Objective: Students will consider and decide the ways in which different parenting styles affect or benefit families, specifically, the two types of parenting styles that will be evaluated by the students will be the so called "Helicopter Parents" vs " Free Range Parenting" Step 1 Opening Activity In a group activity, students will discuss the type of parenting style that they follow in their homes. After they have finished their group discussion, they will share with the class their opinions. Step 2 Flipped Classrrom Activity Students will watch the following two videos, which describe the different parenting styles. When they come back to class the next day, they will write an essay discussing what they thought about the videos and identify which parenting style is closer to their home life.
Helicopter Parent Video
Free Range Parenting Video
Step Three In groups, students will read the following two articles, but not every group will receive the same article. This will be followed by a discussion. Free Range Article
Step Four Students will be required to develop a preliminary claim and bring to class two resources that they intend to use to further develop their claim and the rest of their argumentative essays. Step Five Students will complete their argumentative essays following the Rubric Guide and Teacher Guidelines.
One of the ways that I try to make my students' writing more interesting is by having them focus on normal objects, the things that surround us and that many times we do not pay attention to. It can be more challenging for them, but the end result is more satisfying. Objective: To improve students' writing by having them focus on normal objects in order to enhance their descriptive writing. We begin the activity by reading a New York Times article that deals with a writer who, in her travels, has accumulated many souvenirs that are significant to her. Article
After we read the article, I divide the class into groups and ask them to annotate all the interesting sentences that they see
I followed this up with Pablo Neruda's "Ode to my Socks"
We follow the same procedure that we did with the article
Assessment At this point, my students have a pretty good idea of how good writers incorporate interesting details in their writing. I tell them that their job is to write a poem which deals with the normal experiences of their lives or the objects that they come in contact with on a daily basis. Before they write their poem, I model one for them. Poem
I always wanted to do this so here it goes. View this "60 Minutes Program" video. After you have watched it, what kind of lesson plan would you create about it? Let's not worry about the specific standards that would apply to it. Let's just have fun!
Earlier this week a white Ohio woman sued the Midwest Sperm Bank, a Chicago-area company she’d used in trying to conceive. The alleged error? Providing her with the wrong “product”—the sperm of a black man. The plaintiff, Jennifer Cramblett, didn’t learn of the error until well along in her pregnancy—a pregnancy that resulted in a healthy, biracial daughter, Payton, who is now 2 years old. Read Article Article two Going to jail for a robbery you did not commit.
For this lesson, I use two famous commencement speeches, one by Steve Jobs and the other by Ana Quindlen. Both are definitely interesting in their own way. The one by Jobs is already well-known and has been quoted many times. He gave it in 2005 at Stanford University. The other, by Quindlen precedes Steve Job's speech and was not delivered, a speech that was to be presented at Villanova University in 2000. Her speech is also very popular. Prior to the reading of both speeches, I have the class watch a fun video that explains rhetorical devices.
The next video I show the class is one by Nancy Duarte, who is well-known for creating interesting presentations. In this video, she gives an analysis of Martin Luther King's " I Have a Dream" speech. She explains the rhetorical devices that King used in his speech. Duarte's Analysis Next, I have the class read the Job's and Quindlen's speeches, following it up with a handout. Job's Speech
Finally, I have the students select a speech from here and ask them to write an essay identifying the rhetorical devices that the speaker used in his or her speech. The students can also incorporate the questions that they answered for the Job's and Quindlen's speeches for this essay assignment.
