Eighth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Abigail Adams
Lesson 2
John and Abigail Adams
Students analyze paragraph structure (topic sentence, supporting sentences, concluding observation) using concrete examples, including a sample paragraph that highlights descriptive sentences (the platypus paragraph). Students identify sentences that don't fit and write replacements in Part II, which requires them to revise sentence content and flow. In Activity 2 students list positive and negative attributes of John Adams and answer a reflection question about the importance of marriage choices, engaging them in character-focused reflection.
Lesson 3
Unrest and War
Students are asked to write a first-person account of the Boston Tea Party (Option 2) or a descriptive paragraph about Paul Revere's engraving (Option 1), with directions to be descriptive and to use active voice. The activities instruct students to write in a narrator's voice (first person or an eyewitness letter/diary) and to support an argument with 2–3 specific examples and a concluding idea. The tasks also require students to compose coherent paragraphs that describe events and detail what they observed or inferred from primary sources.
Lesson 8
Genre
Option 1 explicitly tells students they may "share details that we can't know from the historical record, like the specific words that people spoke to one another in a conversation," which directs students to create dialogue. The provided historical-fiction/mystery example models spoken lines and sensory description (rosemary, aromas, bees), showing students how to add descriptive detail. Option 2 asks students to retell the scene as a graphic novel using panels and artwork, which requires students to sequence beats and use visuals and text to control pacing and develop events or characters.
Lesson 9
The Vice Presidency
Students are asked to write a diary entry from Abigail Adams's point of view, circling whether they wrote or received a letter and filling prompts about the topics of the letter, impressions of Jefferson, and the role his friendship plays, which requires first-person reflection and descriptive statements. The activity directions tell students to read at least two original letters and to think about what the writers discuss and the impressions they convey, prompting analysis that feeds into descriptive and reflective writing. In the Choosing Genres activity, students must write short descriptions and blurbs in different genres, requiring them to vary tone and descriptive choices to match genre conventions.
Lesson 11
Later Life
Students read Chapters 21–22 of a biography of Abigail and John Adams and answer comprehension questions about events and character details. Students create pencil sketches of Peacefield and the President's House or complete a Venn diagram comparing the two homes, writing details and impressions to capture the feel and features of each place. Students respond to discussion prompts (e.g., what they looked back on and looked forward to) and reflect on the Adamses' later lives, and they view a quoted reflection by John Adams in the extension activity.
Final Project
A One-Person Play
Students are asked to write a one-person play in the first person with separate scenes and to write short scripts that introduce the character and explain each scene, which provides practice in crafting dialogue and character voice. The planning pages include "stage notes (what you will do while saying your lines)" and spaces for props, costuming, and scenery, and a sample play that contains dialogue and stage directions, which prompt students to plan description and actions. The requirement that each scene last 2–3 minutes and the instruction to keep scripts to about one page address pacing by having students plan scene length.
Unit 2: Animal Farm
Lesson 5
The Battle of the Cowshed
Students reread the chapter and create a detailed battle map that requires them to identify the order of events and show where everyone was at the beginning, middle, and end of the battle, which engages them in sequencing events. Students write a short (2-minute) speech honoring a participant in the battle in which they explain the individual's role, highlight admirable characteristics (description), and provide a lesson the audience can draw (reflection). Students revise pronoun use in Activity 2, which supports clarity in character description and narrative references.
Unit 3: Einstein Adds a New Dimension
Lesson 1
Expository Writing
The lesson defines narrative writing and explicitly lists narrative techniques such as "vivid descriptions, suspense, great dialogue" and mentions use of "details, quotations, and descriptions" in biographies. Activity 3 asks students to read, underline/circle phrases, skim pages, and decide whether The Story of Science uses narrative writing or expository writing, prompting students to identify narrative indicators on the cover and jacket. The narrative vs. expository pages describe narrative organization (beginning, middle, end) and creative, descriptive style, which students analyze in the book.
Lesson 2
Descriptive Writing
Students analyze a descriptive paragraph (the italicized student of J. J. Thomson on p. 36) and identify effective words and phrases. Students complete guided practice (Descriptive Phrases page Parts I and II) to produce adjectives and sensory phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Students write a short descriptive paragraph about a picture and receive explicit tips on using strong verbs, adjectives, similes, and multi-sensory description.
