This resource provides lecture notes and writing assignments for the study of poetry. While specific poems are presented here, these notes and assignments can be adapted and applied to practically any thematic group of poems.  The unit contains several modules. The first posits the work of African American poet Langston Hughes as poems that establish a legacy of oratorical poems addressing social issues faced not only by African Americans, but by any and all Americans, especially the historically disenfranchised.  The unit explores poems in Hughes' legacy, focusing on three poems by African American poets Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, and Amanda Gorman, who composed U.S. presidential inaugural poems. The second module explores nature poetry. Students read and analyze poems that explore, ponder and sometimes celebrate the relationship between human beings and nature. Ultimately, students compose poetry explication essays. The third module explores the book-length prose poem "I Remember" (Joe Brainard), teaching students to locate and make use of peer-reviewed articles.  Additionally, students write their own "I Remember" poems. Included are introductory lecture, discussion , short writing, explication , and several other assignments. Unless otherwise noted, the materials in this unit are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

This lesson plan is meant to be a follow up to lesson plan one pertaining to Emma Bell Miles’ and Thoreau’s poetry. This lesson is meant to focus on the authorial Point of View that comes through in these author’s poetry. This lesson also discusses different literary periods from the times of these authors.

This lesson plan is meant to follow the structure of using the author background video, the point of view video, and then the handout. A good follow up would be giving the students a journal prompt to write about and expand on one of the topics from the handout. A longer project could be created where students present on one of the topics from the handout.

Because ESL Level 1 students may not all be at the same level, some of the readings may be too difficult for some students. However, the emphasis in these activities is to work on reading strategies for all levels of reading, both at the students' level and above it as well.This module can be combined with the others uploaded about grammar, teaching sentence structure, and writing activities to create an entire OER based ESL class for this level.

This short fiction unit provides lectures regarding specific texts, discussion assignments, a short writing assignment, and resources for writing a character analysis essay. Unless otherwise noted on the individual pages, the materials in this resource are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

Skills for English Composition is in draft form, being prepared under an OER Grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents by a team of faculty from Volunteer State Community College.

These lectures and assignments step ESL students through the process of learning sentence variety which is the key to writing that is both correct, mature, and interesting. Beginning with simple sentences as the foundation allows all students to add more sentence types to their writing in an organized way.This module can be combined with the others uploaded in this folder about reading, grammar, and writing activities to create an entire OER based ESL class for this level.  

This resource is useful in a first-year composition course. The examples are intended for a literature-based composition class. There are also examples of opening strategies intended for an expository composition class. The Word version will give both types of examples.

This file contains writing lessons and assignments for a Level 1 academic ESL class with an emphasis on writing paragraphs. It can be combined with the other files in this folder to create an entire OER based class. 

These course materials were designed for English Composition II at Southwest Tennessee Community College (Memphis, TN) by a team of faculty and support staff (Dr. Adam Sneed, Dr. Loretta McBride, Dr. Thomas Cole, & Vivian Stewart). This project was supported through grants from Southwest Tennessee Community College and the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). Course resources include:a Writing and Research Handbook with practical writing instruction, links to reliable online writing resources, "remixed" content from other high-qualiity OER handbooks, and original content that helps students successfully navigate the writing resources available to them at Southwest Tennessee Community College, andfive assignment modules, each centered on one major writing assignment and supported by evaluative rubrics; low-stakes scaffolding assignments (prewritings, quizzes, and worksheets); guided peer review workshops; research guides that link to a mix of OER, OA, and ZTC sources available through library subscription services; and other materials.