Lesson Plan List for: Writing and Speaking

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Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
Analyzing and Comparing Perspectives on Issues - Gorillas Students 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	Lesson Plan
Analyzing an Issue From Three Perspectives - Smoking in Public Places Students 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	Lesson Plan
Cause and Effect Relationships - Silence of the Bees Students write an essay that synthesizes the cause and effect relationship the disappearance of bees will cause.	6-8	Lesson Plan
A Character's Perspective - Colonial House Students 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	Lesson Plan
Character Development: Cancer - A New Treatment Students 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	Lesson Plan
Character Motivation - Sapelo Island Culture Students write a poem (using simile and flashback) about the culture of Sapelo Island. They read their poems for an audience.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Collecting and Organizing Facts From Multiple Sources - Flowering Plants Students take notes on two videos about flowering plants and organize the information to write a cohesive essay about the topic.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Compare and Contrast Information from Multiple Sources - Wolong's Pandas Students 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	Lesson Plan
Comparing and Contrasting - Explorers of Yesterday and Today Students 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	Lesson Plan
Comparing and Contrasting Information and Forming an Opinion - Santiago and Morris Students use a T-Chart to take notes and then write a compare/contrast paragraph about a therapy dog.	5-7	Lesson Plan
Condense, Combine or Categorize New Information - Your Brain and Moral Decision-Making Students 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	Lesson Plan
Connections Between Texts - Maya Lin and Jane Jacobs Students 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	Lesson Plan
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	Lesson Plan
Creating a Hypothesis - The Intelligent Robot Students 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	Lesson Plan
Creating Literary Texts - Finding Homes for Pets Students write and illustrate a persuasive book to convince readers to adopt a pet.	5-7	Lesson Plan
Describing Characters - Cloud Grows Students learn about characterization by studying and taking notes on the growth of a white stallion.	5-12	Lesson Plan
Determining Main Idea and Supporting Details - Wild in the City Students 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	Lesson Plan
Developing Supporting Ideas - A Garden Grows in Brooklyn Students design and draw a garden and give reasons to support why their garden is important to the neighborhood.	3-6	Lesson Plan
Drawing Conclusions - Miss Navajo Students 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	Lesson Plan
Drawing Conclusions and Comparing/Contrasting - The Everglades Students 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	Lesson Plan
Following Directions - Ndakinna Wilderness Project Students create a diagram with captions and a drawing to communicate information about camouflaging.	5-8	Lesson Plan
Forming an Opinion with Organizational Elements - Cats, Yesterday and Today Students 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	Lesson Plan
How Different Authors Treat Similar Themes - Elephants of Africa Students 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	Lesson Plan
Identify Cultural Influences - Hiawatha Students identify aspects of Native American life represented in the poem Hiawatha.	5-8	Lesson Plan
Identifying Characteristics - Anansi, the Spider Students identify the specific traits of Anansi, a popular character in African folklore, by completing a character web.	2-5	Lesson Plan
Identifying Cultural Influences - City Horses Students determine how culture influences a group of people’s involvement with horses and write a story in response to the video.	4-6	Lesson Plan
Identifying Different Kinds of Sentences - The Peacock’s Feathers Using a chart, students identify four sentence types within a short summary.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Identifying Important and Unimportant Details - An Ornithologist's Job Students distinguish between important and unimportant details and, acting as news reporters, write an article about the job of an ornithologist.	4-8	Lesson Plan
Identifying Information - The Dogon of Africa Students complete a chart to categorize information and identify missing, conflicting, unclear, and irrelevant information in a video.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Identifying Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives - Dogs That Changed the World Students 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	Lesson Plan
Identifying the Social and Cultural Context of a Period - The New Negro and the Harlem Renaissance Students write an essay summarizing the social and cultural changes in African American life and attitudes during the Harlem Renaissance.	6-8	Lesson Plan
The Importance of Setting to a Story - Pesky Critters Students take notes on a video segment and write an essay detailing how setting (time, place and environment) influence a story.	4-6	Lesson Plan
Interpreting Characters, Setting, Plot, and Theme - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Disaster Students will watch a video segment chronicling the tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Using a story elements graphic organizer, students will determine the various elements of the story and arrange them in the correct order on the organizer.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Making Predictions - The Injured Otter Students 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	Lesson Plan
Perspectives of the Gullah Geechee People - Sapelo Island Students use information they record on a Speaker Graphic Organizer to write a paragraph about the perspectives of the Gullah Geechee People.	5-8	Lesson Plan
Point of View - Sharing a Perspective on Music Students 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	Lesson Plan
Point of View - Rhinoceros Students write a journal entry in which they imagine themselves as the rhinoceros and describe its journey to a new preserve.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Producing Clear Directions - Trackers Students write directions for how to make and use a tracking stick. Peers test and assess the clarity of the directions.	4-7	Lesson Plan
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	Lesson Plan
Reading Charts and Tables – Garden Spiders Students read a chart that reflects information about garden spiders in the segment and then answer a series of questions using the chart.	3-5	Lesson Plan
Recording Information to Write a Report - Kids Who Volunteer in Their Communities Students write a report on kids’ volunteer activities.	3-6	Lesson Plan
Reporting from Multiple Sources - The Roles of Dogs in Three Societies Students 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	Lesson Plan
Storytelling: Oral Traditions Students 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	Lesson Plan
Storytelling: Tales of Everyday Life Students 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	Lesson Plan
Storytelling: Writers' Workshop Students 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	Lesson Plan
Summarizing - Squirrel Rehabilitation Students 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	Lesson Plan
Summary, Symbolism and Levels of Meaning - The Healing Totem Students 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	Lesson Plan
Supporting Opinions - Ken from Japan Students write an essay that expresses and supports their opinions about how their schooling compares to a Japanese student’s.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Use of Symbolism to Convey the Author's Message - The Negro Speaks of Rivers Students 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	Lesson Plan
Using Descriptive Language - Inventing Your Own Bug! Students use descriptive language to describe a bug they have invented.	3-5	Lesson Plan
Writing a Biography - Ask Someone to Tell Their Story Students interview a family member or friend and write a short biography of that person.	1-4	Lesson Plan
Writing a Dialogue - A Jazz Conversation Using Collective Improvisation Students create an original dialogue between two characters.	3-5	Lesson Plan
Writing a Fantasy - Creatures in the Sea Students watch a video featuring various sea creatures, assign special characteristics to the sea creatures they see and use their make-believe or fantasy ideas to write an underwater sea fantasy.	1-4	Lesson Plan
Writing an Expository Paragraph Using Time Order - Ndakinna Wilderness Project Students take notes on a video segment and use time-ordering organizational skills to write a paragraph on camouflaging themselves.	4-7	Lesson Plan
Writing an Interpretive Essay to Describe a Theme - The Red Shoes Students practice identifying themes and write about friendship from their personal experiences. They draw conclusions about what makes a person a friend.	3-5	Lesson Plan
Writing Original Literary Texts - The Cuban Crab Migration Students create an original poem using similes and metaphors to describe the migration of Cuban land crabs.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Writing Original Literary Texts - The World of Volcanoes Students will watch a video that shows scientists collecting lava samples from an active volcano. They use similes and A Different Kind of Fuelmetaphors to write an original poem about the segment.	6-10	Lesson Plan
Writing to Publicize an Event - The Cultural Day Festival on Sapelo Island Students create posters to publicize the Cultural Day Festival on Sapelo Island, Georgia.	4-8	Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan List for: Writing and Speaking