The activities here work on analysis and synthesis skills. They take canonized text that are often taught at different times in the school year due to their placement in U.S. and world history and ask students to pair them together. A variety of activities and assessments are described or suggested throughout this resource to help students explore the boundaries surrounding certainty and doubt and lived experience.

The student will write a persuasive essay convincing the teacher of who is to blame for the witch hysteria and the subsequent deaths of innocent people.** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

Learn how writer Zora Neale Hurston incorporated and transformed black folklife in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. By exploring Hurston's own life history and collection methods, listening to her WPA recordings of folksongs and folktales, and comparing transcribed folk narrative texts with the plot and themes of the novel, students will learn about the crucial role of oral folklore in Hurston's written work.

This resource is a quick reference guide for students as they develop body paragraphs in response to persuasive writing tasks, such as the Writing SOL Short Paper. The resource includes various strategies that students can use for elaborating on ideas and exemplar paragraphs based on a released SOL prompt.

This resource is a quick reference guide for students as they craft effective introduction paragraphs in response to persuasive writing tasks, such as the Writing SOL Short Paper. The resource includes essential components, stylistic options, guiding questions, and an exemplar paragraph based on a released SOL prompt.

Students will be defending the main character’s hero or villain status by analyzing the author’s choices within a text to create an analysis essay. Students may have the option of selecting the text/author/main character/villain or hero and will have the option of selecting the author’s choices to analyze.** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

Students will be writing a standard-format letter to the editor of a local newspaper using data and research on an issue they care about that affects others. While it must be a school-appropriate issue, students have the opportunity to select any issue of interest to them to rebut the original writer’s post.** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the poetry of Maya Angelou. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This resource provides Summative extension activity options for an existing resource entitled: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorrain Hansberry. Teachers work with the original resource first to guide their main unit-instruction: https://goopenva.org/courses/a-raisin-in-the-sun-by-lorraine-hansberry-2/view

Next, they can review the Summative extension options provided in this resource to produce creative sythensis activities designed to extend the depth of knowledge students will gain from this lesson.

This resource provides Summative extension activity options for an existing resource entitled: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorrain Hansberry. Teachers work with the original resource first to guide their main unit-instruction: https://goopenva.org/courses/a-raisin-in-the-sun-by-lorraine-hansberry-2/view

Next, they can review the Summative extension options provided in this resource to produce creative sythensis activities designed to extend the depth of knowledge students will gain from this lesson.