clues: synonyms, antonyms, and inferences. This tutorial features passages about some of the world's most incredible child prodigies. |
Vocabulary Unleashed | Learn 15 new academic vocabulary words in this interactive tutorial! You'll practice the words' synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in order to add them to your vocabulary. |
Playing with Words: Changing Word Forms | Learn how to transform words into other words, including nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, adjectives into adverbs, and much more with this interactive tutorial. |
Vocabulary Mastery | Acquire 15 new vocabulary words, identify their parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms, and use them in context with this interactive tutorial. |
Vocabulary in Action | Acquire new vocabulary through this interactive tutorial. You'll learn the definitions for 15 new words, as well as their parts of speech, their synonyms and antonyms, and you'll practice using them in context. |
Vocabulary Power | Acquire 15 new vocabulary words, identify their parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms, and use them in context with this interactive tutorial. |
Into the Wild: Close Encounters with Unfamiliar Words | Learn several strategies for determining the meaning of unfamiliar words as you read about the late Dian Fossey's research on mountain gorillas. This interactive tutorial will also help you identify common prefixes and how they affect the meaning of words. |
Name | Description |
Analyzing Grammar Pet Peeves | This teaching idea is designed to help students analyze grammar pet peeves. Students begin by thinking about their own grammar pet peeves and then read a "Dear Abby" column in which she lists several grammar pet peeves of her own. Students become aware that attitudes about race, social class, moral and ethical character and 'proper' language use are intertwined and that rants such as this one reveal those attitudes. Finally, students discuss the pet peeves as a class while gaining an understanding that issues of race, class, combined with audience expectations, help to determine what is considered 'proper' language use. |
Name | Description |
Word Prodigy: Using Context Clues: | Learn to use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in this interactive tutorial. You'll learn how to identify and apply three important types of context clues: synonyms, antonyms, and inferences. This tutorial features passages about some of the world's most incredible child prodigies. |
Vocabulary Unleashed: | Learn 15 new academic vocabulary words in this interactive tutorial! You'll practice the words' synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in order to add them to your vocabulary. |
Playing with Words: Changing Word Forms: | Learn how to transform words into other words, including nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, adjectives into adverbs, and much more with this interactive tutorial. |
Vocabulary Mastery: | Acquire 15 new vocabulary words, identify their parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms, and use them in context with this interactive tutorial. |
Vocabulary in Action: | Acquire new vocabulary through this interactive tutorial. You'll learn the definitions for 15 new words, as well as their parts of speech, their synonyms and antonyms, and you'll practice using them in context. |
Vocabulary Power: | Acquire 15 new vocabulary words, identify their parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms, and use them in context with this interactive tutorial. |
Into the Wild: Close Encounters with Unfamiliar Words: | Learn several strategies for determining the meaning of unfamiliar words as you read about the late Dian Fossey's research on mountain gorillas. This interactive tutorial will also help you identify common prefixes and how they affect the meaning of words. |