This is a document to help students reflect on their choices for persuasive technique and rhetorical devices.

In this Thematic Exploration, students will explore the different ways artists represent individuals in portraits. They will learn to gather clues about the time period in which the portrait was created, the lives of the subjects, and the thoughts of the artists.

Using portraits from the VMFA's collection, students will explore the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of portraiture. Guiding questions are woven throughout the activity, alongside a close examination of seven different portraits from a variety of different eras and cultures. Students are encouraged to observe, interpret, analyze, and reflect thoughtfully in each step. This activity also includes summative reflection questions to wrap up the conversation, as well as an optional "Create Your Own Portrait" activity.

The mini lesson consists of a presentation of slides of transformations of translation, reflections, and rotations.  Students will decide which slide and use a text box to type the answer per slide.

In this unit, students read fiction, nonfiction, and poetry selections about acts of courage, big and small, ordinary and extraordinary.  Throughout the unit students will assume the role of a blogger and write expository essay profiles about the people and characters they read about and their acts of courage.  This work will be curated in a Google Site that will serve as the Performance Based Assessment. 

This lesson uses Panic at the Disco's song, "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" to explore specific literary elements: metaphor, inversion, irony, and tone in order to consider how these devices help shape meaning. Students will work in pairs to employ close-reading skills for specific analytical tasks. They will reflect on their learning continuously throughout the lesson. The lesson will culminate with a brief analytical paragraph that asks them to consider how the figurative devices employed by the songwriters shapes meaning. Finally, they will reflect on the process of close-reading to consider how this process informed their understanding of the text and how they can transfer this skill to other analytical tasks.

This lesson uses Panic at the Disco's song, "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" to explore specific literary elements: metaphor, inversion, irony, and tone in order to consider how these devices help shape meaning. Students will work in pairs to employ close-reading skills for specific analytical tasks. They will reflect on their learning continuously throughout the lesson. The lesson will culminate with a brief analytical paragraph that asks them to consider how the figurative devices employed by the songwriters shapes meaning. Finally, they will reflect on the process of close-reading to consider how this process informed their understanding of the text and how they can transfer this skill to other analytical tasks.

This lesson has students investigate how albedo is contributing to temperature increasing in some places, like cities, are increasing at faster rates than elsewhere.

This lesson has students explore what land use changes are happening and how changes in surface color affects temperatures in cities.