GIST is a strategy to help students write brief, accurate, and complete summaries of material they read. In this lesson students work together summarizing larger and larger portions of text, but keeping their summaries at 25 words or fewer. Students will be able to summarize portions of informational or literary text. Students will be able to work in small groups to think critically about and discuss text.

In this module, students read, discuss, and analyze nonfiction and dramatic texts, focusing on how the authors convey and develop central ideas concerning imbalance, disorder, tragedy, mortality, and fate.

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

In this module, students will read, discuss, and analyze contemporary and classic texts, focusing on how complex characters develop through interactions with one another and how authors structure text to accomplish that development. There will be a strong emphasis on reading closely and responding to text dependent questions, annotating text, and developing academic vocabulary in context.

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

In this module, students engage with literature and nonfiction texts that develop central ideas of guilt, obsession, and madness, among others. Building on work with evidence-based analysis and debate in Module 1, students will produce evidence-based claims to analyze the development of central ideas and text structure. Students will develop and strengthen their writing by revising and editing, and refine their speaking and listening skills through discussion-based assessments.

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

Students further develop close reading skills as they
examine Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The
tragedy of Hamlet develops many
central ideas, including revenge, mortality, madness, and the tension between
action and inaction. Students analyze the play through the close study of
Hamlet’s soliloquies and other key scenes to determine how Shakespeare’s
language and choices about how to structure the play impact character
development and central ideas. The showing of a filmed version of the play in
select lessons supplements students’ understanding of plot and background
points and encourages them to consider actors’ interpretations of the text.

Students read a work of realistic fiction about bullying and gain understanding through writing, Readers Theatre, and discussion.

Collaborative, self-directed learners use a variety of reading strategies to analyze, understand, and create personal enrichment, inquiry, and problem solve when engaging with Markus Zusak's historical fiction novel, The Book Thief. Students will learn about the backdrop of the novel in the Holocaust era of World War II through multi-faceted activities like documentaries, web quests, news articles, and first-hand accounts to better understand how the set of a novel affects the plot and character development. An additional layer of inquiry derives from a literary perspective: exploring character motivations and relationships, color symbolism, figurative language, point-of-view, and theme.

Collaborative, self-directed learners use a variety of reading strategies to analyze, understand, and create personal enrichment, inquiry, and problem solve when engaging with Markus Zusak's historical fiction novel, The Book Thief. Students will learn about the backdrop of the novel in the Holocaust era of World War II through multi-faceted activities like documentaries, web quests, news articles, and first-hand accounts to better understand how the set of a novel affects the plot and character development. An additional layer of inquiry derives from a literary perspective: exploring character motivations and relationships, color symbolism, figurative language, point-of-view, and theme.

Students develop close reading skills as they examine Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. The play develops many thematic concepts such as the strength of family, issues with conflicting expectations, and stereotyping and prejudice. Students analyze the play through the close study of scenes and character development as well as the examination of symbolism, language choices, and structure. Students will also view a film version of the play to enhance understanding as well as analyze some poetry.

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Students discuss a photograph and decide on an appropriate caption, using the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning strategy. Activity focuses on improving discussion skills among students and close reading skills. Using a photograph makes this activity accessible to students at all levels of language learning.

Silent Discussion takes the strengths of a well-managed verbal classroom discussion and moves into a written discussion. Some of the benefits of this move include: all students participate; students practice writing in a low-stakes, social format; and students engage with content skills and knowledge.