MizSimonsTeach

This activity would fit well within a unit on the Age of Exploration or a study of colonialism! Designed to last a full class period and to provide homework for the night, this lesson asks students to critically read a letter by Chrisopher Columbus detailing his first voyage and an account by Bartolome de las Casas depicting the bloody result of the Europeans', and specifically Columbus', appropriation of the island he called "Hispaniola." Students will use evidence from the texts to form an i

This question set is designed to accompany a unit on Romeo and Juliet. Note - the line numbers specifically apply to the No Fear Shakespeare book form of the text. If you are not using the No Fear Shakespeare text, feel free to message me and I will modify the document and send you one with correct line numbers. This product specifically focuses on ANALYSIS, not just comprehension. It asks students to engage with themes in the text, character development, symbolism, etc. There are comprehension

I love this stations activity! This one is for a personal narrative essay. You could use the stations model, or change it to "steps" instead for students to work through while they revise. It is meant as a reflective revision activity, with a section on weak versus strong verbs, types of introductions (they have to write multiple new introductions for their essay, then choose the one they want to use in their revision!), sensory language, and more! Primarily geared toward middle school students,

Detailed, easy to follow anchor chart to help students use commas correctly and bump up their writing. Explicit instructions are included on what independent and dependent clauses are and how they help identify comma use, and how to write compound and complex sentences. Use as part of a larger lesson or as a revision tool for students to use on their writing.

This bundle includes three resources for the Socratic Seminar: an article annotation activity related to surviving a zombie apocalypse, instructions slide for Socratic Seminar, and a teams activity in which students prepare a body of evidence to prepare for the Socratic.

This assignment is a great addition to a characterization unit, after learning character vocab and before reading a long text. Can be independent student activity or teacher led class activity with collaboration. Students watch three Pixar shorts and answer questions about characters in each one, then they answer a critical thinking writing prompt at the end.

This activity works really well as a supplement to a theme lesson, or a quick review before a new unit (I used it to review theme with my 9th graders right before we started reading Romeo and Juliet). Included are 5 stations where students engage with a different kind of text and work out theme. Students get to choose from three different options each time, and the genres are high interest: TikTok, Poetry, Short Story, Music, and Film. Also included in the activity is a graphic organizer for s

This Book Club workbook is a convenient, no prep tool for supporting all students through any book. It was designed to work with the book club format, where students are give 5-6 options of books to read, then join a group of students who are all reading the same book, but the structure would work for any novel setup.

This primary source activity asks students to critically read Chrisopher Columbus' letter detailing his first voyage and an account by Bartolome de las Casas depicting the bloody result of the Europeans', and specifically Columbus', appropriation of the island he called "Hispaniola." This activity would fit well within a unit on the Age of Exploration or a study of colonialism. This version is ideal for 7th and 8th graders because the excerpts are highly abridged and I have simplified the ques

This revision packet is so fun, and geared at argumentative writing. There are youtube videos, gifs, and detailed instructions for students with models to ensure they have what they need to improve their writing. There is a section for rewriting their introduction, a "First Person Hunt", transitions, etc. It's an easy way to end a writing unit that gives students the chance to "own" their work and bump up their thinking with revision!

End of the year Certificate of Excellence to honor your hard-working students! I used this when I taught middle school, and I plan to use it with my high schoolers this year as well. Designed for printing and handwriting student information, but if you'd like to receive the link for the Canva template that you can copy and modify yourself then notify me after purchase and I can send it to you!

I used this teaming resource to introduce a narrative unit, and students responded very well. The assignment is structured as a teaming task - students in groups of four will each choose a role, and all students are dependent on each other in order to complete their team task.

Viewing guide for West Side Story 2021 to accompany a unit on Romeo and Juliet. Emphasis on visual symbolism and compare/contrast analysis to Romeo and Juliet.

See bundle for Zombie Apocalypse Socratic Seminar. This assignment can be combined with my other resources for Socratic Seminar, or it can be used on its own. In this activity, students will work as a team to create a body of evidence for use in a Socratic Seminar with the guiding question: What is survival? Students have specifically assigned roles, and included is both student samples and a graphic organizer for students to collect the most relevant information to use during the follow up Socr

This is a great way to end the year on a positive, personal note. This pdf is designed for printing and filling out by hand, but if you'd like a link for an editable version then send me a message after purchasing and I can provide that.

Speed book dating is a great way to challenge students to find new books that they might not have thought of before. And, to introduce reluctant readers to the idea that there MIGHT be a book out there that they actually WANT to read. Every time I do this activity it is overall a success as far as student engagement. Each time, I see students get excited about books, sometimes fighting over who gets to read one first, and I see reluctant readers find a book they are at least somewhat interested

Includes two sources for students to annotate in preparation for the Socratic Seminar on Zombie Apocalypse. See bundle for complete resources.

Differentiation is a buzz word in education that's hard to miss. These annotation cards are a great way to improve students comprehension while differentiating for varied learning abilities. For example, for the students who struggle with text comprehension I usually start with the prediction option since it's more accessible. For more advanced students, I push them toward theme or Text to Text connections. These task cards are a great resource to keep in the classroom and pass out for certain

Use these instructions to facilitate the Socratic Seminar conversation model. See bundles for full resources.