The learner-audience for this lesson are adults preparing for the GED, specifically the English/Language Arts assessment. The lesson demonstrates how the successful writing of the “thesis-statement” is essential for writing an effective persuasive essay. The lesson will help prepare learners to write an effective thesis statement which their essay responds to. The lesson shows how a successful thesis statement guides the direction of the rest of the essay and that without an effective thesis statement most essays are difficult to write and to comprehend for the reader. The lesson encourages learners to practice writing thesis statements and to write thesis statements that draw from their own experiences.

This video goes over the basics of a 5-paragraph argumentative paper, including the rebuttal. There are examples for each paragraph (introduction + thesis, body paragraphs, rebuttal paragraph, and conclusion).

These guides can be used as part of an anticipatory set to introduce persuasive writing and transition into claim evidence reasoning paragraphs. "Claim, Support, Question," is a "Visible Thinking Routine" developed by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  

The Wasted: Don't Trash the Earth curriculum asks students to examine the impact of the waste we locally and globally produce and seek creative solutions to reduce this wastefulness by answering the driving question: "How can we, as youth, rethink waste?"

This inquiry by Ryan Theodoriches, Evergreen Public Schools, is based on the C3 Framework inquiry arc. The inquiry leads students through an investigation of the decision by the federal government of the United States to honor Christopher Columbus with a federal holiday as well as efforts to challenge the view that Columbus should be revered as a national hero.

In this lesson, students will read and analyze "The Interlopers" by Saki (H. H. Munro). Lesson 1 from the Author's Craft unit focuses primarily on character. Students will examine how the motivations of Georg and Ulrich drive the plot, develop the theme, and enhance the irony. The lesson requires student to collect evidence, discuss, and complete a writing assignment. It also offers additional stories to extend the lesson. Image source: "Forest" by flo222 on Pixabay.com.

In "Anthem", by Ayn Rand, Equality speaks of the Home of Eugenics in which males and females of his dystopian society must report to at the appropriate age. To help students better understand the ethical issues with eugenics, they will interact with this informational article from the Huffington Post. This article will allow students to discuss and learn about the issues of eugenics in their own back yard.

This social media literacy unit introduces students to foundational skills in analyzing images and social media posts. It also reenforces critical thinking questions that can be applied to various forms of media. This unit was taught to 9th grade students but is easily adaptible to a range of secondary classrooms. It was also taught in conjunction with another unit focused on social media platforms and content.

It is not enough when writing or responding to a piece of literature to share an opinion. Writers and speakers need to justify why the opinion is a valid opinion.
In the writings submitted in class, many students have not been providing justifications or reasons that support the statements made. A good way to find justifications is to look back through what was read for specific details to support the point to be made. Finding information from the text to support the points being made strengthens the argument and is what those that write well do. Strive to improve – use justifications in your writing responses!

This unit engages students in a variety of activities that analyze and reflect on the role of social media in our everyday lives. This includes options for collaborative group work, reading nonfiction articles, a design challenge and presentations to communicate ideas. The unit also includes a formal writing assessment option that aligns with the Common Core State Writing Standards. Activities can be adapted or combined in a variety of ways to support student reflection and analysis. These lessons were piloted in 9th grade English classes but are suitable or a range of secondary students. 

Using historical texts, information texts, and historical fiction, this module explores the migration experiences in America. It is designed to be flexible. It can be combined with information on Critical Race Theory from Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education by Sensoy and DiAngelo for the upper grades or for “Critical Texts in Literacy: Living Inquiries into Racial Justice and Immigration” by Riley and Crawford-Garrett (NCTE) for the middle school grades. The teacher can choose any or all of the text sets. There are a number of possibilities for optional literature circles with suggested full-length texts. Each text set includes pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading strategies.

The original Native American story component lesson was developed as part of an Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) project funded through an EPA Region 10 grant. The stories were told by Roger Fernandes of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. Mr. Fernandes has been given permission by the tribes to tell these stories.As these lessons and stories were shared prior to the adoption of the Washington State Science Learning Standards in 2013, there was a need to align these stories with the current science standards. This resource provides a current alignment and possible lesson suggestions on how these stories can be incorporated into the classroom. This alignment work has been funded by the NGSS & Climate Science Proviso of the Washington State Legislature as a part of North Central Educational Service District's award.

This lesson combines Oedipus the King and Aristotle's Poetics. Students will look at both pieces and write an argumentative essay as their assessment.

This is a solutions-oriented storyline that leads students through a series of investigations to quantify and qualify the ecosystem and social benefits of an urban forest. At the end of the storyline, students will be able to design, evaluate and refine a chosen solution for urban forest ecosystem benefits.

This resource contains integrated tasks, assessments, and skill building exercises to continually push language learning forward. In these integrated examples, the content of the the text is the vehicle that drives skill development; it simultaneously deepens our understanding of the world around us.

This resource contains integrated tasks, assessments, and skill building exercises to continually push language learning forward. In these integrated examples, the content of the the text is the vehicle that drives skill development; it simultaneously deepens our understanding of the world around us.

In the first bend of this unit, students will closely read multiple perspectives on the “American Dream” in
order to collect information to use and integrate that information into an evidence-based perspective.
Students will examine primary and secondary source documents to make informed decisions about
what information to collect that may inspire their writing about “The American Dream.”

In the second bend of this unit, students will engage in a short-research process to create a draft of
argumentative speech on the “American Dream” with a specific purpose, audience, and tone in mind.
They will use their inquiry research questions from bend one to begin analyzing search results and citing
and gathering relevant, accurate, and credible information.

This unit is centered around an anchor text that may be common among content area teachers in a high school setting. Although this unit may be incorporated into any high-school English class, it is aligned with Common Core standards for 9-10. This unit will primarily focus on informational and argumentative texts, and can be used to incorporate more informational texts (as directed by the Common Core) into English classrooms at the high school level. This unit is best suited to a collaborative model of development in which ELA and content area teachers share an anchor text (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and communicate about how to connect diverse skills to common texts and essential questions.

This unit is designed to accompany the study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Resources encourage students to recognize a variety of propaganda techniques and to connect those techniques to media that they can find in their everyday lives. Resources also help students to understand the historical uses of propaganda by governments and political parties to influence public opinion. Resources can be used independently of the novel.