Ahh, spring! Flowers are blooming. Trees are unfurling their green leaves, and teachers all over Virginia know that SOL season is upon us.
Lucky for you, eMediaVA has some fantastic resources for secondary English teachers who are gearing up for the upcoming reading Standards of Learning assessment.
Check out these five great resources!
- Tune Up lessons are interactive lessons that focus on specific SOLs in non-fiction and vocabulary. They cover topics like word choice, using reading strategies, and determining the details that support the main idea. Each lesson has a link to explain how to use the resource in the classroom and includes teaching tips.
- Another great non-fiction possibility is BeWISE Media. These videos focus on facts versus fiction, the author’s reliability, and source credibility. They are thought-provoking and are presented by teenagers. Each video contains accompanying supplementals like lesson plans, discussion questions, activities, and handouts.
- It’s Lit will be your next favorite fiction resource. It’s Lit video lessons thoroughly discuss mood, theme, and author’s purpose in popular genres and famous works. They also have an interactive story map, so your students can practice plot diagramming.
- The Great American Read takes popular novels and focuses on one particular fiction element portrayed throughout that work. Each interactive lesson introduces students to famous literary works while reinforcing SOL skills for the testing season. Who knows? Your students may find their next favorite book by exploring The Great American Read!
- What better way to learn about the art of fiction than to create it? Write It Out: Toolkits For Writers will help readers recognize the plot, figurative language, conflict, and much more. After this unit, your students will not only become better writers but better readers, too!
So remember, although testing is around the corner, eMediaVA has some great finds to help support your teaching. Now go out and enjoy some of that beautiful spring weather!
Kristen Strickland is an ITRT in Chesapeake Public Schools and an eMediaVA Ambassador.