Unit 4: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Lesson 3
What is Narrative Writing I
Students analyze dialogue and word choice in quotes to determine what characters reveal about themselves and how dialogue propels action. Students complete a "Show, Don't Tell" task where they write 3–4 sentences that show a character's emotion using description and action rather than naming the feeling. Students create a narrative option that requires composing dialogue between Huck and Jim, choosing point of view and modeling dialect, and students explain two examples of how they showed rather than told in their writing.
Lesson 4
What is Narrative Writing II
Students analyze multiple dialogue excerpts from the novel and answer questions about what the dialogue reveals about characters and how it propels action. Students complete charts that link events, feeling words, and "Dialogue and Descriptions," and are prompted to write a one-page narrative that must include dialogue and vivid description. Students are asked at the end to identify two examples of when they used dialogue to move action and two examples of showing rather than telling, prompting explicit reflection on their choices.
Lesson 11
Mark Twain's Influence
Students are asked to write a one-page narrative and to complete a Story Map organizer that prompts them to plan characters, setting, plot, point of view, conflict, and resolution. The assignment requires students to include specific figurative-language techniques (irony, a pun, an oxymoron, an idiom, and hyperbole) and asks them to choose a point of view for their story. The lesson also directs students to analyze Twain's use of figurative language, dialect, and dialogue in the text and in slave narratives, and it lists dialogue and point of view among common narrative techniques to discuss.
Final Project
Cultural Biography
Students collect and include quotes and dialogue on Story Block 1 and are asked to include a quote on the cultural biography poster. Students practice figurative language and descriptive devices by creating similes, idioms, hyperboles, and other figurative examples on blocks and the poster, and by writing a bio poem that describes a character. Students write 2–3 sentences from a character's point of view, identify narrative passages on the unit test, and respond to reflective questions comparing Huck and Jim and what they learned about life.
Unit 5: Elijah of Buxton
Lesson 1
Introduction to the Novel
The lesson explicitly teaches the narrative technique of flashback: Activity 5 defines a flashback, has students read a passage, highlight the flashback, and answer questions about its effectiveness and what it reveals about the narrator. Students are asked to write a 6-8 sentence journal entry from the perspective of a slave (Option 2) or a short song/poem (Option 1), which asks them to produce first-person narrative material that can include reflection and descriptive detail. The student activity pages and discussion questions prompt students to explain how the flashback develops character and provides background information.
Lesson 2
The Preacher
The Parent Plan directs students to "use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language" and to write narratives that "employ narrative and descriptive strategies." Activity 2 (Showing Your Emotion) has students brainstorm sensory details, choose verbs that show action, and write a 4–5 sentence paragraph that demonstrates emotion through description and repeated powerful verbs. The Douglass comparison asks students to circle vivid adjectives and underline the most-used verb, prompting analysis of descriptive word choice and repetition as narrative techniques.
Lesson 3
Creating a Character
The Parent Plan skills explicitly instruct students to "employ narrative and descriptive strategies that use relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters." The student activities ask students to record "Quotes from Elijah" and "Elijah's Thoughts," and to complete a "Creating a Character" booklet that requires physical appearance, goals, daily activities, and an event that impacted the character. An optional activity asks students to create a short monologue in character, which has students speak and reflect from the character's perspective.
Lesson 4
Tone and Mood
Students are asked to write a poem from the perspective of an American slave (Option 1), which requires them to imagine experiences and express thoughts and feelings, engaging reflection and descriptive writing. In the tone experiment activity, students write sentences describing the same scenario in two different tones, practicing word choice and voice that help develop character perspective. In the Accounts of Slavery activity, students read quotes/artwork and write words or brief phrases explaining what they learned, which requires reflective analysis of experiences and affects.
Lesson 5
Colorful Language
Students read Chapters 9 and 10 and identify how word choice and figurative language create vivid scenes (sensory language, precise verbs, descriptive details). In Activity 1, students are asked to write a 6–8 sentence narrative using precise words, descriptive details, effective verbs, and sensory language to bring an experience alive. In Activity 2, students identify and create examples of six figures of speech and may incorporate those devices into an advertisement or visual display.
Lesson 6
Symbolism
Students practice description and sensory language through multiple activities: they are asked to use precise words and phrases to describe two household items and a feeling, to revise song lyrics with more precise language, and to write 2–3 sentences explaining the symbolism of a sculpture they create. The Parent Plan explicitly states students will "use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events." Students also answer comprehension questions about characters and events in Chapters 11–12, connecting symbolism to character experience.
