61 A WebQuest for Because of Winn-Dixie Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 4–6 Professional Commentary: Web-based searches can build general background knowledge before, after, and during reading, or they can be used to facilitate a deeper understanding of a particular book. In this WebQuest for the book Because of Winn-Dixie, the author combines comprehension activities with Internet searches.... 62 Monsters and Myths: Scripts and Sculpts Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Best Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–10 Professional Commentary: Monsters and Myths: Scripts and Sculpts is a comprehensive interdisciplinary unit pairing English Language Arts and the fine arts. Created by classroom teachers, this unit provides opportunities to develop students' use of critical thinking skills by comparing and contrasting mythic tales, reviewing different versions of the same story, and responding to literature in a variety of... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Construction Technologies Projects: Standards First 63 What Makes a Good Short Story? Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Best Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–10 Professional Commentary: This resource provides a solid introduction to commonly taught literary elements (i.e., point of view, character development, theme and setting) through an analysis of the short story, "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell. At the site, links to excellent supplementary resources including historical essays, literary theory, and an author biography are provided.... 64 Literature Circles Resource Center Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 1–6 Professional Commentary: This resource is designed to support elementary and middle school teachers as they plan and use literature circles in their language arts classrooms. Literature circles help students to establish a purpose for reading and provide an organizational structure to support meaningful discussions of texts.... 65 Build it Up, Trim it Down Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–10 Professional Commentary: This lesson uses a sports writing context for students to practice key reading and writing process skills. Presented with data and highlights about a sporting event, students synthesize the information and write original sports summaries.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 66 Heroes Are Made of This: Studying the Character of Heroes Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–10 Professional Commentary: Designed to explore the hero and the heroic in literature, this lesson provides a sequence of activities, which range from a class discussion defining heroism to using character maps and Venn diagrams to compare multiple characters from one or more works of literature. The lesson provides several suggestions of book titles; however, any novel with a... Career Fields: General Career Skills Projects: Standards First 67 Evaluating Eyewitness Reports Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Best Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–12 Professional Commentary: This resource provides a detailed lesson focused on using eyewitness accounts, representing a range of different perspectives, to write reliable accounts of historical events. Students begin by examining alternative reports of a single event: the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.... Career Fields: Agricultural & Environmental Systems, Government & Public Administration, Health Science, Hospitality & Tourism, Human Services, Law & Public Safety, Manufacturing Technologies, General Career Skills Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 68 Newsworthy Intentions: Exploring the Risky and Edifying Dimensions of Satire Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–12 Professional Commentary: In this lesson, students explore the legal distinction between satire and libel. Students begin by discussing their ideas about humor, then work in small groups to research a libel case.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Information Technology Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 69 Community of Interests: Evaluating Various Aspects of Community Through Local and National News Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–12 Professional Commentary: In this lesson, students learn about the different sections of a newspaper and how each relates to different aspect of a community. Working in small groups, students examine the difference between local and national newspaper coverage through visual and written evaluations.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Business & Administrative Services Projects: Standards First Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 4–6 Professional Commentary: In this lesson, students analyze how a character's personality traits, actions and motives influence the plot of a story. Students learn to recognize emotions and feelings that are being displayed by a character.... |