ALEX Resources

Title: Pollution and the Peppered Moth
Description: This lesson will begin with students reviewing the steps of the scientific method, then applying the steps of the scientific method using an online interactive game. Next, students will utilize the steps of the scientific method to explore factors that caused the population of the peppered moth to change over time. The students will conduct an experiment to gather data regarding the factors that led to a population shift in the peppered moth species. Then, students will read an article about the history of the peppered moth and play an online interactive game to further explore the factors that led to a change in this species's population. Lastly, students will develop a writing piece that includes a claim related to the change in the peppered moth's population and evidence that was gathered from the experiment, reading, and online activity. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 20: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. [W.7.1]

Title: Slithering Snake Don't Mess With Me
Description: This lesson encourages students to evaluate how the setting influences the characters interactions sand how that motivation propels the plot in Rudyard Kipling’s, Rikki-tiki-tavi. They will also evaluate the effectiveness of Kipling’s use of personification. During this lesson, students will, students will annotate the text through coding, create trading cards for the characters , compose an exposition, and produce a brochure based on a focused research assignment.  This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 26: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation. [W.7.7]

Title: Dance Moms Reality or Fatality
Description: Students will view a reality television episode and read a news article related to reality television. Then students will complete a graphic organizer to create an argument for or against children participating in reality television. Students will apply supportive details for writing a persuasive paragraph. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 34: Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points. [SL.7.5]

Title: "Thank You Ma'am": Defending or Prosecuting Roger
Description: Students will write a three-paragraph letter to a judge either in defense of or prosecution of Roger from the short story "Thank You Ma'am." Students will engage with the text as they cite evidence in support of their arguments. Students will get to present their letters to a mock jury and try to win their case for or against Roger. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 32: Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. [SL.7.3]

Title: Persuasive Strategies and Tuck Everlasting
Description: This lesson is a persuasive strategy lesson plan for Tuck Everlasting. It allows the student to incorporate technology in the development of an original thirty second commercial.
Standard(s):
[TC2] (6-8) 14: Use digital tools to generate new ideas, products, or processes.

Title: Oral Presentation of Favorite Celebrity
Description: Using the Internet to research facts about a favorite celebrity, students gain the organizational and oral presentation skills needed to successfully deliver an effective speech and slideshow presentation.
Standard(s):

Title: Newspapers: Facts and Opinions
Description: In order to sharpen a student's understanding of the differences between facts and opinions, this lesson incorporates both the close reading of a newspaper and the writing of a factual article and a letter to the editor.
Standard(s):
[TC2] (6-8) 11: Use digital tools and strategies to locate, collect, organize, evaluate, and synthesize information.

Title: Scrapbook Book Report
Description: After reading independently a novel or biography, students in this creative writing activity demonstrate their understanding of characterization and point of view by creating the main character's personal scrapbook.
Standard(s):
[TC2] (6-8) 6: Select specific digital tools for completing curriculum-related tasks.

Title: Writing with Technology
Description: This lesson provides students with the basic steps for effectively using a Dreamwriter portable keyboard/word processing device. Students will use this technology tool to draft and publish a final copy of a writing assignment.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 21: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. [W.6.1]

Title: Jack London's ''The Call of the Wild'': ''Nature Faker''?
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students analyze Jack London's The Call of the Wild. They take a stand on whether London can be called a nature faker and on what he is attempting to communicate through his portrayal of Buck. They support their stands with historical evidence or evidence from the text. Finally, students write an essay, complete with hypothesis and textual support, on London's approach to the animal story in The Call of the Wild.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 28: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.8.9]

Title: Reciprocal Revision: Making Peer Feedback Meaningful
Description: Interpreting art is a subjective process. In this lesson, students write written responses analyzing a work of art and use feedback from their peers to revise or confirm their initial responses.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 24: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of the first three standards in the Language strand in Grades K-8.) [W.8.5]

Title: Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
Description: Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists to evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the resources will be valuable to the class.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 38: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.8.3]

Title: Women's Suffrage: Why the West First?
Description: In this EDSITEment lesson, students compile information to examine hypotheses explaining why the first nine states to grant full voting rights for women were located in the West. The take a stand, supported by historical evidence, as to whether or not a single theory can explain why the Western states were the first to grant full voting rights to women.
Standard(s):
[SS2010] USS6 (6) 4: Identify cultural and economic developments in the United States from 1900 through the 1930s.