Lesson 7
The Importance of Education
In Option 2, students are asked to read an opening play scene and "write the remainder of the scene," having the characters explain why they risk so much to receive an education, which requires composing extended dialogue and developing character motivations. In Option 1, students imagine they cannot read or write and answer interview questions about feelings, daily activities, and future hopes, prompting them to produce reflective narrative responses. Reading Chapters 13 and 14 and answering comprehension questions (e.g., how Elijah shows maturity) requires students to analyze and summarize character development and events from the narrative.
Lesson 8
Transitions and Characters
Students practice using transition words and phrases to convey sequence and signal shifts in time (activities and Transitions List, fill-in-the-blank sentences, and exercises that ask them to insert or circle transitions). Students analyze and describe characters by comparing and contrasting Elijah with Huck or Cooter and by assigning descriptive words to main characters (graphic organizers and discussion prompts). Students correct punctuation in lines of dialogue in the Sentence Editing activity, which draws attention to dialogue mechanics.
Lesson 9
Transitions and Humor
Students correct sentences that include quoted speech in the Sentence Editing activity, practicing punctuation and presentation of dialogue. In the Transitions — Part 2 activity, students choose and use time/sequence and other transition words to link events, which supports sequencing of narrative events. In the Humor activities, students plan and write a 5–7 sentence humorous news paragraph or a 1–2 minute mock newscast using techniques (understatement, hyperbole, comic irony, dialect, satire) that build voice and character.
Lesson 10
Allusions and Authors
The lesson asks students to write a descriptive paragraph or create a book cover for a hypothetical historical fiction novel, which requires use of description to develop setting and character (Option 2). The Student Activity Page directs students to write 2–3 sentences explaining an allusion's origin and connection to Elijah of Buxton, which requires students to reflect on meanings that shape character and events. The Becoming an Author activity also asks students to read the author's Q&A and discuss his experience, prompting some consideration of authorial choices and perspective.
Lesson 11
Story Reflections
Students are asked in Activity 2 to write a paragraph explaining their personal connection to the story, using specific examples and explaining the impact, which requires reflective writing. The Skills section instructs students to "use remembered feelings, select details that best illuminate the topic," and to "write biographies, autobiographies, short stories, or narratives... using well-chosen details," which directs students to use descriptive detail. The Plot Diagram activity requires students to identify the main conflict, climax, and list events in chronological order (rising and falling action), so students practice sequencing and the pacing of events.
Final Project
Personal Narrative
Students are directed to plan their narrative with a plot diagram that identifies main conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, which teaches structuring event sequences. Students must include one flashback and use transition words or phrases to connect time order, and the rubric and composing steps require characters to be described with clear details and a strong first-person voice. The rubric and composing instructions also require effective mood and tone, use of a figure of speech, and strong verbs and adjectives, and the Literary Devices pages ask students to define flashback and explain the purpose of transitions.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: The House of the Scorpion
Lesson 6
Societal Comparisons
Option 2 asks students to imagine a dystopian society, visually represent its environment, and write a descriptive paragraph to accompany the visual, which requires students to use description to develop setting. Activity 1 has students compare Opium and the United States and record similarities and differences, prompting students to analyze social features that shape characters and events. Parent/Discussion prompts ask students to consider warnings in the novel and whether Matt has a soul, which requires students to reflect on character motives and consequences.
Lesson 7
One-Act Play
Students are asked to turn a scene into a one-act play and to limit their scene to 20–30 total lines of dialogue, which requires them to craft dialogue that communicates character and plot. The instructions direct students to make conflict evident through words, movements, and facial expressions and to indicate stage directions, props, lighting cues, and a physical cue (e.g., shattering glass) to enhance the plot. The sample script and guidance emphasize back-and-forth dialogue and emotional reactions, and students must identify protagonist and antagonist and consider mood and how dialogue encourages that mood.
Lesson 11
Wisdom and Love
Students read and analyze quoted passages that contain descriptive detail and short bits of dialogue (for example, Celia's ritual and her whispered line, "I'm in the next room, mi vida"). Students are asked to write reflections in their journal about how Celia's symbols and Tam Lin's teachings shape Matt, which requires reflective writing about character development. Students create a poster that includes words, phrases, or quotes and images associated with a character, asking them to choose descriptive symbols to represent character traits.
