Teacher Resources

text sets

Welcome to our monthly series! Each month RRVWP will publish a different text set. A text set uses a collection of texts on one topic to deepen understanding of a concept and build background knowledge on a topic. This helps students take nuanced positions to create source-based arguments. We know that reading deeply about one topic helps increase comprehension and build vocabulary. We also know that taking the labor of researching out of the writing process helps students focus on writing. The challenge is locating engaging texts to bring into the classroom. Throughout the year, our goal will be to provide different text sets that can used for a variety of purposes. We'll also add one non-paper activity that can be used with non-fiction texts to try out. 

If you are looking for one text to bring into the classroom, two to pair together, or an entire set, we hope this can be the resource for you! 

CLICK HERE for our Text Set "MASTER LIST"

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May Text Set: Free Speech

Do you have a day or two to fill as you wrap up the year? 

If so, check out this activity where students create an argument detailing what should happen to the ISU student who posted the TikTok video about Beyonce’s country album. 

Pick your timeframe: Do steps 1-2 as a beginning-of-the-day writing prompt, steps 1 - 3 to move from writing to discussion, or do all to create a written argument!

Essential Question: How should colleges handle free speech?

1. Start a discussion: 

1. 1. Ask: What kind of speech is unpopular, harmful, or hateful speech?

1. 2. Ask: How should we treat unpopular, harmful or hateful speech? 

1. 3. Ask: Should there be different rules on a college campus than in public?

1. 4. Ask: Where is the line between protected and unprotected speech?

2. Watch: PBS News Hour: College Campus Becomes Focus of Debate Over What Constitutes as Free Speech

2. 1. Watch all or part (potential cut points: at 4:57 or 9 minutes).

2. 2. Before watching set the purpose: What actions did the college take in both examples detailed?

2. 3. While watching engage in the video: Write down two surprising things said or shown.

2. 4. After watching debrief: Discuss by sharing answers. 

2. 5. After watching apply ideas to new context: Ask: Is disagreement good for society?

3. Handout: Free Speech or No Speech? 

3. 1. Do Questions 1 - 8: Chooose a teaching method: Teacher-led, partner work, or create stations from the handout. 

3. 2. Use student responses to initiate whole class discussion.

4. BEFORE Question 9, Watch the TikTok Video of the ISU student 

Warning: He does swear one time in here (sh*t)

Warning: Racist content

1. 1. Have students answer questions 9 and 10. 

Extra Resources:

• Bonus Read: If you’re Black you’re not country, college student says…

• Bonus Read: As a new generation rises, tension between free speech and inclusivity..

• Lesson adapted from NY TIMES: What should free speech look like on campus? and NY TIME: Why is freedom of speech an important right?

• Graph from Campus Free Speech Survey

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April Text Set: A Month of Poetry

Try out poetry in April for National Poetry Month! Here are four simple poetry activities to help your students write their own poems. Do a poem a week or pick just one to try.  There’s even an option to create a song lyric using a viral TikTok as the mentor text. 

Try this lesson sequence: 

1. Free write for 3 minutes. 

2. Read the poem once,

3. Read the poem a second time,  noticing the author’s style.

4. Outline the structure.

5. Go back to free write and create a list of three topic ideas for poem.

6. Write using the mentor text as inspiration.

Week of April 8

Mentor Text: “Cities” by Catherine P. 

• Annotated version

*Like this poem? Check out the resource here. 

Free write idea: Write about a place you love or hate. Tell me what it looks like, what is happening there, and how you feel.

Week of April 15

Mentor Text: “The Idea Is Better Than the Truth” by Martha R. 

• Annotated version

• Student sample

*Like this poem? Check out the resource here. 

Free write idea: Create a list of things that sound fun but are not or a list of things that you enjoy doing but are also hard. 

Week of April 22

Mentor Text: “She Inherits His Steady Hand” by Laura Van Prooyen

• Annotated version

• Student sample

*Like this poem? Check out the resource here. 

Free write idea: Think of someone who needed help doing something or a time you needed help doing something. Write about it.

Week of April 29

TikTok Lyric Challenge!

Mentor Text: “2 Days Into College” by Aimee Carty

• Variation #1

• Variation #2

• Variation #3

• Variation #4

Handout with three options to help create lyrics. 

*Need more lyrics? Check them out here. 

