Curated OER
Literary Comparison
Compare and contrast two pieces of literature with this lesson. With the use of a Venn diagram, pupils make connections between literature and real-life situations. They practice skills of surveying a text looking for important details,...
American Library Association
Creating 21st Century Superheroes
Create 21st century learners by utilizing technology and library databases. Scholars explore the concept of comic books as literature and create a superhero who could uniquely solve a 21st century global issue. Databases such as SIRS are...
English Enhanced Scope and Sequence
Media Literacy with Focus of Strategies for Collaboration
Introduce your class to literary analysis with a series of activities that has them examine book and movie reviews. Groups then draft their own review of a text, select a digital medium, and craft a presentation.
English Enhanced Scope and Sequence
Identifying Persuasion in Media Literacy
As part of a study of media literacy, groups examine advertisements from Money, Fortune, The New Yorker, or Good Housekeeping and identify the types of rhetorical appeals used in the ads. After groups present their findings, the whole...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5: Structure of an Argument
Imagine a cross-curricular project that not only rewards learners for examining the textbooks used in their other classes but builds literacy skills as well! Groups compare the formats and writing style in their various textbooks. Teams...
Curated OER
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel
Jamie Ford’s historical novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, explores the relationship between a young Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl set against the backdrop of Seattle during World War II. The teaching...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Visual Essay [Pdf]
This PDF is a visual essay assignment in which students create a visual presentation of a choice of poems read previously. It must be planned, organized, and created in such a way that it reflects the meaning of the poem.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Nonfict Readers Analyze Structure/views[pdf]
This graphic organizer contains questions for students as they analyze any nonfiction text. Students will read closely to determine the text's structure, viewpoint, and tone. This graphic organizer is a copyrighted material that may be...
Other
Best Evidence Encyclopedia: Middle and High School Reading
Looking for opportunities to improve your readers or to help your readers get ahead? BEE presents a number of programs that have been evaluated by their researchers to bring educators the best programs on the market. Learn about programs...
Virtual Salt
Virtual Salt: Introduction to Critical Thinking
An introduction to the concept of Critical Thinking examines the true definition and gives examples where it can be used as a constructive force.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Sandra Day O'connor
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text Sandra Day O'Connor and a linked passage about Margaret Thatcher and then complete questions over the paired texts.RI.11-12.5 Evaluate text structure
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Editing Techniques: Writing a Reverse Outline
This slideshow lesson focuses on writing a reverse outline as a post writing strategy for assessing your paper for weak or missing aspects. It explains how to create the outline using a rubric if available and provides a skeletal example...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Purpose
This slideshow lesson focuses on purpose; it defines purpose and lists the two main purposes of all writing: to educate (didactic text meaning to inform and instruct) or to entertain (imaginative text). The purpose could also be art for...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Analytical Papers
This lesson focuses on analytical papers; it explains how to analyze a subject and the goal of analytical papers. They must include a defined or specific perspective from which to evaluate, an evaluation, and the breakdown of the...
Other
The Critical Thinking Community: Tactical and Structural Recommendations
16 brilliant suggestions for creating critical thought in the classroom.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Arbiter
Determine your standards (logic, creativity, structure, etc.) when assessing student writing. Evaluate three essays using an analytic or holistic rubric and see how your standards compare with your peers.
Media Smarts
Media Awareness Network: Lesson Plan: How to Analyze the News [Pdf]
Lesson plan focusing on the importance of understanding how the news is a product with a specific scope, structure, slant and style at the forefront of its production.
Other
Carson Newman College: Critical Reading of an Essay's Argument
Extensive examination of what it means to critically read an argument. This process is sometimes called "critical reading," or "close reading," or "active reading." First the differences between reading to extract information and reading...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Think Clearly: Analyze Support a Position[pdf]
This Center for Urban Education resource provides a downloadable worksheet. Students will read a nonfiction article and then write about scaffolded prompts that will help them determine the strength of evidence presented in the argument.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Critical Reading as a Learning Strategy
This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...
Other
Center for Assessment: Tools for Examining Text Complexity [Pdf]
Learn how to use several tools to determine text complexity and readability of text for your students.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Revising Expository/procedural Essay: Purpose, Audience, Context
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Find out strategies for evaluating and revising an essay so that it is organized appropriate to purpose, audience, and context.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway:analyze How Author's Style and Syntax Support Meaning
In this learning module, students will learn and apply the concepts of author's style and syntax.
Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center
Wisconsin Rt I Center: Reading Resources [Pdf]
This site provides a collection of reading strategy teaching resources. Strategies are arranged according to the ELA Common Core Curriculum Standards and grade level bands.