English
& Literature Lesson Plans
Electronic Encyclopedia: Research Activity
Along with traditional reference sources, students can now access
relevant, up-to-date information via electronic references. Using
groups of related persons, places and things students will research
factual information, with the eventual goal of presenting findings to
the class using presentation software.
ClarisWorks: Writing Activity
Students learn about the Holocaust in seventh grade, but are then
as eighth-graders are given the opportunity to experience it on a
more personal level as they read the play The Diary of Anne Frank .
Acting the play out in class provides them an almost firsthand
knowledge of Anne. They are then better able to identify with Anne as
a person, and therefore allow the Holocaust experience to almost come
alive. It is at this point that it is valuable for them to write on
the subject in order to further synthesize their feelings and
reactions.
ClarisWorks and Scanner (optional)
After reading a biography, students will create a newsletter
report about the subject of the biography. The report will include
five paragraphs and a list of interesting additional facts.
ClarisWorks Creating a Slide
Show
After learning the elements of a short story and
reading/critiquing several children's books and authors, students
will write, revise, and publish an original children's book which
incorporates the elements of a short story.
ClarisWorks
This newspaper is designed as a culminating activity for a unit in
which we read an abridged text of The Iliad.
This newsletter is designed to familiarize eighth grade students
with the process of creating all of the elements of a newsletter.
This activity includes background information, grade sheets,
directions for creating a newsletter and a sample newsletter.
ClarisWorks, Internet and Groliers Encyclopedia
Students will explore an Internet web site and/or the Groliers
Encyclopedia to investigate a famous person who shares their
birthday. Students will write a five paragraph
comparison and contrast essay on their findings. Finally,
students will use the writing process through the ClarisWorks word
processing.
ClarisWorks and Slide Show
Many students have a mental block when it comes to poetry. By
analyzing words, phrases and levels of meaning, the students will put
the poetic interpretations back together to understand the poem.
ClarisWorks and Slide Show
After classroom instruction investigating advertising techniques,
students will use ClarisWorks to create magazine ads for products or
services they create.
ClairsWorks and Internet
Students will read a biography and one or two other sources
related to the same person focusing on what this person has
discovered, invented, or achieved. Included will be the actions and
decisions made by the person to accomplish such importance.
Computer and multimedia software
Prior to working on the slide show, students will have learned
about literary terms and poetic devices; defined terms and devices;
been provided sample poems and model analyses; practiced analyzing
poems as a large group, in small groups or pairs, and individually;
written their own examples. Students will then go to the school
library to “browse” through poetry books. They, as pairs or
individually, will select and copy one poem with which to work during
slide show preparation. They will analyze and mark their copy of the
poem, planning possible ways to visually highlight the applicable
literary terms and the devices used by the poet. In the computer lab,
students will use ClarisWorks slide show or other software such as
PowerPoint to create a presentation of their selected poems. They
will use the graphics library to insert for visual imagery.
Computer with internet access
In English class, students will have viewed the documentary
Anne Frank Remembered and read the play The Diary of Anne
Frank. As a tribute to Anne’s memory, students will type
their original poems and then visit the Anne Frank web site. At the
web site, they will select one or two photos of Anne to insert into
their poems
Haiku books, posters, art supplies: water colors, paintbrushes,
white construction paper. Computer lab (for one day), with
ClarisWorks.
Students will learn about Japanese haiku poetry, write and
illustrate their own haiku poem, and share them with the class.
Computer lab, Internet access to ESPN SportsZone, spreadsheet
and word processing software, copy of “Casey at the
Bat.”
After reading “Casey at the Bat” and discussing the
sports “hero,” students use the Internet to research real
baseball heroes. In groups, students compare individual baseball
players’ hitting and/or pitching statistics and nominate one
baseball hero per group. Students then justify their conclusions by
creating spreadsheets and generating graphs of the data. Finally,
students individually write a short editorial which incorporates a
graph and tells why their player is a hero based on overall
achievement as well as statistics.
Library, Classroom, Computer Lab, Scanner, ClarisWorks, Poetry
book of Shakespeare Sonnets, The Complete Works of Shakespeare,
Internet
This lesson should capitalize on the recent interest in the Bard.
