In this lesson, students consider the perspective of a villain they love to hate. They will create a compelling backstory for the character and write short stories from the villain’s point of view.

Stories are the thread that connect communities. In this lesson, students learn more about culture and identity through Dakota and Hmong textile arts, as well as reflect on their own identities.

The pen is mightier than the sword. In this lesson, students learn there's no better evidence of this than the poetry behind social movements.

This lesson prompts students to explore the exciting range of things they can do when they grow up and highlights the importance of education, curiosity, and role models.

Students will report about their favorite neighborhood places and write a review about the most special one.

This lesson encourages students to consider and write about the myriad ways to include someone, stop bullying before it starts, and make a difference.

In this lesson, students write letters to someone special and reflect on the impact of being kind towards others.

This lesson teaches students to write proposals so convincing no parent can resist them.

Students (virtually) explore a local cemetery and write a monologue from a famous person buried there, including facts from their research and imagined details from a mapping exercise.

Over the course of this lesson, students produce memoirs, poems, and essays that explore what it means to be a member of the LGBTQIA community in America today.

In this lesson, students are challenged to reevaluate the way water and land are represented on a map.

Students will work together to produce a newspaper for the fictional Flood City. In the process, they will take on the roles of editor and journalist to source, draft, and present their newspaper.

In this lesson, students will illustrate the literal and figurative meaning of idioms and write using idioms.

Inspired by George Ella Lyon’s original poem, this lesson guides students through naming the people, places, and things that have shaped them.

Through writing, drawing, mapping, and researching a chosen fruit, students will become more familiar with the often complex history of food and how people access it.

Students investigate the plant life that grows within their community and then select a specific species to learn about in-depth and consider how that species interacts with the overall ecosystem.

Students become script detectives in this lesson, searching for the underlying structure of every play. Student then draw from memories to inspire original plays.

Students will learn about endangered species, how animals become endangered, and then write either a poem or a story about a day-in-the-life about an endangered animal of their choosing.

In this lesson, students will imagine a narrative in the form of a craigslist advertisement to showcase a typically scary monster as a down to earth creature.

Students will collect dirt, map their neighborhood, and listen to music that explores low sound, depth of soil, and the psychological landscape of New Orleans.

Students write two stories focused on the power of inclusion with this downloadable, printable, DIY publishing kit.

In this lesson, students write vegetable-inspired superhero stories.

Working as budding archaeologists, students use artifacts as inspiration for several short writing pieces.

Students will imagine what they would do if they were someone or something else.

A student’s guide for evaluating evidence and learning to spot misleading and false information.

Using Twitter as a storytelling medium, students will improve their understanding of perspective, editing for brevity, and the importance of word choice.

Students will work in a collaborative, constructive setting to create a vision for your classroom as a safe space for students and teachers.

Through brainstorming and drafting activities, students will learn the basics of personal narrative writing and craft an essay that they can use for college, scholarships, job applications and more.

In this lesson, students will emulate Dylan Thomas’ famous drama, Under Milk Wood. Students will create imaginative works of fiction that examine their neighborhood in order to bring it to life.

Students will identify something they have inherited from their families, conduct interviews, and write a narrative essay. This lesson is especially well suited for English Language Learners.

Students will become naturalists for the day by performing field observations and recording their thoughts in a field journal.

In this lesson, students will use mentor texts to hone their revision skills before turning to their own poetry drafts.

Students find gratitude all around as they thank ordinary objects in their lives in the form of an ode.

Students will explore the essentials of an effective “how-to” piece, while considering their own areas of interest and expertise to share with their peers and the world at large.

Students enter The Poetry Laboratory, no lab coats required, and use methods of observation and playful strategies to embark on the process of writing poetry.

This lesson invites students to write a modern day fairy tale. Students will reconstruct classic fairy tales by choosing to focus on altering one story element: setting, point of view, or resolution.

In this lesson, students explore the genres of historical and speculative fiction before they reimagine a time they felt powerless and write a different outcome.

In this lesson, students explore the graphic novel genre with a focus on plot and character development, scripting dialogue, and visual composition.

Borrowing inspiration from out-of-this-world illustrations, students will create an amazing sci-fi story with a fantastical setting, realistic characters, and page-turning plot.

Students will tell stories about their neighborhoods and create maps that document change. The end result is a better understanding of a map’s ability to demonstrate the history behind fixed points.

Students will learn to see home in a fresh way, to walk through doors and open windows they never noticed, and to find the stories that home holds.

In this Lesson, students will further their understanding of how language can impact identity through the process of naming.

Students will identify the characteristics of a hero, familiarize themselves with heroes in their own community, and write an explanatory piece identifying a hero in their community.

In this lesson, students will go through the steps in the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, publishing) to produce a zine that highlights what makes them special.

Through discussion, map-making, and writing, students will investigate the ways in which our knowledge of places is constructed and will uncover the ways that this knowledge is distorted by biases.

