Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning
Students will activate and build their background knowledge so that they are better able to comprehend Beowulf and draw connections to crucial parts of the story. This lesson is intended to be taught just before students read Beowulf. Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: October 4th, 2023
Introductory Material on Beowulf
In this lesson, students explore what a Faustian bargain is and examine examples in literature and pop culture. Students read, watch, listen, discuss, and write an argument as they work through the concept and its lasting legacy. Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: September 20th, 2023
Robert Johnson and Faustian Bargains
Day and night, yin and yang, love and despair, Biggie and Tupac—all opposite yet equal counterparts to one another. In this lesson, students explore the reaction to the American Transcendental movement, dark romanticism. They Jigsaw informational texts of this subgenre and come to a consensus on what... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: May 31st, 2023
Dark Romantic Author Nathaniel Hawthorne
Teachers know the importance of discussion in the ELA and social studies classrooms, but engaging students in discussion can feel especially difficult. To help teachers increase student engagement, this session will introduce the following strategies: Chat Stations, Agreement Circles, Elevator Speech,... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: March 17th, 2023
Werewolves Who Write
“And they called it puppy love…” This lesson will have students falling in love with werewolves from all packs as they explore how mythology and lore has progressed over time, place, and culture. After they discover which pack they belong to, they will work together to design a movie poster that depicts... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: February 8th, 2023
Werewolves Who Write
Students will be able to perform the following: Understand character motivation. Translate character’s motivations from “The Gift of the Magi” into a written present-day situation. Read more »
Motivations in The Gift of the Magi
During this lesson, students will analyze the techniques used in classical literature versus comic book writing to determine how they contribute to the meaning of unknown vocabulary words. Students will use excerpts from the original text, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, and the corresponding visuals... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Jane Eyre
Students will model their writing using mentor sentences and use the mentor sentences to understand how and why authors use commas to make their sentences clear and grammatically correct. Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Avoiding Comma Blunders
In this lesson, students will consider the context and evaluate perspectives while comparing "Story of an Hour" and excerpts from "The Awakening". After reading the stories, students will write a short response from the perspective of the characters. Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Perspective
Students discuss their favorite content creators on YouTube. They explore different content creators on a Wakelet and consider what it is about the video that makes it intriguing. Students learn from a YouTube content creator that creating YouTube videos is "kind of like an octopus"—you need a lot of... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: November 15th, 2022
Creating Instructional Content for YouTube