When the young Shakespeare spots his Viola in the recent movie,
Shakespeare in Love, he is inspired to write a sonnet. The
sonnet is one of the favorite lyrical forms of poetry during the last
five centuries. The students will focus on the Shakespearian sonnet
as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the
particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the
rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative language. The
analysis will be presented as a slide show of five slides. The
students will then render an oral presentation accompanied by their
slide show.
Computer lab with Internet connections, selected short stories,
school library
The students will research the accuracy of an author’s work
in a short piece of writing and assess that accuracy in a
multi-paragraph paper. This is to prepare them for a multi-page paper
assessing the accuracy of an historical novel.
Media Center, Computer Lab
After classroom lessons on the reading and interpretation of
poetry, note-taking, and correctly citing works, students will work
in pairs to research the life and poetry of a selected poet. Students
will use ProQuest and Poetry Links as well as traditional media
center materials for their research. Students will organize their
notes and will use the acquired information to create a newsletter
about their poet and his/her poetry in the computer lab.
Computers with a word processing program and Internet
accessibility, and a library with reference materials
Students chose a contemporary civic-life issue, researched their
topic to form and defend an argument, and wrote a five paragraph
persuasive essay with bibliography to cite their sources. Most of the
work for this project was done in class. Students researched in the
library, studied and practiced essay format in English class, studied
and discussed the constitution as a basis for making informed
decisions in civics, and drafted, revised, and edited for final copy
quality in the computer lab.
Computer with internet
Students will simulate the experience of being on an evaluation
committee to recommend purchase of a classroom set of novels by a
contemporary author. They will read biographies of current authors and
lists of their novels to retrieve relevant, up-to-date electronic
research on a search engine, calculate the cost to purchase one class
set of a selected novel, and use word-processing skills to compose,
edit, revise, and publish a memorandum.
Computer Lab, Macs with Internet Access and ClarisWorks, copies
of the novel The Giver
This is the culminating project for a unit on the novel The
Giver. Students, in groups of four, will trace the development of
one of two themes from the novel--alienation or Utopia--in a series
of group slide show presentations. Each group
willview the development of the theme
from the point of view of Jonas, the main character.
OUT OF THE DUST novel, computer/2 students, floppy
disc/2 students, Internet access T.V. and monitor for the final
presentations
Students will read the novel OUT OF THE DUST in English
classes. They will select a topic pertaining to the Dust Bowl with a
partner; research the topic on the Internet and save to a disc;
prepare a slide show using ClarisWorks Draw; and present their slide
show with narrative to a selected audience.
Computers, newspapers, magazines, cd roms pertaining to a
variety of careers
Students will research careers, produce a six framed slide show
depicting the information they have researched, and present this
slideshow to classmates. This slideshow will be a compilation of
primary and secondary sources, as well as student's concepts of how
this career will shape his/her future.
Rough draft of book report, computer with internet
Book report with visuals.
Computer with internet and multimedia software
In this lesson, students will use the Internet to find a poem that
they would like to research and analyze. They will then create an
informal paper on the poem and create a ClarisWorks slide
presentation to explain the poem to classmates.
Newspaper articles, digital camera, Adobe Photo Shop software,
computers with ClarisWorks
This is typically a fun assignment at the beginning of the school
year because it facilitates an opportunity for students to get to
know each other and for the teacher to get to know the students.
Students write questions to get the most information, interview
another student, and then write a front-page news story or a feature
story about the person interviewed. News stories will be published
and shared with other team students and parents.
Computer for each student; Internet access; ClarisWorks
Using the Internet, students will investigate the history,
inventor, refinements, manufacturers, distribution and price ranges
of ordinary household products. They will prepare a multi-paragraph
research paper with bibliography, and make an oral presentation of
their findings.
Access to the school library and/or computer lab, audio- visual
equipment.
This lesson is intended to be an introduction to a unit on Anne
Frank. It will incorporate prior knowledge from 7th grade social
studies and English as well as reinforce skills already covered in
English 8. Students will choose from a teacher approved list of
topics related to Anne Frank and the Holocaust. They will be required
to give a three to five minute oral presentation on their topic.
Students will use a variety of resources to research topics. These
resources mayinclude encyclopedias,
nonfiction books, CD-Rom sources and the Internet. Students will be
required to provide a visual aid which they will explain in the
course of their presentation. In addition to contributing suggestions
for assessment criteria, they will engage in peer and self
assessments.
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