Lesson idea: 

1. Listen to the original and the different variations. 

2. Notice how all of them start with the same first line structure, talk about how something is different than they expected, and describe how they feel about that difference. 

3. Brainstorm a list of topic ideas: high/middle school, sport, summer, job, etc. 

4. Let students work with partners or on their own.

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February Text Set: Celebrity Activism

Can celebrities affect the outcome of an election?

Essential questions foster the kinds of inquiries, discussions, and reflections that help learners find meaning in their learning and achieve deeper thought and better quality in their work. Read more on creating essential questions at ASCD.

1. How did Sammy Davis Jr. use his celebrity to help?

• Sammy Davis, Jr. | Celebrities, Activism, and the Civil Rights Movement

2.  How do celebrities use their influence today?

• Can Celebrity Activism Campaigns on Social Media Actually Make a Difference? Here’s What an Expert Thinks

Lesson idea: Highlight the expert Professor Tyree’s words. Then, paraphrase her words in the margins. Finally, at the bottom of the article,  create a claim statement to reflect the expert’s views. Tyree claims that [topic] + [opinion on that topic] + [reasoning].

3. How much influence do celebrities have on politics?

• How Celebrity Can Influence Politics

• Study: Celebrity Endorsements Do Not Help Political Candidates

Lesson idea: 30-Second Expert. 

Have students create a t-chart on a sheet of paper. On one side label it “What I Know” on the other side label it “What I Learned”. With a partner, before reading, list what they know about celebrities influencing politics. Then, have each partner read one of the above articles. On the side “What I Know”, each should summarize their article in paragraph form. Then, give each partner 30 seconds to share what they learned in their article. The listening partner writes what they learn under the “What I Learned” section. Encourage students to start their writing with phrases like According to my partner… 

1. What influence will Taylor Swift have on this year’s election?

• Taylor Swift breaks political silence (video)

• ‘She could absolutely change my mind’: readers on Taylor Swift’s political influence

• A Taylor Swift Instagram post helped drive a surge in voter registration

Lesson Idea to Synthesize Articles: Create an acrostic poem. 

1. After reading a selection of the articles, in small groups of 2-3,  have students pick a word they think relates to all the articles. Some ideas for words include activism, celebrity, influence, vote, etc. 

2. Students write this word vertically on a sheet of paper. 

3. Students write a word, phrase, or sentence that begins with each letter of their vertical word creating an acrostic poem.

4. Hang them and do a gallery walk to have students find ones that are similar to theirs. They can even write a note on each other’s poem telling how theirs is similar.  

*If you are trying to do more vertical activities, this would work well. Hang paper around the room and have students stand in their groups to complete it. 

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January Text Set: Middle School Spotlight

Teaching young adolescents nuance in claims

Text sets can be powerful tools for teaching nuance because they show students how two people can have completely different views on a topic. Or they show how what we thought was right is actually more complicated than first thought. Gathering texts that present this complexity and tasking students with coming up with a nuanced claim develops higher-order thinking skills and prepares them for a future of civic engagement. Here are a couple of text sets to get you started.

Text Set #1: Classroom Pets

1. What’s the Problem with Classroom “Pets?” from PETA  

2. Benefits of Classroom Animals

3. 5 Alternatives to Keeping Pets in the Classroom

Text Set #2: The Baggage We Carry

1. Are Cotton Totes Better for the Earth Than Plastic Bags? It Depends on What You Care About

2. Three Reasons Why Banning Plastic Bags is Problematic

3. 10 Facts About Single-Use Plastic Bags

4. Challenge Piece: The Problem with Banning Plastic Bags

Lesson Idea: 

• Ask a discussion question like “If we were to allow classroom pets in school, what would we have to consider first?” Or, “If we truly want to do what is best for the environment, what do we do about bags?”

• Students start a free write with the sentence stem First, I thought…

• Read the first article

• Add to the free write with the sentence stem Then, I learned… Challenge student by having them add a piece of evidence to their free write.

• Read the second article 

• Add a third writing with the sentence stem Now, I am thinking… Challenge students to tell why one point is more convincing than another point.

• Read the third article.

• Create a claim by having students answer the following four questions and completing the claim template: 

  • 1. What is the topic?

    2. What is your opinion on the topic?

    3. Why do you think that?  

    4. What is something a person might say on the other side that you kind of agree with?

TEMPLATE: Although [other side], [topic] is [opinion] because [reason].

