Browse results: Writing and Speaking
| RESOURCE | GRADE LEVEL | MEDIA TYPE |
|---|---|---|
Abraham Lincoln: A Good Man? or A Good Man!In this lesson, students use video from American Masters: Bill T. Jones: A Good Man along with primary sources to investigate the life of Lincoln and write a one page argument essay on whether Lincoln was "a good man." |
9-12 |
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Analyzing and Comparing Perspectives on Issues - GorillasStudents compare and contrast their perspectives on raising gorillas in captivity with their peers and with scientists. They summarize their perspectives and the perspectives of others. |
5-12 |
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Analyzing an Issue From Three Perspectives - Smoking in Public PlacesStudents note various perspectives on the debate about smoking in public places in NYC and create an interview to research the perspectives of peers and community members. They write a report to present their findings and opinion on the issue. |
6-8 |
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Cause and Effect Relationships - Silence of the BeesStudents write an essay that synthesizes the cause and effect relationship the disappearance of bees will cause. |
6-8 |
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A Character's Perspective - Colonial HouseStudents watch a video segment that shows the reactions of colonists and native people when they encounter one another for the first time during a colony settlement reenactment. Students then select a character and write a letter from that character’s point of view that describes the meeting. |
6-8 |
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Character Development: Cancer - A New TreatmentStudents will answer questions about what motivated chemical engineer Mark Davis to search for a better treatment for his wife's cancer. They then complete a journal entry in which they compare his motivations and goals to those they’ve established for themselves. |
6-12 |
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Character Motivation - Sapelo Island CultureStudents write a poem (using simile and flashback) about the culture of Sapelo Island. They read their poems for an audience. |
6-8 |
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Collecting and Organizing Facts From Multiple Sources - Flowering PlantsStudents take notes on two videos about flowering plants and organize the information to write a cohesive essay about the topic. |
6-8 |
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Compare and Contrast Information from Multiple Sources - Wolong's PandasStudents compare and contrast information from three sources to determine the reasons that contributed to panda population decline. They draw conclusions from these sources by writing their own paragraphs. |
5-7 |
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Comparing and Contrasting - Explorers of Yesterday and TodayStudents write essays that compare and contrast two explorers of Yellowstone National Park, Tom Murphy, a modern day explorer and photographer and John Colter, an explorer who traveled across the same area almost 200 years ago. |
6-8 |
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Comparing and Contrasting Information and Forming an Opinion - Santiago and MorrisStudents use a T-Chart to take notes and then write a compare/contrast paragraph about a therapy dog. |
5-7 |
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Condense, Combine or Categorize New Information - Your Brain and Moral Decision-MakingStudents watch a video showing an experiment on how the brain responds when making moral decisions. They then synthesize information to create a summary paragraph that describes the experiment and the conclusions presented. |
6-8 |
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Connections Between Texts - Maya Lin and Jane JacobsStudents write and perform a Readers’ Theater script in which two characters, Maya Lin and Jane Jacobs, talk to each other about their ideas about architecture and life. |
6-8 |
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Connections to Personal Experiences - Bees? Yikes!Students make connections between a video about bees and their own personal experiences through a poem written for two voices. |
5-7 |
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Creating a Hypothesis - The Intelligent RobotStudents watch a video segment that discusses developing intelligent robots, and then write paragraphs that provide detailed hypotheses of results that could come from this endeavor. |
6-12 |
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Creating Literary Texts - Finding Homes for PetsStudents write and illustrate a persuasive book to convince readers to adopt a pet. |
5-7 |
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Describing Characters - Cloud GrowsStudents learn about characterization by studying and taking notes on the growth of a white stallion. |
5-12 |
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Designing a Poster to Communicate Information: Yellowstone National ParkWhile watching a short video segment about Yellowstone National Park, students take notes they later use to create an interesting and infomative poster. |
3-6 |
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Determining Main Idea and Supporting Details - Wild in the CityStudents use a graphic organizer to record important details and determine the main idea of a video segment. They use the organizer to write an informational paragraph about parakeets in the city. |
4-7 |
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Developing Supporting Ideas - A Garden Grows in BrooklynStudents design and draw a garden and give reasons to support why their garden is important to the neighborhood. |
3-6 |
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Drawing Conclusions - Miss NavajoStudents watch a video documenting the Navajo language portion of the Miss Navajo Nation beauty contest, determine the main responsibilities of the winner of Miss Navajo Nation and complete graphic organizers to write paragraphs that highlight these details and explain their inferences. |
6-8 |
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Drawing Conclusions and Comparing/Contrasting - The EvergladesStudents take notes to determine the most important information given in a video segment and written text. They compare the information and draw written conclusions about the importance of studying the pig frog and the Everglades. |
4-8 |
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Following Directions - Ndakinna Wilderness ProjectStudents create a diagram with captions and a drawing to communicate information about camouflaging. |
5-8 |
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Forming an Opinion with Organizational Elements - Cats, Yesterday and TodayStudents use a graphic organizer to list facts about the role of cats throughout history. They then write a paragraph stating an informed opinion about cats' most important role. |
5-12 |
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How Different Authors Treat Similar Themes - Elephants of AfricaStudents take notes of the details of two different documentaries on similar themes. They use their notes to write a script and devise storyboards for their own documentary about elephants. |
