81 Generation TeXt: Exploring the Differences Between Conversational and Formal Writing Styles Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–10 Professional Commentary: This lesson prompts students to consider the appropriateness of different writing styles based on purpose and audience. Students begin by discussing the influence text messaging has had on academic writing.... Career Fields: Business & Administrative Services, Information Technology, General Career Skills Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 82 Witness for the Prosecution: Creating an Online Newspaper Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 9–10 Professional Commentary: This integrated language arts unit, created by a high school English teacher, includes many opportunities for reading fiction and nonfiction texts, conducting research using the internet, and producing an online newspaper. Centered around Witness For the Prosecution by Agatha Christie, this unit uses literary response and research as the context in which students produce a... Career Fields: Information Technology Projects: COR, Writing 6-12, Standards First 83 Writing a Short Story Based on Kindred Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Best Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 9–10 Professional Commentary: Created by a high school English teacher, this language arts project integrates literature study, creative writing, and technology. Based on Kindred, a story about slavery in the United States written by Octavia Butler, the unit uses literature to examine the impact of historical events and social norms on personal lives.... Career Fields: Agricultural & Environmental Systems, Education & Training, Health Science, Human Services, General Career Skills Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 84 Many Years Later: Responding to Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Best Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 9–10 Professional Commentary: In this lesson, students analyze the poetic devices and literary features of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” and then imagine themselves as one of the characters in the poem many years in the future. Using online resources, students explore the poem’s rhythm and rhyme as well as how one reader has seen himself in Brooks’ poetry.... 85 Picking Up the Pieces and Putting them Back Together: Writing Breaking News Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 7–10 Professional Commentary: This resource uses a news article from the New York Times to examine how a breaking news story is constructed. Designated a promising practice, this lesson allows students to predict and sequence the facts and details that must appear in a news story.... Career Fields: Government & Public Administration, Information Technology Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 86 The Tell-Tale Hearts of Writers: Exploring the Lives of Authors Through Their Literature Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 7–10 Professional Commentary: In this promising practice lesson, students use a piece of literature by and an article about Edgar Allan Poe to investigate the relationship between word choice and the reader's mood and interpretation of a piece of writing. Each student then creates a visual display that examines a favorite writer through biographical information, analysis of quotations about the author and his or her works, and interpretation of a piece of the author's writing.... 87 Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–10 Professional Commentary: From personal computers to the latest electronic gadgetry for the kitchen, garage, or home entertainment center, Americans seem to have fallen in love with just about anything that will make our high-tech lifestyles more comfortable, convenient, and enjoyable. This lesson asks students to complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology then to compare... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Education & Training, Government & Public Administration, General Career Skills Projects: Standards First Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grade 9 Professional Commentary: This thematic unit explores war and conflict by examining stories, poems, songs, and films around this theme. Developed as part of a project funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, this instructional unit allows students to analyze a variety of texts and to create original pieces of writing.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Government & Public Administration, Law & Public Safety Projects: Standards First Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Best Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grade 10 Professional Commentary: This resource is a study of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The instructional unit, maintained by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, provides opportunities for students to analyze, interpret, and respond to language, meaning, and ideas in the novel by creating static and moving images.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Education & Training, Law & Public Safety Projects: Standards First 90 Poems, Poems, Everywhere Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–9 Professional Commentary: This resource uses poetry as a stimulus for the writing process. This instructional unit, maintained by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, encourages students to read and write a variety of poetry.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Human Services, Transportation Systems Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First |