Students play the role of benevolent inventor. They identify and think critically about real world problems, and create an ingredients list and usage instructions for an elixir that fixes the problem.

In this lesson, students dive into the many forms bullying can take, create scripts and role-play bullying scenarios, and reflect on their own experiences with bullying.

In this lesson by a young adult author and self-confessed superfan Lisa Lutz, students will learn letter-writing tips and create a fan letter.

Invite students to write about their personal experiences with social media and online platforms with this lesson from 826NYC.

Over a flexible series of activities, students will learn to draw details from real life to create unforgettable characters and compelling stories.

Students will craft an argument about a controversial topic they hold a personal connection to and record their argument to persuade their audience.

Students explore multiple STEM disciplines and the importance of scientific modeling, all in context of an upcoming zombie apocalypse. They'll write technical notes and create an ongoing narrative.

What do you get when you mix foraging with metaphors? Metaphoraging, of course! In this interactive lesson, students will forage their learning space for metaphors.

In this lesson, students will construct a short narrative told through concrete poems.

In this lesson, students will explore different holidays people celebrate around the world and then create a new holiday of their own.

In this lesson, students imagine trading lives with a fictional character for a day and write about the fantastic possibilities that would ensue.

Students write ekphrastic poems, exploring and creating connections between text and image.

Students will practice identifying personification and then use sensory detail and figurative language to express it in their writing.

Students examine relationships between art, poetry, politics, and current events, and reflect on personal experiences while writing social justice poetry.

In this lesson, students experiment with the multimodal composition of Instagram and use this social media platform to promote a social justice issue.

Using the classic battle between superheroes and villains as inspiration, students will create their own twist on a superhero comic, featuring believable characters and Marvel-worthy dialogue.

Students craft campaigns to take on an issue in their community, using formal and informal writing to convince others to take action.

Imagination opens doors to new possibilities. This lesson allows students to exercise their imaginations by describing an imaginary door to the future and picturing what is beyond it.

Gather students around the metaphorical campfire to craft a brochure for a Nature Preserve on another planet, complete with wild critters, plant life, unique geological formations, and park history

In this lesson, students write about a cause that they are passionate about, imagine how they can create change, and come up with slogans to convince other people to take action.

Students team up to write collaborative short stories about a character who stands up to a bully and discover how they can help end bullying.

Students will read a poem by Eve L. Ewing and learn to write a poem that retells or reimagines an experience.

In this lesson, students will learn about different types of rhymes, identify rhymes in lyrics and generate rhymes to use in their own lyrics.

In this workshop, students will create a pourquoi tale, or origin story, of how a local delicacy came to be.

By examining patterns in engaging published stories and applying a set of meaningful prompts, students will learn how to develop well-rounded characters that readers really care about.

Imaginary friends come in all shapes and sizes! Inspired by the new Paramount Pictures movie, IF, students will create their own imaginary friend to take with them on their next adventure.

Emotions play a big role in how we remember places important to us. Students explore this notion by writing memoirs, using plot, dialogue, and description to bring their stories to life.

By examining patterns in engaging published stories and applying a set of meaningful prompts, students will learn how to develop well-rounded characters that readers really care about.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives. This lesson will support students in processing the changes in their everyday lives and help them to identify the creativity their community has exhibited.

In this lesson, students have an opportunity to write a letter expressing their views on issues that matter to them most surrounding an election.

Using precise, clear instructions, each student will create a treasure hunt document that provides clues for finding a treasure hidden in a location of their choosing.

Few expressions of gratitude are more meaningful than a personalized letter. In this lesson, students reach out to essential workers and return their acts of service and kindness by giving thanks.

Your students will use free writes, writing games, cheesy pop lyrics, and revision strategies to learn how to make connections between all of the points on their journey of writing a poem.

Discover what’s possible through writing. In this lesson, students will write a thrilling new story about their future selves inspired by their curiosity and imagination.

Students learn how poetry can “break the rules” then practice breaking the “rules” in their own poems by challenging the expectations, assumptions, and principles their work set up.

A mock crime scene kick-starts this lesson, getting students to hone their inferencing skills and serving as inspiration for crime stories.

In this lesson, students imagine a fictional sport for fantastic beings, create a statistic for that sport, and write a newspaper article about the championship game.

In this superlesson, students isolate DNA, design planes, build lairs, and engineer safe transport to help a hero save the day. Students will also take technical notes and explore new forms of poetry.

What happens when we start from a place of gratitude? In this lesson, students will use Ross Gay’s "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" as a catalyst for a daily gratitude journal.

Students will create infinite poems using fractals, imagine life on a doughnut, and speculate about a universe where time goes crazy. Along the way, they'll explore cool, new math facts and concepts.

In this lesson, students will use descriptive language to write a poem about a favorite animal.