For this lesson, I will use Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" and Archibald John Motley's "Nightlife" as resources for narrative writing. The lesson comes via the Chicago Institute of Art. First, I give the students a brief background of both paintings Nighthawks Background
Description of Lesson Plan This lesson plan will discuss the idea of courage. In the first part, I use a Prezi presentation created by Jamie Ritone in order to put in perspective the concept of courage. Next, students practice this concept with a handout by George Hillocks, author of "Teaching Argument Writing". Then, I include a New York Post article as an extended activity to make sure that students have understood the concept. Finally, I connect this idea to a writing assignment for the play "The Crucible". Reason for This Lesson Plan Students do not think critically about the idea of courage or the concept of being a hero. Distinctions are needed because every situation is not courageous or heroic. A police officer or fireman are not always courageous. Their courage must be put in context. Step 1 Show the presentation to the students and have them discuss the idea of courage, asking them to develop a criteria for it. Presentation
Step 2 In groups, students discuss the Hillocks handout, using the criteria they developed in step 1, and decide if the scenarios presented in the handout are courageous. Hillocks's Handout
Step 3 Students read a New York Post article and evaluate if the character in it, based on the criteria they have developed, is courageous. Article
Step 4 Using their criteria for courage, students will write an essay in order to assess if John Proctor's actions in the play are courageous or heroic.
The idea behind this argumentative essay is to have students evaluate videos that deal with the issue of drug consumption. All of the videos presented here are very informative, but the one by Rodrigo Canales on how the Mexican Cartel does business is fascinating. Your students do not have to do any extended research for this argumentative essay. All of the resources you need are here. Good Luck ! Lesson Plan
The Bill of Rights protects some of our most basic freedoms, such as the right to practice a religion, to assemble peaceably and to speak freely. Sometimes, however, our society seems to prioritize other freedoms not enshrined in the Constitution, such as the right to buy what we want, eat what we want and even binge-watch what we want.
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby We know that the quote above is from the wonderful novel " The Great Gatsby". Here is a resource from The New York Times Learning Network. Resources
ISIS has been all over the news. Most people know that it is a terrorist organization, but very little context is given as to who they are and what conditions have led to their creation in the Middle East. The following New York Times articles give an interesting explanation of who they are and how it might affect the United States foreign policy in that area of the world. Ancestors of ISIS
The typical argumentative essay consists of assigning a controversial topic and having the students research both points of view, followed by a written thesis statement, culminating in the writing of the essay based on the thesis statement that the students developed. When students write argumentative essays in this manner, they are not really doing any research, since they only need to choose the point of view that best supports their idea, a point of view that is not even based on any data that was collected by them. According to George Hillocks, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago and author of the book "Teaching Argumentative Writing", "Good argument begins with looking at the data that is likely to become the evidence in an argument and which gives rise to a thesis statement or major claim. That is, the thesis statement arises from questions, which in turn rises from the examination of information or data of some sort." Furthermore, he makes clear that"the process of working through an argument is the process of inquiry. At its very beginning is the examination of data, not the invention of a thesis statement in a vacuum." One type of argumentative essay that can yield good results and that can be developed along the lines of what Hillocks recommends is an argument of fact. Arguments of fact, especially of the forensic variety already contain data, which can engage students to come up with a thesis statement based on the evaluation of the evidence that they collected. Click on the link to get a better idea.
Part 2 After students have practiced with the activity explained in part 1, You can follow up this same idea reading the novel "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers.
This is a novel about a young high school student who is involved in the murder of a store owner. He goes to trial and both sides, the defense and prosecution present their points of view. As students read the novel, they collect and evaluate the evidence presented by both sides. Step 1 Read the novel Step 3 Develop a criteria for the main character's innocence or guilt Step 2 Collect evidence using graphic organizer based on the critieria Step 3 Divide class into two sides defense and prosecution. Step 4 During group work discuss the evidence using the graphic organizers Step 5 Based on the criteria developed, write an argumentative essay supporting the main character's innocence or guilt.
Both of these poems are great. Besides the compare and contrast writing assignment, students could write a narrative poem where they discuss a time when they had to make an important choice like the characters in these poems. William Stafford's Poem
These two poems could be used in a cultural unit lesson plan or in a lesson plan for " The American Dream." Objective: Compare and contrast, Walt Whitman's " I Hear America Singing" and Richard Blanco's " One Today". Whitman's Poem "I Hear America Singing"
