Serving advanced learners (and their teachers) since 2012.

Arizona ELA Standard: 5.RI.5

Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.

Who has more power: the Queen Bee or the Hive?

Who has more power: the Queen Bee or the Hive?

Who really runs the hive: the queen, or the thousands of bees around her?

Think Like An Author: Hemingway vs Dickens

Think Like An Author: Hemingway vs Dickens

What if your students rewrote Dickens in the style of Hemingway and vice versa?

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Have you ever noticed that some stories have awfully similar problems? What if we looked for the most unusual way of solving a repeating problem?

Chess Variant: Monster Chess

Chess Variant: Monster Chess

What if you had really weak chess pieces, but you could always move twice?

Analyze Paragraphs: Empire State Building

Analyze Paragraphs: Empire State Building

Three paragraphs about the Empire State Building. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

Paradox: Rebuilding A Ship

Paradox: Rebuilding A Ship

What if we completely rebuild something slowly? What if we completely rebuild it all at once? Is it still the same thing?

Thinking With Art: Head Down

Thinking With Art: Head Down

One artist, two paintings. Notice details, compare, synthesize, then find a parallel in another creator’s work.

Order Can Be Natural or Constructed

Order Can Be Natural or Constructed

When is order natural and when is it designed by people?

What’s In My Brain: May vs May

What’s In My Brain: May vs May

The word “may” can be used for possibility or permission. It’s a modal auxiliary verb!

Create A Civilization: A Change In Government

Create A Civilization: A Change In Government

It’s a great moment for your civilization! Power is moving from the hands of a few to a more democratic government.

Game: Order and Chaos

Game: Order and Chaos

Imagine Tic-Tac-Toe if both players could play as both Xs and Os!

Simple or Compound Sentences – What’s In My Brain?

Simple or Compound Sentences – What’s In My Brain?

Can your students spot simple sentences vs compound sentences?

What’s In My Brain – The Park vs The Museum

What’s In My Brain – The Park vs The Museum

We’re looking at the past progressive tense and the simple past tense.

Upgrading Compare and Contrast Writing

Upgrading Compare and Contrast Writing

Upgrade compare and contrast writing with just a couple of key words.

Building Creative Analogies

Building Creative Analogies

We’ll take two seemingly unrelated pieces of content (say volcanoes and the human body) and then build analogies to connect the two ideas. In the end, students can create a skit, comic, or story relating the two concepts.

Content Imperatives: Convergence

Content Imperatives: Convergence

Add complexity by considering how multiple factors 🔄 Converge within one topic.

Content Imperatives: Parallel

Content Imperatives: Parallel

Get students thinking broadly by exploring similarities across multiple topics. Combine with Depth and Complexity for bonus points!

Depth and Complexity: 📈 Trends

Depth and Complexity: 📈 Trends

Has something been changing recently? What might be causing that? What are the effects?

Depth and Complexity: 📚 Across Disciplines

Depth and Complexity: 📚 Across Disciplines

No topic is an island! With the 📚 Across Disciplines prompt, students note connections within and across multiple fields.

Depth and Complexity: ⏳ Change Over Time

Depth and Complexity: ⏳ Change Over Time

Want to get students thinking about how a topic has changed or might change in the future? The ⏳ Change Over Time thinking tool is just what you need!

Depth and Complexity: Patterns

Depth and Complexity: Patterns

Can your students spot anything that repeats? Or that has stopped repeating?

Better Stories Part 1: The Big Idea

Better Stories Part 1: The Big Idea

We open our unit on narrative writing with a big idea: “structure increases creativity.” I show how this is true by bringing in examples from across all disciplines.