University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Curated OER
Another Argument at the Dinner Table?
Here is an interesting worksheet on discursive text. Learners read a short essay that expresses two opinions regarding choices of foods to eat by young people. After reading the text, pupils must fill out the worksheet. It has them write...
Northshore School District
American Voices and Their Audiences
Those new to teaching an AP level language and composition prep course and seasoned veterans will find much to treasure in a unit that is designed to help young language scholars develop the skills they need to analyze the language...
Curated OER
Are You For Real?
Students try to find newspaper and magazine articles that are informative or persuasive. They practice determining the differences between the two types of articles. They identify the devices authors use to persuade the audience.
Curated OER
Scaffolding a Reading/Writing Lesson
Students explore pre-reading activities. Through looking at titles, and observing pictures, students predict what will happen in a story. They listen to a part of the story and then write their own conclusion. Students complete the story...
Education Bureau of Hong Kong
Fundamentals
"Fundamentals," the first lesson in a series of eight, introduces the basic concepts and strategies covered in a series of resources designed to teach high schoolers critical thinking skills. The worksheets and activities in this first...
Teachers.net
How to Write a Movie Review from a Pet's Perspective
When would two paws up denote a blockbuster film in your classroom? Only when young writers create movie reviews from a pet's perspective in this imaginative expository writing practice. This engaging topic begins with a class discussion...
K12 Reader
Mark Antony’s Oration from Julius Caesar
"And Brutus is an honourable man." Or is he? Readers of Shakespeare’s tragic Julius Caesar are asked to identify the rhetorical devices Mark Antony uses in his funeral oration and to explain how these devices influence the audience to...
Curated OER
Expressing Your Views to the Letter
Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...
Curated OER
Diving into Iceland's Genetic Pool
Investigate ethical issues surrounding the Decode project in Iceland. Middle and high schoolers take the positions of the Icelandic government, scientific researchers, and citizens and defend or refute the Decode project in a Reykjavik...
Curated OER
Is That a Fact?
Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Second Grade Skills Unit 4: The Job Hunt
Second graders practice skills, including spelling, grammar, and reading. Pupils examine vowel sounds and tricky words, nouns, and verbs. They begin the writing process by drafting a persuasive letter and decoding texts.
EngageNY
End of Unit 1 Assessment: Analyzing an Excerpt from Barack Obama’s Back-to-School Speech
In order to assess their mastery of the concepts taught in a 12-lesson plan unit study of Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy, individuals read excerpts from President Barack Obama's 2009 Back-to-School Speech and use the strategies...
Curated OER
Lesson PlanThomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library
Students explore techniques of persuasive writing. In this persuasive writing lesson, students examine primary sources regarding the sale of Thomas Jefferson private library to Congress. Students write their own persuasive letters...
Curated OER
Washington's Newburgh Address
Students write a persuasive essay that compares George Washington to someone overcoming an obstacle. In this American History lesson plan, students study Washington's Newburgh Address and the character traits of the president. They write...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Letter to a Character
Readers of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida place themselves in the story and craft a persuasive letter to a character in Victor Martinez's National Book Award-winning novel.
New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 5
Are video games sports? Pupils investigate this question as well as various nonfiction selections to learn more about claims and the support that defines them. All of the selections mimic the rigor on state tests and encourage close...
Albert Shanker Institute
Dream Under Development
As part of their study of the 1963 March on Washington, class members do a side-by-side comparison of the original text of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" with a transcript of the speech he delivered. The take away from the...
Stockton University Wordpress
Civil Disobedience: Is it ever ok to break the law?
As part of a study of civil disobedience, class members read excerpts from the writings of activists who were willing to break the law to protest unjust laws.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms and the...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: “How Do You Get Through Hard Times?” Chalk Talk
Hold a discussion in writing about coping strategies to prepare your pupils for reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman. After journaling, pupils come up in an organized fashion and write...
Curated OER
Propaganda & Persuasive Techniques: Do You Buy It?
Fifth graders investigate the basic persuasive techniques employed in advertising. They identify three examples of propaganda/persuasive techniques, complete an observation chart, take an advertising quiz, complete a spreadsheet that...
Curated OER
The Purpose and Power of Persuasion
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
Curated OER
Writing - The Persuasive Essay
Students, in groups, work together to develop a five-paragraph essay that defends the group's viewpoint on an assigned topic. Each student in the group writes one paragraph.