Welcome to the
School House Books, Inc.
Collection of High School and College
Web-Linked Resources and Lesson Plans:

For your convenience, School House Books, Inc. has linked various lesson plans and resources to the web.  If you are looking for a lesson plan on a certain topic, use this page as a starting point.  Select the subject or type of lesson plan you need.  Click on that blue link to preview that web site.  If the lesson plan or resource that you need is not on this page, check the other page.  If the lesson plan or resource that you need is not on either page, contact me requesting information on that topic and I will put something on the web, usually within 24 hours of the request.

Duane Earnest
 

Agree or Disagree Questions
Assignment:  Essays - Search either of the two sources below for a quote.  Tie the topic into a larger concept.  Then write a carefully reasoned, persuasive essay which defends, challenges, or qualifies this concept as you have defined it.  Be sure to use evidence from your observations, experience, or reading to develop your stance. 
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
A Collection of Passages,  Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by  John Bartlett.
Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
Over 10,000 quotes from over 4000 sources,  including 25 categories of quotes, and 60  sections.

Analysis Essay
Justin Treadeau eulogy. 

Close Reading
Assignment:  Learn the skill of close reading.
The Reading Process:  Reading,  Re-Reading, Explorations  Uses Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour"

Columnists
Assignment:  Browse through the newspaper columnists linked below.  Read something daily.  Various tasks could include writing an agree or disagree essay on a topic covered by an article read,  evaluating the effectiveness of the argument raised in a particular editorial, etc. The possibilities are endless.
American Media Columnists
Online Newspaper Columnist and Commentator Index Hundreds of North American newspaper columnists and commentators. Also political and editorial cartoons and cartoonists, political scientist resources, political sites. 
Boston Globe Online / Columnists
Choose from a list of all Globe columnists and writers who publish occasional columns.
Chicago Sun-Times columnists 
Choose from a list of all Sun-Times columnists who publish occasional columns.
Newspaper Columnists Pages and 
Op/Ed Pages from Around the World 
Editorials, opinions and commentaries, columns and columnists from English newspaper and  magazine Web sites. 
Boston Herald.com Columnists 
Select article by topic and columnist.
The Denver Post Online - Columnists
Select from Columns, Discussions, Editorials, Growth forum, Mike Keefe , Letters, Perspective.
Houston Chronicle.com  Select an editorial by title.
SF Gate - Columnists
Select a columnist by name and subject.
Dallas Morning News  Select an editorial columnist by name and subject.

The College Application Essay
Assignment:  Practice personal expression by writing a college application essay.  Seniors should use these sites to help write essays they are going to submit.
Writing the College Application Essay
Covers Brainstorming, Selecting An Essay Topic, and Writing the Essay, Tips for Success
Your College Essay - Excellent site from the College Board.

Comparison and Contrast
Assignment:  Compare treatments of a news item from one newspaper columnist to another.  Find those that have varying opinions on the same subject.  Evaluate these opinions and develop your own personal stance.

Creative Suggestions
Assignment:  Write a short story.
Twenty Fives Ways to Find Story Ideas Creatives suggestions about where to find story ideas by Michelle Giles.
Assignment:  Write cartoon captions.
USA Today Cartoon Contest   Different cartoons are pictured periodically.  Students in two age categories (age 13 and older or under age 13) are invited to submit captions for the cartoon.
Assignment:  Write persuasion.
Post Your Opinion  USA Today has an interactive forum on the day's critical issues where you are invited to post your opinion. 

Drama
Antigone(Grades 9 - 12) An introduction to moral dilemma in Greek theater.
The Crucible  (Grades 10 - 12) Arthur Miller's play is studied in conjunction with McCarthyism.   An excerpt from Cotton Mather's  The Wondersof the Invisible Worldis used as a companion piece.
Hamlet on Trial  (Grades 9 - 12)  The students enact a courtroom trial where Hamlet is tried for multiple murders.

 

  Extended Writing Projects
Assignment:  Use the following authoritative sites to research good writing practices.
The Writing Process  This page is designed to aid students at various points in the writing process.
On the Art of Writing   Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch,  1916.   This collection of lectures capture the artistic and vital nature of language.

Fables
Assignment:  Read fables of your choice; write fables, etc.
Aesop's Fables
 
 

Journal Writing
 

Literary Movements
Romanticism

Realism and Naturalism

Mythology
Assignment:  Use the following authoritative sites to research the allusions in your reading.
The Age of Fable  Thomas Bulfinch, 1913.   Revised and enlarged four-volume edition of the classic work on the mythology and fable of the ages.
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Brewer, E. Cobham. 1898.   Comprising over 18,000 entries that reveal the etymologies, trace the origins and otherwise catalog ìwords with a tale to tell.î 

Newspapers
Assignment:  The following newspapers can be read for pleasure, for news , and as texts for  thousands of assignments.  Just search each newspaper for ideas.  They are already there!
Newspapers.com  A lengthy list of newspapers can be found here.   The Top Ten Newspapers Online is updated on a weekly basis, and posted every Friday at 5:00 p.m. US Central Time. Newspaper links are listed in order of most visited to least visited from Newspapers Online!.   Here is the list for June 2000.  They are listed in order of most visited to least visited from Newspapers Online!. 
THE ATLANTAJOURNAL
NEW YORK TIMES
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
LOS ANGELES TIMES
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
THE WASHINGTON POST
BALTIMORE SUN
THE BOSTON GLOBE
NEW YORK POST
MIAMI HERALD

Nonfiction

Novels

Poetry

Reading
Assignment:  Use the following authoritative sites to research good reading practices.
On the Art of Reading Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, 1920.  This series of lectures is rich with insight on the activity of effectual and intelligent reading.

Satire

Short Story

Style

Syntax

Test Preparation
Study Guides for Testing, Reading, Writing, and Classroom Participation Units include:  Preparing to learn,  Participating in Classrooms, Studying,  Reading Skills, Webtruth:  a guide to the understanding and design of websites,  Math testing,  Preparing for Tests, Taking Tests,  Writing Skills,  Writing Essays
 

Vocabulary

Writing
Young Writer's Club

Writing about Literature  Good Instruction on Analysis and Interpretation
 

 


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