Unit 2: Watership Down
Lesson 2
Foreshadowing
Students read Chapters 1-8 and complete character cards that ask them to record "Quotes," "Actions," "Physical Appearance," and "Character Traits," which directs them to notice dialogue and descriptive details. Students read passages on the "Foreshadowing and Symbolism" page and describe what is being foreshadowed and what symbols are used, prompting analysis of descriptive and pacing choices in the text. Option activities ask students to identify foreshadowing in film or Where the Wild Things Are, requiring them to point out author/filmmaker techniques that hint at future events.
Lesson 3
An Epic Journey
Students are asked to add information to character cards as they read, which has them collect details that develop characters. The Travel Tracker role asks students to record settings by drawing picture postcards, which asks them to represent descriptive details of places the characters pass through. The writing activity asks students to write several sentences or a short poem using at least 10 Lapine or borrowed words, which requires students to compose original text and can involve descriptive or reflective language. Discussion questions prompt students to reflect on Fiver's premonition and on emotional experiences, asking students to consider meaning and feelings connected to events.
Lesson 4
Comparing Rabbits
Students add information to character cards as they read Chapters 14–17, which asks them to track and note character details. Students in the Connection Commander role write several sentences making personal and textual connections, which requires reflective thinking about experiences and characters. Students complete a Venn-diagram activity comparing Hazel's group and Cowslip's group, which leads them to describe and contrast characters and events from the text.
Lesson 5
Quotes and Creatures
Students are asked to add to character cards by recording each character's physical description, traits, important actions, memorable quotes, and the reactions of other characters, which asks them to produce descriptive character information. Students analyze chapter quotations by researching the cited works and explaining how each quote relates to the events and theme of the chapter, requiring interpretation and reflection. Discussion prompts ask students to explain character motivations and predict consequences (for example, why Hazel communicates with the mouse and what Holly means about men), asking for reflective analysis of events and characters.
Lesson 6
Dramatic Irony
Students are asked to add to their character cards as they read Chapters 22 and 23, which prompts them to record and think about character details. The Questioner role asks students to develop 3–5 big-picture questions based on their reactions, encouraging reflection on characters and events. Option 1 requires students to write a postcard to a character explaining what that character needs to know and the emotion that compelled the message, which asks students to reflect on character perspective. Option 2 asks students to imagine a scene of dramatic irony and create a visual depiction that makes clear the situation the character does not understand, engaging students in designing an event scenario.
Lesson 8
Folktales and Fantasy
Students are asked to update character cards by adding descriptions, traits, actions, memorable quotes, and reactions of others, which requires them to record characterization and quoted language. Students will plan and write their own fantasy story about an animal and are directed to review elements of fantasy writing from a prior lesson, indicating an upcoming narrative writing task. Students research an animal's physical characteristics and behaviors using the Animal Research page, which supports developing believable characters through descriptive detail.
Lesson 9
Characters
Students are instructed to create 2–3 characters of the same species, record each character's name, draw a picture, and describe the character's personality including strengths and weaknesses, which teaches descriptive development of characters. Students are also asked to record some quotes the character might say, explicitly practicing dialogue as a narrative technique. The lesson provides sample characters with personalities and quotes and asks students to create illustrations, supporting use of description and dialogue.
Lesson 10
Setting
Students are asked to compare and contrast two settings (Efafra and Watership Down) using a Venn diagram or artwork and to write a 2–4 sentence reflection explaining how setting details inform the nature of each place. Students are instructed to draw a map for their own fantasy story, label landforms and important places, and to consider how the setting will tie into characters' personalities, actions, and possible events. Students are prompted to reflect on connections between setting, plot, and characters and to discuss big ideas from the reading as a Questioner.
Lesson 11
Conflict and Escape
Students are asked to add details to their character cards and to use relevant descriptive details (Skills: "Write narratives... using effective technique, relevant descriptive details..."). Students are instructed to engage and orient a reader by establishing context, point of view, and introducing a narrator/characters (Skills list). Students create a plot diagram that outlines conflict, rising action, climax, and falling action, which practices organizing event sequences and pacing of events implicitly. Students also choose a creative vehicle (visual art, song, or poem) to express environmental concerns, which prompts reflection on theme and character perspective.
