My Lessons

Here you'll find a collection of my lessons and unit plans. Some are very detailed and planned out, and others are simple outlines meant to be a give some starting ideas that you can morph into your own teaching style. if you have any questions about the lessons feel free to contact me. And if you use any ideas, I would love to know how it went!

To access the plans, click on the picture at left.

Lessons: Staff

New vs Old

This is a lesson to teach as you read To Kill a Mockingbird. (but can easily be modified to work with any text!) The lesson gets students thinking about what was happening in the 1930s, and then asks them to reflect on how those events are seen today. this lesson correlates with Michael Macalusos' 2018 article which you can find notes on under the research tab.

Go Ask Alice Unit

This book contains some mature content so carefully prepare your class for that. This is a simple outline of ideas to use as you teach the novel.

Night

This novel is directly a story about a father and son who are victims of the holocaust. This link gives lesson ideas to start, as well as an idea about using the book to teach about Americas prisons.

Of Mice and Men Unit

This novel is typically taught in 10th grade, but depending on the social issues you plan to address, you could place the novel in other high school grades.

To Kill a Mockingbird Unit

Harper Lees' novel is typically taught in grade 9 or 10. Depending on how in-depth you want to go into the various forms of discrimination present int he novel, you could teach the book in upper levels as well. This document gives basic lesson ideas and research ideas to use as well.

Function: Notation, Domain, Range, Composition

This lesson was planned for an IB mathematics class, however the content is covered in other lower level classes as well. This lesson is used to introduce function notation, domain, range, and compositions. This lesson was planned for just one hour, but, students really need about 2 class periods to thoroughly cover everything.

Short Story Unit

Short Stories are typically taught throughout 9th grade. depending on the stories you choose, this unit may work better in an upper level grade. This document is a very detailed unit plan that allows you use your own short stories.

Lord of the Flies Unit

This book is commonly taught in ninth grade. This document gives a list of lessons ideas to start with that include ideas about social issues.

1984 Unit

1984 is a very complex novel and is commonly taught in 12th grade or advanced classes. With the right guidance, the text could be taught in 11th grade as well. 1984 is an extremely relevant text considering today's government, with this in mind, make sure you're prepared for intense discussions throughout teaching this book. This document gives lesson ideas to start with.

Sherman Alexie

This document is an outline of lesson ideas to teach Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I also suggest reading the Matterson and Boyd notes under the research and resources page.

Ship Breaker

This is a unit outline with a few lesson ideas to use while teaching Ship Breaker. This novel is not commonly taught, but is very exciting and is a great text to use to tackle climate change issues.

Taking Sides

This short novel is not a common book to find in a schools curriculum, however it is a great book that can be used to discuss socioeconomic, and race issues. The book follows a teen boy who is a basketball player ans switches schools. This link will open a document with a unit outline of lesson ideas to plan when teaching the book.

The Outsiders

This document will open a unit plan outline with various lesson ideas you can expand on if you're teaching this book.