This collection uses primary sources to explore the poetry of Maya Angelou. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Populist Movement. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the postwar growth of the American suburbs. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This video demonstrates how one teacher uses word and inference walls in the classroom to preview a reading selection. Students learn vocabulary and preview the text's content through these activities. This lesson specifically ties into the teaching of The Outsiders, but it could be applied to any content area.

We define common assessments as teacher-developed assessments, designed around courses where the same standards are assessed, questions are asked, and scoring rubrics are used by each course teacher. (We say this: if you cannot score another teacher's assessments, then your assessments are not common.)
This document poses a process with questions for content teachers to discuss, so that they can identify the standards they want to build common assessments around, and begin the work of creating together. In addition to content standards, the assessment needs to include a writing task based on standard W9: citing textual evidence when analyzing, reflecting, or researching.

Students can use the Profile Publisher to mock up or draft online social networking profiles, yearbook profiles, and newspaper or magazine profiles for themselves, other real people (including historical figures), or fictional characters. The tool could also be used for profiles of nonhuman living creatures, inanimate objects or abstract concepts (e.g., profile of an amoeba, an historical monument, or friendship).

This is an instructional video that addresses the basics of making pronouns and antecedents agree and explains the rules that govern use of indefinite pronouns.

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.

This is a project that can be used individually or with groups.  It includes detailed instructions and rubric.

This collection uses primary sources to explore Puerto Rican migration to the US. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This interactive resource allows students to watch instructional videos and practice punctuation skills with a self-check component.  The punctuation included are commas, periods, semicolons, colons, quotation marks, exclamation marks, hyphens, and dashes.

The Purdue Owl provides style guides (MLA and APA) for writing and teaching writing, research, grammar and mechanics, ESL (English as a Second Language) and professional writing. The Purdue Online Writing Lab links to Purdue OWL Vidcasts, APA Formatting and Style Guide, MLA 2009 Formatting and Style Guide, Avoiding Plagiarism, Writing the basic business letter, and developing a resume.

Purdue Owl is a comprehensive style and grammar guide for all aspects of writing. The site offers over 200 free resources including:
Writing and Teaching WritingGrammar and MechanicsStyle GuidesESL (English as a Second Language)Job Search and Professional Writing
It is the best and most current resource for guidelines in citation, grammar, puncuation and other stylistic aspects of writing. It is best used to look up answers to speciific questions in regard to usage.

Quill is our web-based tool that provides personalized, interactive writing lessons for middle school students. Each of the activities is built directly from the Common Core State Standards. Quill focuses on a single standard, and breaks it down into lessons that can be completed in 10-15 minutes. Grammar is an essential part of forming cohesive writing; it never exists in a vacuum. As such, in Quill's sentence writing activities, they require learners to rewrite the entire sentence correctly, not just choose a multiple choice answer or fill in the blank. The proofreading passages are filled with grammatical mistakes. In each of the passages, the student’s job is to identify and fix each of the errors. Quill then highlights the student’s own errors and provides a follow-up lesson on those particular subject areas. In both activities, students receive immediate feedback and are encouraged to repeat assignments until they achieve proficiency. Teachers can track which students are struggling with certain concepts and provide individualized instruction to suit their needs.

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.

This collection uses primary sources to explore Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This is a student activity that has groups or individual students creating a music video around an Edgar Allan Poe story.  They need to read a short story by Poe, summarize it in lyric form and then create a music video on WiVideo.  The grading rubric is included with the assignment as well as story suggestions.

This collection uses primary sources to explore Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

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. 

Real-world writing allows students and teachers to connect the dots between writing in the classroom by classifying writing into six areas: Express and Reflect; Inform and Explain; Evaluate and Judge; Inquire and Explore; Analyze and Interpret; Take a Stand/Propose a Solution.