Ryan Reeves

This is a simple, yet fun, activity where students create a personalized license plate as a way to introduce themselves to you and their classmates at the beginning of the school year or a new semester. The file includes customizable and pdf versions of the student handout as well as a teacher's page. Students can work on their license plates while you take care of the first day housekeeping activities. Since the first day is generally a bit crazy, this activity can be stretched to fill the time

(Now includes a PowerPoint version!) This group activity uses a popular student interest, dating, to begin the discussion of the concepts of denotation vs. connotation. The activity combines a whole-group instructional SMARTBoard activity with individual, group, or partner practice. This is an enjoyable way to help the students understand the concepts. Some standardized test practice is included as well as review of using context clues to determine denotation. This has always been a fun and enga

This is a 23-slide fully editable PowerPoint presentation to instruct students on how to give an oral presentation or speech. This is specifically geared to a persuasive speech, but most of the points apply to all types of oral presentations and speeches. Presentation also includes examples of note cards and a scoring rubric for oral presentations/speeches. The presentation can easily be edited and used for any discipline! Thanks for considering this!

This is a simulation based on the premise of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. In groups, students are given the same basic scenario as the beginning of the book and are asked to formulate a plan to save the world. This combines a group project (graded individually) with creative problem-solving and a persuasive speech. It can be easily adjusted based on time and students' needs. Download includes lesson plan, handouts, PowerPoint presentation, and scoring rubric. All items can be edited/customi

There are a lot of reasons why Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play to teach. Not only because it’s the shortest, but also because it has a lot of elements that today’s teens seem to need to be interested in anything: violence! It also has a pretty interesting history, and is still considered to be cursed. This 30-slide introductory PowerPoint presentation introduces the students first to 10 items of trivia about Shakespeare and his plays in a true/false quiz format, and then presents 10 item

In addition to being a Common Core State Standards text exemplar, The Great Gatsby is also making a comeback with a new movie version starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2013. This PowerPoint includes a Jeopardy-type review game focusing on Chapters 1-5 and a Double Jeopardy-type review game from Chapters 6-9 and a category about the author. Both PowerPoints are in the same presentation file to make for easier downloading. Use for friendly class competitions and to review the novel. Questions could be

One of the challenges of the new common core standards is that some students will have already learned some of the concepts due to where they were in previous years. One way to help maximize learning time is to differentiate instruction, giving students only as much or as little instruction and practice as necessary. This unit covers parallel grammatical structure in a differentiated approach. It provides three different customizable practice activities and two different quizzes. All of the acti

This activity includes John Adams’ Letter on Jefferson, one of the CCSS Grades 6-8 text exemplars, as the reading passage. The activity presents 14 different practice assessment questions closely aligned to some of the Reading Information Text (RI) and Language (L) standards for seventh grade. The passage is pretty complex for beginning eighth graders, but working through these exercises with them will not only give them practice for the new assessments, but also give them confidence in their ab

These activities could be everything you need for a journalism course or class. Based on over 10 years of experience, the materials are taken from many different resources plus my original creations into: a 69-page staff handout covering almost all aspects of journalism, reporting, and newspaper publishing. Also included is a Word copy of the handbook that can be edited and customized to fit your program. A PowerPoint of the main points is also included. A bonus mini PowerPoint presentation on w

This is a file with the advertised grade-specific English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy common core state standards in a fully customizable Excel spreadsheet format. Create checklists to track your students’ progress in the standards, or to keep track of which standards you have covered. Please download the preview file for more information and ideas on the different ways you can use this file. *Please note that there is no Reading Literature Standard 8, so I didn’t include it in this file.

This research project combines traditional research and expository writing with student choice and creativity as students practice applying themes from classic literature (Frankenstein) to issues today. This activity includes the customizable student handout and scoring rubric, plus 14 examples of actual student work. Thanks for considering this activity and have a great day!

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is my all-time favorite novel! It is the ONE novel that I have taught every single year for 18 years. I can’t get enough! While the novel is almost 200 years old, it has NEVER been out of print! Frankenstein is also a huge part of our culture, and has been ever since its inception. This activity introduces students to the novel by having them find direct and indirect references to the novel. From numerous movie versions, one of the most recent being Disney’s and Tim B

This file includes a 19-page PowerPoint presentation for whole group instruction on connotation vs. denotation with examples and student learning activities. Upon completion of the PowerPoint, students complete Quiz A. Students who do not successfully complete Quiz A complete various learning activities in Practice Activity A. Those students then take Quiz B. Students who do not successfully complete Quiz B have additional learning activities in Practice Activity B. At this point, most of the st

This is a file with the advertised grade-specific English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy common core state standards in a fully customizable Excel spreadsheet format. Create checklists to track your students’ progress in the standards, or to keep track of which standards you have covered. Please download the preview file for more information and ideas on the different ways you can use this file. *Please note that there is no Reading Literature Standard 8, so I didn’t include it in this file.

This is a file with the advertised grade-specific English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy common core state standards in a fully customizable Excel spreadsheet format. Create checklists to track your students’ progress in the standards, or to keep track of which standards you have covered. Please download the preview file for more information and ideas on the different ways you can use this file. *Please note that there is no Reading Literature Standard 8, so I didn’t include it in this file.

This is a file with the advertised grade-specific English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy common core state standards in a fully customizable Excel spreadsheet format. Create checklists to track your students’ progress in the standards, or to keep track of which standards you have covered. Please download the preview file for more information and ideas on the different ways you can use this file. *Please note that there is no Reading Literature Standard 8, so I didn’t include it in this file.

There are two PowerPoint presentations: Macbeth Jeopardy and Macbeth Double Jeopardy. Each game has 25 questions, for a total of 50 review questions for Macbeth. Slides are full-color and customizable. Question slides have hyperlink to answer slides, and answer slides have hyperlinks to return to main game board. Follows Jeopardy format in that students are given the "answer" and must come up with the question. Fun and easy review of Macbeth.

With the increased emphasis on informational text in the common core, I enjoy adding a multigenre approach more and more. This research paper takes the traditional research process but allows students choice and creativity in how they present their research. The students research the meaning(s) of their name(s) and then choose creative ways to present their research. This unit includes: customizable student assignment overview, scoring rubric, and many student models/examples. The examples inclu

This is a file with the advertised grade-specific English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy common core state standards in a fully customizable Excel spreadsheet format. Create checklists to track your students’ progress in the standards, or to keep track of which standards you have covered. Please download the preview file for more information and ideas on the different ways you can use this file. *Please note that there is no Reading Literature Standard 8, so I didn’t include it in this file.

Although journalism students are anxious to get writing, I believe it's important to give them a bit of the history of journalism so they understand and learn to appreciate the traditions of the past. This is a short presentation that will help give students a foundation or starting point. Thanks for considering this presentation. Ryan Reeves