Title: Myth and Truth: The First Thanksgiving
Description: By exploring myths surrounding the Wampanoag, the pilgrims, and the '' First Thanksgiving,'' this lesson asks students to think critically about commonly believed myths regarding the Wampanoag Indians in colonial America.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 33: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. [SL.8.4]

Title: A Case for Reading-Examining Challenged and Banned Books
Description: This ReadWriteThink-reviewed website, provided by Plainfield Community School Corporation, contains a WebQuest that explores the issues of censorship pertaining to the occult content of the popular Harry Potter novels. Students can take on the roles of concerned citizens, public librarians, school librarians, and fans of Harry Potter and decide whether the books should be banned from the public library.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (12) 10: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. [RI.11-12.1]

Title: Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues
Description: How can we convince others to agree with us on important issues? In this lesson, students explore relevant environmental issues and gather information to write persuasive essays.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 36: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. [L.8.1]

Title: Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising
Description: By looking at advertising and mass media critically, students begin to understand how the media oppresses certain groups, convinces people to purchase certain products, and influences culture.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 32: Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced. [SL.8.3]

Title: The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Description: This unit of seven lessons, from EDSITEment, introduces students to a poet's voice. Students develop a general definition of voice in poetry, and analyze and appreciate the poetic voice of Langston Hughes in particular. Included are writing and discussion activities, in which students either write a poem expressing their own voice (as developed in a journal), or write about one of the qualities of Langston Hughes's poetic voice (as explored in class discussion).
Standard(s):
[SS2010] USS6 (6) 4: Identify cultural and economic developments in the United States from 1900 through the 1930s.

Title: The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the ''New Colossus'' to America
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students learn about the effort to convince a skeptical American public to contribute to the effort to erect a pedestal and to bring the Statue of Liberty to New York. The activities in this lesson guide students through an investigation of primary historical documents and an analysis of the poem The New Colossus, written by the nineteenth-century poet Emma Lazarus.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 20: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. [W.8.1]

Title: Interactive Essay Writing
Digital Tool: Essay Map
Web Address URL: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/essay-30063.html
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 21: Write informative or explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. [W.7.2]
Digital Tool Description: This interactive graphic organizer aids students in writing expository essays. It takes them through the process of organizing ideas and developing an outline that includes an introduction, body paragraphs that include supporting details, and a conclusion. The finished essay map can be e-mailed or printed for further analysis or revision.

Title: The Blind Side: Expository Writing
Digital Tool: The Blind Side video clip
Web Address URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVbSQpoFDb0
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 21: Write informative or explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. [W.7.2]
Digital Tool Description: This video clip is from the movie The Blind Side. This clip shows the main character, Michael, attempting to submit an analytical response/essay on a reading if his choice, "Charge of the Light Brigade." This clip shows his ability to think through a text and previews the "mental" writing process. It is a great introduction activity to work to set a purpose for a lesson and show the importance of being able to write these types of texts, as Michael's future depends on the success of this last writing assignment.

Title: The Ease of Essay Writing
Digital Tool: Popplet App
Web Address URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/popplet-lite/id364738549?mt=8
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 38: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.7.3]
Digital Tool Description: The Popplet app will be used to design an outline using a graphic organizer.  An outline allows students to organizer their thoughts before going into the writing process. 

Title: Mark Twain in His Times
Description: This resource, an EDSITEment-reviewed Blue Ribbon resource presented by the University of Virginia, contains a broad range of materials on Mark Twain and the times in which he lived. Drawn largely from the resources of the Barrett Collection, this interpretive archive focuses on how Mark Twain and his works were created, defined, marketed, performed, reviewed, and appreciated. Contained here are dozens of texts and manuscripts, scores of contemporary reviews and articles, hundreds of images, and many different kinds of interactive exhibits.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 30: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.8.1]

Title: National Public Radio began broadcasting in 1971.
Description: Students make predictions about the content of some of NPR's programs, then listen to the programs and report on the contents and discuss with the class.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 31: Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation. [SL.8.2]

Title: On this date in 1901, Andrew Carnegie gave $5.2 million to New York City libraries.
Description: Students write expository and persuasive pieces with the help of the Persuasion Map and Essay Map interactives, and compare the essential features of the two modes of writing.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (12) 21: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. [W.11-12.3]

Title: The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929.
Description: Students make lists of their favorite and least favorite movies and brainstorm qualities that make a film good or bad. Next, students write a movie review for a film they have seen.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 23: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 20-22 above.) [W.8.4]

Title: Charles Lindbergh began his transatlantic flight in 1927.
Description: Students consider what is meant by the phrase '' Human Hero,'' think of people who fit into the category, and read a biography of a selected hero.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 21: Write informative or explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. [W.8.2]

Title: Write letters that make things happen!
Description: In a small group or as individuals, students write letters related to a unit of study or particular topic they have studied.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (12) 19: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. [W.11-12.1]