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December Text: “The Day I Got Old”

Use a mentor text to help students write a short essay about growing up

“Mentor texts are written pieces that serve as an example of good writing for student writers. The texts are read for the purpose of studying the author’s craft, or the way the author uses words and structures the writing. The goal is to provide students a model they could emulate in crafting their own piece. Essays, passages, articles, chapters, or full books could all serve as mentor texts. So too could a letter, email, film script, or comic strip, depending on the context under which the mentor text is being used.” - Deborah Reed

Lesson idea: 

1. Have students find an old photo of themselves or think about a specific memory from the past. They can look at parents’ social media accounts, take a picture of a photo in their home, or bring an old photo to class. 

2. Read the excerpt from the essay “The Day I Got Old” by Caitlin Flannagan

3. Use the essay as a mentor text to write about how their life has changed from when they were the age in the photo or memory until now. Pick an outline to help scaffold the writing process. 

Mentor Text and handouts:

• Excerpt of the essay “The Day I Got Old”

• Pick an outline:

  • Outline with blanks

  • Outline with instructions

  • Outline with annotations

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November Text Set: Teen Dating

Get students thinking about when to start dating

Reading: Is 12 Too Young to Start Dating?

Lesson Idea: 

1. Ask this question: Is 12 too young to start dating?

2. Have students who think no go to one end of the room. Have students who think yes go to the other end of the room.

3. Have students create smaller groups of 3-4 at each end. 

4. Task each group with coming up with one reason why they are on their side and an example (either hypothetical or real-life) to support their reason.

5. Have a spokesperson from each smaller group go to the middle of the room to answer the question with their reason and example.

6. Read the article.

7. Individual write: Detail both sides of the issue. Take a position and defend it using evidence from the article or a real-life example.

Analyze statistics on how teens use technology in dating:

Readings: 

• Teens, Technology, and Romantic Relationships

• Say/Means/Matters

• Double-entry Journal

Lesson Idea:

1. Use the graphs from a 2015 survey of teens, technology, and relationships to make meaning from statistics. 

2. Complete a Says/Means/Matters Chart or a Double Entry Journal

Pair two articles together for partner work on the dangers of teen dating:

Readings:

• Teenage Girls and Dating Violence: Why We Should Be Paying Attention

• Teen Boys Report More Dating Violence Than Girls, Perplexing Scientist

• Lesson Idea student handout

Lesson Idea:

1. Individual free write: When I first think about teen dating, I think…

2. Pair students together. Partner A reads the first article; partner B, the second. Both look for their article’s claim and important pieces of evidence.

3. Individual free write: Then, I learned…

4. Partners share each article’s claim and important evidence.

5. Together, write a claim to cover both articles and list at least 3 pieces of evidence from the articles to support their new claim.

6. Individual free write: Now, I think…

Help students put evidence in conversation with excerpts on love or benefits of teen dating:

Readings:

• Can Teens Experience True Love Opinions

• Positives of teen relationships Opinions

• Evidence Talk Show student handout

Lesson Idea:

1. Read through one of the excerpts about teens and relationships.

2. Complete the Evidence Talk Show handout. Students create a question about the topic. Then, write a response in the voice of three of the excerpts. Each excerpt responds to both the question and the answers that came before them to show where they agree and disagree. 

Use all of the texts for a complete text set!

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October Text Set: Social Media

Looking for one good text to get your students thinking?

Help students start a discussion, take a position, or create an argument by trying these texts on sharenting. Pair them together or pick one!

Video: Are Parents Exploiting Their Kids Online

Article: When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online

Want students to form opinions, extend ideas, and push back on ideas?

Give students an opportunity to get in conversation with texts. Using sources from different perspectives allows students to understand the complexity of an issue.

Article #1: Teens Are ‘Digital Natives,’ But More Susceptible to Online Conspiracies as Adults

Article #2: Teens Say Their Experience on Social Media Is Better Than You Think

Need a whole text set to help students build an argument on a topic?

Using a collection of texts on one topic deepens understanding of a concept and builds background knowledge on that topic, so students are able to take nuanced positions and create source-based arguments.

Social Media Text Set

Want to read a non-fiction text without a formal writing assignment?

Have students pit two points or claims against each other and argue for and against both to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each position.  Then, respond with their own nuanced point of view.

Try Point Knock Out!

Want a video tutorial for how to use this text set in the classoom?   Watch Video