Lesson 12
Dramatic Enactment
Students are instructed to write a 3–5 minute script for a selected scene, and to "consider the actions the characters take as well as the words they speak," which requires composing dialogue and choosing character actions. Students are asked to update character cards with physical descriptions, traits, important actions, memorable quotes, and reactions of others, which has them develop characters through descriptive detail and quoted lines. Students practice enacting their scene and plan music or lighting effects, which requires making presentation and timing choices that affect how events and characters are revealed.
Lesson 13
A Fantasy Story
The Parent Plan explicitly asks students to read the sample story and to note how it "effectively uses dialogue to move the story along," giving students a direct model for using dialogue. The rubric and writing directions ask students to select "powerful, specific words" and to support a consistent mood, which guides descriptive word choice and descriptive development. The lesson defines the device deus ex machina and prompts discussion of how authors bring about resolution and how characters leave a legacy, which engages students in thinking about narrative techniques and character-focused reflection.
Unit 3: The Book Thief
Lesson 1
The Author and Narrator
Students are asked in the personification Option 1 to write detailed descriptions and may "write a few lines of [an] imagined story," which requires use of descriptive narrative techniques. Students must create a 90-second radio promotional spot, time it, and rehearse it aloud, which requires them to consider wording, presentation, and pacing. Students create a color-collage and then write three sentences that use colors to explain feelings, practicing descriptive language and reflective explanation of emotional experience.
Lesson 4
The Value of Books
Students are asked to mark examples in the reading that appeal to the five senses and to analyze why those images are effective, including attention to vivid adjectives and figurative language. Activity 2 (Five Senses Writing) directs students to record sensory details at multiple stages of eating a candy and then write a short paragraph that uses those details to convey the experience. The Special Books activity requires students to write one- or two-sentence explanations about why each chosen book is valuable, prompting personal reflection about the significance of books.
Lesson 5
The Accordion Player
Students examine author examples that focus on vivid, specific description (e.g., phrases like "He unleashed his quietest words so far" and character details about hair and eyes) and are asked to discuss why those descriptions are memorable. Students complete the "Be Specific" activity pages where they revise underlined text, improve sentences, and create more precise sensory and connotative language. Students are directed to replace bland wording with specific verbs and details (e.g., changing "the man walked" to "the scowling man stomped down the sidewalk") and are encouraged to use a thesaurus and invent details while maintaining narrative essence.
Lesson 6
The Standover Man
Students are asked to reread "The Standover Man," 'think about what makes this simple story so effective,' and then write and illustrate a short story of about 10–15 pages using provided storyboard pages, which requires planning sequence and choosing text and images. Students will draft ideas, use storyboard boxes to organize each page's text and illustration, and bind a completed storybook. Discussion questions prompt students to consider character development and meaning (for example, how the meaning of "standover man" changes and whether discussions of nightmares affected characters), which asks students to reflect on characters and events.
Lesson 8
The Thief Strikes Again
The 'Making the Ordinary Extraordinary' activity directs students to write short descriptions from the narrator Death's point of view and explicitly invites similes or metaphors, using three examples from the text that model figurative description. The Student Activity Page states it is designed to help students enhance descriptive writing skills by focusing on objects, emotions, and actions. The 'Ideas to Think About' and 'Things to Review' prompts ask students to consider how figurative language, word choice, and tone create effect, reinforcing instruction on descriptive narrative techniques.
Lesson 9
Close Calls
Students are asked to find and record multiple examples of figurative language (personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia) from the text, with definitions and required counts, which teaches use of descriptive devices. In Activity 2, students practice expanding basic sentences by painting the predicate and subject, adding how/when/where details, painting a chosen word, and refining wording, which explicitly guides students to add descriptive detail to their writing. The wrapping up and parent notes emphasize becoming more aware of the author's artistry and improving sentence-level detail.
Lesson 11
The Word Shaker
Students identify and explain effective descriptive techniques: Activity 2 asks them to find 2–3 examples of adverbs, adjectives, and strong verbs from the text and to explain why each is effective. Students analyze Max's allegory and answer reflective questions (e.g., explaining what a "nation of farmed thoughts" means) and compare the impact of primary sources versus historical fiction in Part II of the "Primary Sources vs. Historical Fiction" activity. The descriptive-examples page also prompts students to consider how specific word choices affect tone and meaning.
