All Lessons

These guides help teachers understand how federal assessments have evolved by showing in-depth analysis of Common Core assessment questions in math. Teachers will understand the new types of questions presented to students and how classroom instruction should be modified to prepare students for these questions.

This reading literature lesson focuses on how to determine the impact of analogies in a text, and see how they are related to metaphors and similes. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students will identify two things being compared in a poem, look for words that suggest the comparison, identify the qualities they have in common, and analyze the impact of the analogy.

This literary response and analysis lesson focuses on using symbolism to interpret an author's meaning. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students are given the symbol used in a text and then asked to read the text three times to determine the meaning of the symbol. They are asked to identify reasons in the text to support their interpretation of the symbol and asked to explain how and why the symbol is used. In addition to the lesson, there are five pages of Independent Practice and review with questions modeled after current adaptive testing items.

This literary response and analysis lesson focuses on using the biographical approach to analyzing a work of literature. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read the passage and then underline the sentences that reflect the author's life. Then, they determine whether the biographical reference shows the author's heritage, traditions, beliefs, or attitudes. Finally, they interpret what the author's life was like. In addition to the lesson, there are five pages of Independent Practice and review with questions modeled after current adaptive testing items.

This Common Core reading literature lesson analyzes the impact of allusions in a text. In this lesson, students will read text with a given allusion. Next, they will interpret the allusion by describing the person or event it alludes to (based on prior knowledge or a provided summary), and then explain the connection between the allusion and the text. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for Common Core assessments. Familiarity with lesson 7.L.5a Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions) in context would be helpful. In addition to the lesson, there are four pages of Independent Practice and review with questions modeled after the Common Core assessment items.

This reading literature lesson focuses on explaining how points of view can create suspense and humor. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read a story, identify the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and determine what effect is created. In addition to the lesson, there are eight pages of Independent Practice and review with questions modeled after current adaptive testing items.

This reading informational text lesson covers how to cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports what the text says explicitly as well as inferences are drawn from the text. The less This skill and concept should expand into larger works of informational text as the year progresses. The term conclusion is used in some assessments to evaluate inference (Smarter Balanced). Students will need to know that conclusion and inference are sometimes used interchangeably.

This reading informational text lesson covers how an author deals with conflicting viewpoints in a text. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students will identify the author's point of view and analyze how he or she acknowledges or responds to conflicting viewpoints.

This reading comprehension lesson focuses on evaluating the logic of text. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read the text and identify the sentence that states the author's argument. Then, they identify other sentences that provide consistent support for the argument. If all examples support the argument, then they can determine that the argument has logic. In addition to the lesson, there are eight pages of Independent Practice and review modeled on current adaptive testing methods.

This reading comprehension lesson focuses on comparing and contrasting warranties. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students review a series of questions about a warranty and then scan the warranty to identify the answers and write them in a graphic organizer. Finally, they compare and contrast how two warranties are the same or different. In addition to the lesson, there are five pages of Independent Practice and review along with warranty glossary terms. The questions are modeled on current adaptive testing methods.

This reading comprehension lesson focuses on analyzing proposition-and-support patterns in text. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read the text and identify the proposition. Then, they determine words or phrases that support the author's proposition and those that do not support it. Finally, they explain how the author's proposition was supported. In addition to the lesson, there are four pages of Independent Practice and review modeled on current adaptive testing methods.

This reading comprehension lesson focuses on finding similarities and differences between texts in the scope of ideas. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read both documents to find similar ideas covered in each. Then, they find differences in scope by answering a question about the text and explaining which difference has more details on the idea. In addition to the lesson, there are four pages of Independent Practice and review modeled on current adaptive testing methods.

This reading comprehension lesson focuses on evaluating the unity of the text. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read the introductory paragraph to identify the author's position and then read each paragraph looking for the main idea. Then, they determine if the main idea is clear or not, and evaluate the unity using a checklist and answer a question that analyzes the unity of the text. In addition to the lesson, there are eight pages of Independent Practice and review modeled on current adaptive testing methods.