Students will produce a narrative piece on fear, which will utilize dialogue and communicate their feelings.** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

We can look at art to analyze and interpret the ideas at play; we can also use art as a prompt for creativity; but these two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Use this simple creative writing exercise to help students collaboratively use creative thinking in tandem with critical thinking as they make meaning from an abstract artwork.

Students will produce a persuasive analysis essay as a top psychiatrist assessing the mental health of a defendent accused of murder in order to see if he can avoid the death penalty by pleading insanity.  ** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

Shared narratives can be found in art from many cultures and throughout time. Use this resource to encourage students to explore diverse narratives, discover their own personal narrative, and express that narrative through their own work of art.Using provided engagment strategies students are able to hone Critical, Creative, and Communication skills using works of art in the Virginia Museum of Arts collection. Discussion prompts and activities offer instructional oppotunities for building Collaboration and Citizenship skills. 

English Instructional Plan – Women’s Equality, Civil Rights, and the Super Hero: Using Paired Passages to engage student learning outcomes   Students will read paired passages about different aspects of women’s fight for equality or the Civil Rights Movement. These readings will provide background knowledge to students to connect these movements to two superheroes: Wonder Woman and Black Panther. This will allow students to analyze the intersection between historical movements and superheroes through various forms of writing. Primary Strand: 8.5/8.6, 9.5/9.6 - Reading Integrated Strand/s:  Writing/Communication/Multimodal Literacies

1.)Literature should be puzzling, magical and mystifying. The best literature hinders easy interpretation and compels return visits. Poetry serves this purpose perfectly. Poetry is not meant to be solved. The ambiguous nature of the poem is one of the reasons it is not a favorite of the majority of class, but rather the minority.Poetry allows me to teach my students how to write, read, and understand any text. It also provides a healthy outlet for swelling teenage emotions. Some of the most empathetic and trusting moments in the classroom community for me over the past twenty years has come from students sharing their original work, to say nothing of the speaking and listening SOLS that are often overlooked in high school English. This lesson is for the discovery of poetry.

This resource provides an explanation of, sample directions for, and suggested logistics to implement a reflection and revision assignment after students have completed at least one draft of a writing assignment. The assignment requires students to pinpoint problematic issues in the writing and to focus revisions on those. The assignment requires both reflective writing about and actual revision of particular problems in order to develop awareness of their individual struggles with writing and practice solving those problems.

Last March, schools all around the world were thrust into virtual learning, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the future, do you think virtual learning should continue to be an option for high school students?  Why or why not?** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

The resource provides directions and handouts for facilitating a writing workshop that utilizes stations to focus the peer feedback process. Students focus on responding to one aspect of their peers' essays at a time. The model also allows for movement in the classroom. Word documents are provided with directions for various possible stations that would work well for providing feedback on a literature-based essay.

The resource provides directions and handouts for facilitating a writing workshop that utilizes stations to focus the peer feedback process. Students focus on responding to one aspect of their peers' essays at a time. The model also allows for movement in the classroom.

Word documents are provided with directions for various possible stations that would work well for providing feedback on a researched argument essay.