Lesson 12
The Teddy Bear
Students are prompted to jot down especially effective instances of figurative language (personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, allegory, and symbolism) as they read, which targets descriptive technique. Students are asked to analyze how characters grow in wisdom and change emotionally or spiritually, and to explain what they learned, which requires reflection about experiences and characters. In Option 2 students must create a map or diagram that explains the significance of stops and how a character's physical and/or emotional state changed, requiring them to describe events and character development.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
Students are asked to write a typed descriptive paragraph in the middle row focusing on descriptive character, setting, or event, with explicit guidance that good descriptive writing appeals to the senses, uses strong verbs and figurative language. Students choose a "Describing Character" task that asks them to create diary entries or other descriptive writing about a character and to incorporate figurative language. Students complete a "Descriptive Event" activity that directs them to write sensory-rich descriptions of a chosen event and a "War Reporter" radio-piece task that has them deliver a scene from a point of view, going beyond bare facts to a story-like report.
Unit 4: To Kill a Mockingbird
Lesson 2
Home and School
Students are asked to write a literature response that is explicitly described as a personal reflection rather than a summary, and they must "refer to specific examples from the book" in that response. An example response models reflection and some character insight (e.g., noting Atticus's advice and curiosity about the Radley gifts). A journal activity asks students to record three events/people/circumstances from their own lives and explain how each could inspire a novel and impact a reader, encouraging students to think about developing experiences and themes.
Lesson 4
Snow and Fire
Students are asked to read Chapters 8–9 and complete a Character Line-Up chart where they record "memorable descriptions," "quotes or dialogue about or by the character," and "memorable actions performed by the character," which requires them to identify descriptive details and spoken lines from the narrative. Students must write a literature response that includes at least one quotation from the text and an explanation of its meaning and importance, prompting reflection on how language develops character or events. The sample answers model how descriptions, quotes, and memorable actions contribute to character development, giving students examples of narrative elements in use.
Lesson 5
Surprising Talent
Students are asked to create a 4-square comic strip that tells a surprising-revelation story using pictures and dialogue bubbles, which requires them to write and place dialogue and to sequence events across panels. In the skit option, students must write a short (30–60 second) script and act it out, which requires writing dialogue and organizing events in real time and practicing timing. The wrap-up discussion prompts ask students to explain characters' motivations and conscience, which asks students to reflect on characters and events.
Lesson 6
Separate
Students are asked to write a 6–8 sentence literary response that requires personal reflection on events, characters, and themes and to refer to specific examples from chapters 12–13. An example response models reflection on character reactions, feelings, and predictions, showing students how to use reflection to develop understanding of characters and events. In Activity 2 students create a caption and write two or three sentences connecting a historical image to the story, which asks them to produce concise descriptive text linking image and narrative.
Lesson 12
Wise Words
Students are asked to write a 6–8 sentence diary entry 'pretending you are the character you chose,' explicitly directing them to consider how the character 'would have thought, felt, and reacted,' which requires adopting voice and internal reflection. The "Someone Else's Skin" prompt asks students to 'put yourself in this character's "skin and walk around in it,"' and the Venn diagram option has students list each character's perceptions, feelings, and reactions, prompting comparison of perspectives. The "Wise Words" activity requires students to choose quotes and explain them in their own words and to memorize and creatively display one quote, encouraging interpretation and reflective rephrasing of character statements.
Lesson 13
Text and Film
Students are asked in Option 2 to "write a short movie script for this scene for a 2-3 minute scene" and to "be sure to include stage directions, such as lighting, props, and music directions," which requires them to compose dialogue and descriptive stage directions. The Student Activity Page questions ask students to analyze "what special effects (lighting, music, camera angle) the film version employ[ed]" and "how the director use[d] the effects to help tell the story," prompting students to think about pacing and descriptive choices in storytelling. The instruction to rehearse and perform the scripted scene encourages students to produce enacted dialogue and timing choices.
Final Project
Oral Book Presentation
Students choose a main character, describe them, and explain their development on the "Characters" slide. Students summarize the most important events on the "Plot" slide and are instructed that each segment should take about 1–2 minutes to present. Students share personal responses on the "Your Personal Reactions" slide and practice presenting those reflections aloud, with guidance to "speak loudly, clearly, and slowly."
