Jennifer Roach

This graphic organizer / reading guide resembles the old toy "Etch a Sketch" and is a great way to reach different learning styles. The teacher can choose any two peices of literature to have students compare by both sketching a picture and writing a paragraph. (I use this with the novel Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix and an excerpt from "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" to have students compare Luke's experience of hiding in an attic with that of Harriet Jacobs.)

This document contains a student version fill-in-the-blank handout as well as the teacher answer key for a mini-lesson on writing descriptively within narrative writing. This lesson can be used when teaching students to write personal narratives, memoirs, or narrative poetry.

Verball Volleyball is a teaching strategy based on the AVID strategy called Philosophical Chairs. Students will meet all of the Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards while participating in this fun class discussion activity. This document is a handout for students to be used as a closing activity at the end of the discussion. The students will: reflect on their original opinion about the topic of discussion, answer questions about the flow of discussion, and evaluate whether or not their

Verball Volleyball is a teaching strategy based on the AVID strategy called Philosophical Chairs. Students will meet all of the Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards while participating in this fun class discussion activity. This document is a handout for students that explains the rules for engagement in Verbal Volleyball. The teacher can choose any statement to discuss that fits the current unit of study.