461 Peer Review: Narrative Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: Often students give feedback on each other's written drafts without providing useful information. This lesson describes the Praise-Question-Polish technique in which students work in small writing response groups.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, General Career Skills Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 462 Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: In this lesson, picture books are used to provide a writing frame for structuring research projects. Using picture books as models, students are able to think more about what to say and less about how to say it, which leads to better learning experiences and better writing.... Projects: Writing 6-12 463 Proverbs: Contemporary Proverbs Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 8–9 Professional Commentary: "Don't store all your data on one disk" is a contemporary update of the traditional proverb "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Such traditional proverbs, meant to convey cultural knowledge and wisdom, are often closely tied to a culture's values and everyday experience. As a result, their meanings are not always readily apparent to... Career Fields: General Career Skills Projects: Standards First 464 Scaling Back to Essentials: Scaffolding Summarization With Fishbone Mapping Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 4–7 Professional Commentary: What's important and what's not? Students work in pairs and cooperative groups to explore this question by completing fishbone maps that highlight the main ideas and relevant details from a cause-effect text.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Education & Training, Law & Public Safety, General Career Skills Projects: Standards First 465 Teaching Voice with Anthony Browne's Voices in the Park Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: The concept of voice is often difficult for middle school students to incorporate into their writing. This lesson, aimed at grades 6-8 but easily applicable to any level, uses Voices in the Park, by Anthony Browne to facilitate a discussion about voice and point of view.... Projects: Writing 6-12 466 Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: Designed for use with English language learners, this lesson uses word webs as a tool to expose students to synonyms for common words. The teacher leads students in selecting synonyms that are appropriate for a given context and encourages students to use more descriptive words in written and oral language.... Career Fields: General Career Skills Projects: Standards First 467 What Am I? Teaching Poetry through Riddles Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–7 Professional Commentary: This lesson uses riddles to teach students about literary devices. Each riddle uses language to present common items and ideas using figurative language.... 468 Writing a Flashback and Flash-Forward Story Using Movies and Texts as Models Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: English Language Arts Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: Flashbacks and flash-forwards devices commonly used in literature and films. This lesson uses the film, The Sandlot, to introduce to examples of these devices.... Career Fields: Arts & Communication, Education & Training, General Career Skills Projects: Writing 6-12, Standards First 469 Building A Topographic Model Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: Science Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: Students create a three-dimensional model of a land form using a topographic map as a guide. This activity will help students visualize features represented by contour lines on a topographic map.... Career Fields: Agricultural & Environmental Systems, Construction Technologies, Government & Public Administration Projects: Standards First 470 Dino-Facts-A Unit On Dinosaur Behavior Resource Type: Instructional Resource -- Promising Practice Discipline: Science Ohio Standards Alignment: Grades 6–8 Professional Commentary: Students explore paleontological field work through this promising practice lesson. Students analyze evidence gathered by paleontologists, then work cooperatively to develop and support their own hypotheses about dinosaur behavior based upon the dino-facts.... |