Unit 5: Great American Poets
Lesson 1
Poetry Basics
Students are asked in Activity 1 Part I to transform simple prose sentences into poetic lines that create imagery and evoke feelings, practicing descriptive word choice and simile. The lesson explains how poets select words to create images and emotional effects and gives examples (Robert Frost, D.H. Lawrence) that highlight descriptive techniques. Activity 3 teaches rhythm and meter, and the materials ask students to mark stressed syllables and notice how rhythm creates an effect, which relates to pacing. Active reading tasks direct students to underline phrases that create vivid images or evoke feelings, reinforcing use of description.
Lesson 2
Early American Poetry
Students read Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride," identified and marked phrases or lines that create memorable images or evoke emotion, and compared that poem to Paul Revere's first-person account using a Venn diagram. The comparing-texts activity and answer key explicitly note features such as dialogue, figurative language, rhyme, rhythm, and hour-by-hour (chronological) detail, and students are asked to consider how form and differing structures influence the reader. Activities prompt students to analyze how word choice, sound, and literary language make the narrative poem dramatic and memorable.
Lesson 3
Figurative Language
Students are asked to write at least a two-paragraph description of a scene and to use simile or metaphor, imagery (appealing to two or more senses), alliteration, and personification (Part II option). Students also write poetic lines or a poem using figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole) and create concrete (shape) poems, which requires composing descriptive language to develop an object or scene.
Lesson 4
Poetic Forms
Students analyze a traditional narrative ballad ("John Henry") and answer a question about what makes it a ballad, which addresses narrative content, pacing, and story elements. Students read and compare sonnets and iambic pentameter, identifying rhythmic patterns that contribute to pacing. Limerick examples include quoted dialogue (e.g., "Said the fly, 'Let us flee,' 'Let us fly,' said the flea."), and students are asked to write their own limericks, which can include characters and short events.
Lesson 6
Meaning in Poetry
Students analyze narrative elements in poems by summarizing stanza-by-stanza meaning (for example, they outline the three stanzas of "O Captain! My Captain!" and identify the speaker and metaphorical referents). Students examine and practice descriptive and figurative techniques (imagery, metaphor, alliteration, repetition) when they reread Whitman's free-verse poems and are asked to note how these techniques create patterns. Students write their own free-verse poem and are directed to "focus on creating unique images" and to model techniques observed in Whitman's poems.
Lesson 7
Poetry Analysis
The lesson asks students to write their own narrative poem (Activity 2) and to consider what made previously read narrative poems like "Casey at the Bat," "Paul Revere's Ride," "The Raven," and "John Henry" effective at telling a story. Students are instructed to plan a simple rhythm and rhyme scheme, model their structure on the narrative poems they read, and produce a poem of at least 3–4 stanzas, with an example narrative poem provided as a model. The activities require students to retell a known story or create an original short story in poetic form, which engages students in developing events and characters through verse.
Lesson 8
Robert Frost
Students are asked to write a nature poem by going outside, jotting sensory words and phrases (smell, feel, sounds), and using descriptive words to help the reader experience the scene. The activity requires inclusion of at least one simile or metaphor and emphasizes vivid imagery and sound devices (e.g., alliteration, assonance) drawn from Frost's examples. The skills list explicitly asks students to "Write a poem using poetic techniques...; figurative language...; and graphic elements."
Lesson 10
Poems about Poetry
Students answer a question asking for adjectives to describe J. Alfred Prufrock, which requires them to analyze and describe a character. In Activity 1 they underline phrases and images and respond to questions about meaning and effectiveness, engaging in description and reflection on poetic lines. Activity 3 discusses ellipses as a way to indicate pauses or hesitation, which connects to pacing, and Activity 2 asks students to write their own poem about poetry, giving them an opportunity to incorporate techniques of their choosing.
Lesson 11
Editing Your Work
Students are asked to edit a poem they previously wrote, with explicit guidance to improve imagery, figurative language, rhythm, or meter (Activity 2). Students analyze poetic techniques in readings and questions (for example, noting rhythm and rhyme in Countee Cullen and capitalization choices in E.E. Cummings). Activity 3 asks students to compose poems that use punctuation for effect, which requires attention to pacing and expressive choices in line and pause.
Lesson 12
Reciting Poetry
Students brainstorm sensory details with the Five Senses Web and use those notes and a drawing as inspiration for lines of their final poem, which asks them to make ordinary things meaningful. The Skills section directs students to "write a poem using poetic techniques...; figurative language" and to read and analyze subgenres that include narrative poems. The prompt to "consider how you can help your poem's readers understand the significance of the object, scene, or event" encourages reflective development of experience or event.