This page is still being developed, but here is a start. If you are looking for ideas about how to teach a research paper, check out the Research Paper Guide. For materials on writing a literary response paper, check out the Literary Response Paper Guide. If you want to incorporate Socratic Seminars or Book Talk Projects, check out those specific pages. For more general strategies, check out READING, WRITING, etc.
NEW: The Common Core Mapping Website is looking for lesson plan submissions, and you will find some sample lesson plans HERE.
Looking for sample Common Core-aligned units? Here is one for grades 7-8. As Ed Week noted: called "Persuasion Across Time and Space," the five-lesson unit is the first major classroom resource produced by the Understanding Language team, a group of English-language-learner experts led by Kenji Hakuta, an education professor at Stanford University, to help educators grasp the central role of language in the rigorous Common Core State Standards and to give teachers resources for providing higher levels of instruction and demanding content to ELL students.
Want to review the FOUR CRITICAL READING SKILLS (paraphrasing, inference, vocabulary in context, and summarizing/inferring main idea) and teach your students how to identify test questions that deal with these skills? Check out this Sample LESSON PLAN TO LABEL CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS and HANDOUTS for the lesson. Also, here are some NEW lesson plans (which include needed materials):
- 5th History LP-Comparing Social Structures of Civilizations (Thanks to Lauren Milewski of TeacherU!)
- 5th Writing LP-Distinguishing Relevant Details (Thanks to Michael Russoniello of TeacherU!)
- 6th History LP-Using Textbook Features to Find Info (Thanks to Eleanor Brown of TeacherU!)
- 6th Reading LP-Thick vs. Thin Questions (Thanks to Justin Pigeon of TeacherU!)
If you teach THE GIVER by Lois Lowry, here is an excellent MiddleWeb blog post by Amber Chandler with some thoughts on how to approach it, including free resources!
If you teach Animal Farm by George Orwell, here's a free YouTube audiobook that your students can listen to. (Thanks to Roman Usatin for this link!)
IN THE DOWNLOAD ZONE for MS Lessons and Units:
For questions of text selection, see Selected Texts for Grades 4-12 ELA.
- An Island Like You--Judith Ortiz Cofer (could be used in grade 8 or HS)
- Animal Farm--George Orwell (could be used in MS or HS)
- Black Boy--Richard Wright (could be used in grade 8 or HS)
- Diary of Anne Frank
- Fahrenheit 451--Ray Bradbury (could be used in grade 8 or HS)
- House on Mango Street--Sandra Cisneros
- Night--by Elie Wiesel
- To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee (could be used in grade 8 or HS)--See also this new guide from Facing History and Ourselves on Teaching Mockingbird. (Thanks to Antonio Berdecia at QCACS for this lead!) The Media Literacy Clearinghouse also has some phenomenal resources, including a "film study guide" on To Kill a Mockingbird. Also, see Harper Lee's obituary in The New York Times.
- Sample LESSON PLAN TO LABEL CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS
- HANDOUTS for LESSON PLAN TO LABEL CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS
- 5th History LP-Comparing Social Structures of Civilizations
- 5th Writing LP-Distinguishing Relevant Details
- 6th History LP-Using Textbook Features to Find Info
- 6th Reading LP-Thick vs. Thin Questions
