After reading To Kill a Mockingbird, students will continue to study the theme of taking a stand as they finish the novel. They will develop their argument writing skills through scaffolded writing lessons, culminating in a literary analysis essay in which they argue whether or not it made sense, based on Atticus’s character, for him to have taken a stand and defend Tom Robinson.

This introductory Blogging Rubric can be used with any "blogging" assignment.  It is very basic but covers what is expected of the students. 

After studying utopian literature, students design their own utopian society, publishing the explanation of their ideal world on a blog. As they blog about their utopia, students establish the habits, practices, and organizing social structures that citizens will follow in their utopian societies. They begin by brainstorming ideas about what a perfect society would be like and then, in groups, begin to plan their project. Next, they become familiar with the blogging process, including legal guidelines and the specific site they will be using. Over several class sessions, students work on their blogs comparing their work to a rubric. Finally, after students visit one another's blogs and provide constructive and supportive feedback, they reflect on their own work. The lesson plan includes alternative handouts for classrooms where computer or blog access is limited. In this alternative, students complete the same basic activities, but publish their work using a Flip Book.

This unit focuses on aspects of argumentation
involving evidence, reasoning, and logic, rather
than on persuasive writing and speaking. Students are first expected to understand objectively a
complex issue through exploratory inquiry and
close reading of information on the topic, then
study multiple perspectives on the issue before
they establish their own position. From their
reading and research, they are asked to craft an
argumentative plan that explains and supports
their position, acknowledges the perspectives and
positions of others, and uses evidence gleaned
through close reading and analysis to support
their claims.

The lesson and activities teach students to recognize and explore bias and media stereotyping and be able to identify and analyze propaganda techniques in magazine and//or TV advertising.

In this lesson, high school students look critically at the literary work "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe and its 1961 film interpretation. They use prediction strategies to form and refine their opinions about the story line progression in each work. They read the short story, screen the film, discuss reactions to both works, and plan and write a persuasive essay analyzing the validity of the film interpretation. This lesson is ideally suited for students who have experience with persuasive writing, and it can be adapted to work with any literature-film pairing.

Students will perform a close reading of Mark Antony's monologue by cutting the text by 50%. Students will evaluate use of tone within the speech and choose appropriate tone words for the monologue. Students will perform the monologue for the class.
This activity could be used with other monologues as well as speeches.

Students use research and observation data (field trip) to objectively rank potential career opportunities to help guide their individual career choice and pathway.

Learning goals/objectives:

After completing this unit, students should be able to utilize an objective method for evaluating potential careers. Students will determine what career types and opportunities are best suited to themselves personally and defend their choices.

When students write argumentative or persuasive essays, they often ignore the viewpoints of their opponents, the potential readers of their essays. In this minilesson, students respond to a hypothetical situation by writing about their position on the subject. After sharing their thoughts with the class, students consider the opposite point of view and write about arguments for that position. They then compare their position with that of their potential audience, looking for areas of overlap. They then revise their arguments, with the audience's point of view and areas of commonality in mind. Examining the opposing view allows students to better decide how to counter their opponent logically, perhaps finding common ground from which their arguments might grow. Thus, the activity becomes a lesson not only in choosing arguments but also in anticipating audience reaction and adapting to it.

This is an activity exploring Shakespeare's use of sonnets in Romeo and Juliet. It explicitly explores the sonnet between Romeo and Juliet in the scene where they meet each other. Students will explore the structure of a Petrarchan sonnet and analyze whether the sonnet in Act 1 fulfills the requirements of the Petrarchan sonnet. This would be a part of a larger Romeo and Juliet unit.

This article presents a lesson plan for teaching students how to write persuasive essays and other texts. Specifically, the authors present examples for teaching the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in persuasive writing.

This website offers a free, reliable, and easily accessible source of information that shows both sides of today's controversial issues. It is created by a nonprofit public charity and has been online since 2004. The mission statement of this site is: "Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format." The site follows strict guidelines for bias and strives to ensure that even the graphic and color choices won't sway you to one side of a topic or the other.

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.

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a rich text full of difficult language and complex themes. It is still a common text for high school students to read because of the connections to real life. Through this activity, students will be reading informational texts, watching video clips, and discussing how the theme of forbidden love is prominent in the 21st century. Students will become familiar with a Romeo and Juliet story from the 1990s, but also make connections to life today. This resource is available for free on Teacherspayteachers.com with registration. 

This lesson allows students to explore the different sides associated with the issue of slavery. It can be used for either cross-content lessons between English and Social Studies, as part of an argument unit in English, or as part of a larger unit in Social Studies. The learning objectives for the lesson are that students are able to identify those who are for and against slavery, understand how people used the U.S. Constitution to support their reasons for/against slavery, and the economic argument for or against slavery.

Your students will apply their knowledge of letters and letter sounds as they play games and interact with letters online, using what they see and learn to create their own ABC book.