Contains plans for two lessons that ask students to apply Freytag's Pyramid (also known as Freytag's Triangle) to pieces of writing, oral storytelling, and television shows. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities. PowerPoint and Flash-based tools are included.

Students learn that the plot structure described by Freytag's Pyramid is actually quite familiar as they diagram the plots of a familiar story, a television show, and a narrative poem.

Students really get into character in this lesson as they act out the parts of a script and analyze character motivations and dialogue.

After reading John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player," students write poems describing themselves five years in the future. The teacher takes the poems and mails them to students in five years.

This online lesson makes use of concrete poems to teach the structure and form of poetry. Uses a "Columbus Day," theme for the lesson, but can be used any time of the year.

Students improve their reading fluency by selecting a poem online to perform in class.

Students will learn how to use theory to practice methods to help them discuss the meaning of written texts. Student objectives and instructional plans are provided. Some resources on this link may need additional software to operate (i.e. video).

Students put their heads together in a poetry circle to learn and practice different forms of poetry.

Teach your students about sentence structure, rhyming words, sight words, vocabulary, and print concepts using a weekly poem.

Students' groans about studying poetry may disappear with this lesson in which students read poetry from various writers and use these poems to examine the sounds and sense of language.

Lesson that gently encourages the teaching of poetry in "nonthreatening" ways. Stresses reading and listening, discussion, and the examination of the sound and sense of poetry.

Lesson allows students to examine the various views of American perspective through studying three poems by diverse poets: "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman, "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes, and "On the Pulse of Morning" by Maya Angelou. An excellent resource and lesson for students. RL.9-10.10a&b text complexity, RL.11-12.6 Irony/Satire/etc, RL.11-12.7 Multi Interpretations, RL.11-12.10a/b Text Complexity

Working in small groups, students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading.

This lesson teaches students to create an original poem based on select words and phrases from a prose piece. Also encourages students to model poetic forms after found poems.

Students deepen and refine their understanding of prepositions by reading Ruth Heller's Behind the Mask. They write preposition poetry and create a study guide using an online tool.

Engage middle school students in a meaningful study of the lives of students from across the globe through the use of contemporary nonfiction and fiction. Students create personal autobiographies, sequence story events, and prepare well-crafted summaries while learning to use higher-level comprehension strategies such as Question-Answer Relationships and the Bio-Cube. Additionally, students conduct a critical study of the NCSS Notable Tradebook Nasreen̍s Secret School: A True Story From Afghanistan by Jeanette Winter, comparing and contrasting their own lives to Nasreen̍s and expanding their geographical knowledge of the Middle East.

The Postcard Creator helps students learn to identify all the typical parts of a postcard, and then generate their own postcard messages by typing information into letter templates. After printing their texts, students can illustrate the front of their postcards in a variety of ways, including drawing, collage, and stickers.

Where did the stars come from? What makes lightning and thunder? Pourquoi tales are narratives developed by various cultures around the world to explain natural phenomena. Students study three tales and learn about their cultures of origin, then work cooperatively to write and present an original pourquoi tale.

Students create their own monster trading cards using "powerful," vivid language to describe their creatures.

Contains plans for eight short lessons that introduce nonfiction texts to second grade students. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.