Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources

If you’re looking for practical instructional ideas, you’re in the right place.

These classroom-tested lesson plans provide ready resources for teachers working with students aged from kindergarten to high school.

Initials in annotations below indicate academic level of the resource  (E=Elementary, M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General). 

ReadWriteThink.org  offers a wide audience (PreK-16) many opportunities to find just the literacy resources they need. Here you will find the familiar lessons, student interactives, calendar activities, and more including strategy guides, podcasts, mobile apps, videos, and parent & afterschool resources.  

Timely Lesson Resources

Also check out the ReadWriteThink Calendar, Strategy Guides, Mobile Apps, and Student Interactives for teaching nonfiction.  

 

Focus on Teaching Nonfiction 

Below are featured RWT lesson plans for teaching content-rich nonfiction and informational texts.

For Elementary Teachers
Adventures in Nonfiction: A Guided Inquiry Journey (K-2)
Students are guided through an informal exploration of nonfiction texts and child-oriented Websites, learning browsing and skimming techniques for the purpose of gathering interesting information.students to think critically about books and their movie counterparts by analyzing the texts and then selecting a cut or adapted scene from the book to present in readers theater.

For Middle Level Teachers 
Not Your Usual History Lesson: Writing Historical Markers (6-8)
Students will develop their summarizing skills while learning about local history. They will learn to consider audience while selecting topics, conducting research and interviews, and writing historical markers for their town.

For Secondary Teachers 
Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments (9-12)
Students are often asked to perform speeches, but rarely do we require students to analyze speeches as carefully as we study works of literature. In this unit, students are required to identify the rhetorical strategies in a famous speech and the specific purpose for each chosen device. They will write an essay about its effectiveness and why it is still famous after all these years.

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Back to School Ideas
It's time for school bells to start ringing, classrooms to start buzzing, and teachers to start off on their year-long adventure with a new group of students. Get things off to the best start by checking out these back to school teaching strategies and resources from NCTE today!