In this lesson, students are taught to use the Haiku format as a way to solidify the theme of their paper.  First students learn about the traditional Haiku structure, and then use the structure to reflect on the cohesiveness of the main ideas in a paper they have written.

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.

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.

*students will use brainstorming and mind mapping tools/activities to outline their writing process; they will use the following: bubbl.us--this is a mind-mapping tool

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.

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.

A template to use to help students develop a flash fiction plot. The plot structure is used as an outline to help keep students on track. This template only works for flash fiction and would need to be modified for narrative writing. You may copy the outline and edit as necessary. 

What is scary, and why does it fascinate us? How do writers and storytellers scare us? This lesson plan invites students to answer these questions by exploring their own scary stories and scary short stories and books. The lesson culminates in a Fright Fair, where students share scary projects that they have created, including posters, multimedia projects, and creative writing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"The Lady Sings the Blues" is a multi-modal murder mystery project created as a model for use with freshmen in their final writing unit for Honors English.  In a multi-modal writing project, students can incorporate images, sound (music, podcasts, voice-overs), video, animation, clip art, etc. into their writing. Students will create and publish a variety of genres which will each give clues for the reader to discover "who done it."

Remix this template to upload your WISELearn Grant lesson and unit plans into WISELearn

After reading The Odyssey, students will write their own hero's journey narrative using Joseph Campbell's twelve steps of the hero's journey. Although students may choose to write a story set in Greek mythology, they can choose any setting for their story. Before writing, the students will discuss the hero journey in the Odyssey and popular books and movies. Then they will write their own hero's journey story with an original character and plot. Students will be assessed on development of their introduction, plot, and conclusion as well as character development, setting, and theme (lesson learned.) They will also be assessed on their organization (structure and transitions), style, voice, and mechanics. This unit was created for a classroom of tier two and tier three students who often struggle with organizing their thoughts for writing.

This iTunes U course/lesson is an overview of how to write a MELCON paragraph. In order to access the course, one must first access iTunes U through the Apple iTunes store, and then search for Paragraph Writing within the Courses category. The course is free and accessible on PCs and iOS devices.

Students will learn persuasive techniques used in advertising, specifically, pathos or emotion, logos or logic, and ethos or credibility/character. They will use this knowledge to analyze advertising in a variety of sources: print, television, and Web-based advertising. Students will also explore the concepts of demographics and marketing for a specific audience. The lesson will culminate in the production of an advertisement in one of several various forms of media, intended for a specific demographic.

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.