6-8 |
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Identifying Characteristics - Anansi, the SpiderStudents identify the specific traits of Anansi, a popular character in African folklore, by completing a character web. |
2-5 |
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Identifying Cultural Influences - City HorsesStudents determine how culture influences a group of people’s involvement with horses and write a story in response to the video. |
4-6 |
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Identifying Different Kinds of Sentences - The Peacock’s FeathersUsing a chart, students identify four sentence types within a short summary. |
6-8 |
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Identifying Important and Unimportant Details - An Ornithologist's JobStudents distinguish between important and unimportant details and, acting as news reporters, write an article about the job of an ornithologist. |
4-8 |
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Identifying Information - The Dogon of AfricaStudents complete a chart to categorize information and identify missing, conflicting, unclear, and irrelevant information in a video. |
6-8 |
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Identifying Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives - Dogs That Changed the WorldStudents identify social, cultural, and historical perspectives regarding the importance of dogs in the past and present. They write and illustrate list poems that incorporate each perspective. |
5-8 |
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Identifying the Social and Cultural Context of a Period - The New Negro and the Harlem RenaissanceStudents write an essay summarizing the social and cultural changes in African American life and attitudes during the Harlem Renaissance. |
6-8 |
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The Importance of Setting to a Story - Pesky CrittersStudents take notes on a video segment and write an essay detailing how setting (time, place and environment) influence a story. |
4-6 |
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Interpreting Characters, Setting, Plot, and Theme - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory DisasterStudents watch a video segment chronicling the tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Using a story elements graphic organizer, students determine the various elements of the story and arrange them in the correct order on the organizer. |
6-8 |
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Making Predictions - The Injured OtterStudents watch a video segment that shows a young injured otter’s attempts to locate his missing family. Then they predict what happens next and then write a narrative account of these events from three possible points of view: the injured otter, the filmmaker or an animal behaviorist. |
6-10 |
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Perspectives of the Gullah Geechee People - Sapelo IslandStudents use information they record on a Speaker Graphic Organizer to write a paragraph about the perspectives of the Gullah Geechee People. |
5-8 |
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Point of View - Sharing a Perspective on MusicStudents share their opinions on music and write two critiques of a band playing the “St. Louis Blues,” one from their own point of view and one from that of a music critic. They reflect upon how their point of view influenced their opinion. |
6-8 |
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Point of View - RhinocerosStudents write a journal entry in which they imagine themselves as the rhinoceros and describe its journey to a new preserve. |
6-8 |
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Producing Clear Directions - TrackersStudents write directions for how to make and use a tracking stick. Peers test and assess the clarity of the directions. |
4-7 |
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Public Speaking and Persuasion - Improve Your School!Students will then describe ways in which they would like to improve their school by making an oral presentation to persuade the audience to agree with their ideas. Students are evaluated on their public speaking skills and their ability to be persuasive. |
6-12 |
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Reading Charts and Tables – Garden SpidersStudents read a chart that reflects information about garden spiders in the segment and then answer a series of questions using the chart. |
3-5 |
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Recording Information to Write a Report - Kids Who Volunteer in Their CommunitiesStudents write a report on kids’ volunteer activities. |
3-6 |
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Reporting from Multiple Sources - The Roles of Dogs in Three SocietiesStudents take notes to organize relevant facts and ideas from three video segments about the roles dogs play in different cultures or societies. They use their notes to write a multi-paragraph essay. |
5-8 |
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Storytelling: Oral TraditionsStudents talk about what makes a good story, look at the oral tradition of storytelling, and compare and contrast stories from two different cultural traditions. This is one of four storytelling lessons. |
4-6 |
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Storytelling: Tales of Everyday LifeStudents explore how events from everyday life can become stories, and how different types of narratives—such as ships' logs and journals—can tell the story of the same event. This is one of four storytelling lessons. |
4-6 |
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Storytelling: Writers' WorkshopStudents draw on their understanding of different types of narratives to inspire and enrich their own storytelling. This is one of four storytelling lessons. |
4-6 |
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Summarizing - Squirrel RehabilitationStudents use a graphic organizer to summarize important information from a video segment. They use their notes to write a summary of the video segment. |
4-7 |
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Summary, Symbolism and Levels of Meaning - The Healing TotemStudents write a summary of a video segment and then rewrite it after a discussion of the video’s symbolism. They reflect on how an understanding of the symbolism influenced their ability to summarize and comprehend the segment. |
6-8 |
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Supporting Opinions - Ken from JapanStudents write an essay that expresses and supports their opinions about how their schooling compares to a Japanese student’s. |
6-8 |
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Use of Symbolism to Convey the Author's Message - The Negro Speaks of RiversStudents identify and interpret literary devices, symbolism and first-person narration as well as answer critical thinking questions and write a paragraph about a Langston Hughes poem. |
6-8 |
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