An article with rules of writing vs texting.

Helping students find their voices: Four corners of the classroom project. Using the four corners of the classroom, each student delivers his or her presentation to a small group, receives individual feedback, and then rotates within that group from speaker to audience member. This activity is ideal for a full class period (50 minutes) and requires only a timer.

Examples and links to sites for unit development in English

A guide on public speaking.

A PDF guide from FEMA on basic communication skills.

A page from a site with information on the process of listening.

A site that contains an activity on writing directions.

A PDF article from the National Council of Teachers of English.

A how-to essay explains a process, or how to do something. The purpose of a how-to essay is to inform, or give information, to the reader. A how-to essay can describe how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, how to play baseball, or how do well on tests. How-to essays allow the writer to share and teach what they know or have learned.

For each skill, skill levels are provided. Some skills have five levels, others have four. These skill levels indicate the level of complexity involved in the use of a skill in a particular task. For all skills, the least complex tasks are tasks classified at level 1. The most complex tasks are tasks classified at level 5, or at level 4, if there are only four levels for a skill. For example, a task that requires you to follow simple written directions such as the directions on a bottle is classified at "skill level 1" in reading. A task that requires you to interpret complex information using specialized knowledge such as scientific terminology is classified at "skill level 5" in reading.

The short story site.

This site contains a version of the story, the history and an interview of the author.

A short account of what is to believed to be a grail of some sort dating back to the time of Christ.

A breakdown of different paragraphs ranging from bad to good.

Lesson plan for using sandwich graphic organizer.

SuccessLink site page where a lesson on writing a paragraph contains objectives and standards.