Planning Commentary

This accompanies your lesson plans (all the segments 4ed to the central focus—i.e. text comprehension--that you
submit)

1. Central Focus

a. Describe the central focus and the essential literacy strategy for comprehending OR
composing text you will teach in the learning segment.
b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives within your
learning segment address the content, skills, or strategy you are teaching
c. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between
the content, skills, or strategy.

The central focus is for students to learn academic language and different tiers of vo-
cabulary by utilizing activities which aid their comprehension of distinct terms. The ac-
tivities will be composed of a Vocabulary worksheet, a True or False worksheet and a 

Picture IdentiHication worksheet. All of these activities will strengthen vocabulary ac-
quisition during the lesson. The learning objective and standards tie in together be-
cause the activities compel the students to determine the meaning of unknown terms
based on the informational text. The activities will also encourage the students to use
context clues by use of pictures and synonymous words.

The central focus for my second lesson is for the students to develop text
comprehension skills by utilizing an Interactive Notebook, a Note-Taking
Graphic Organizer, and Writing Prompts. The Interactive Notebook is a
method which entails fill-in-the-blank sentence prompts which relate to the in-
formational text. The Note-Taking Graphic Organizer is to help students as-
similate what they learned and process it efficiently.

While the writing prompts are intended to assist students in summarizing

what they learned. The learning objective and standard tie in together because
these activities encourage students to determine the meaning of academic
and domain-specific words. Also, the writing prompts encourage students to
express what they’ve learned from the informational text in a coherent man-
ner.

My lesson plans build on each other by assisting students with distinct vo-
cabulary first so they can thoroughly understand the informational text set
they’re assigned to. Although I have different text sets for different learners,
they all cover the same general information and terms which provides a better
opportunity for all of my students to grasp the main subject. Also, by having
various activities in both lessons, this gives students a more conducive ap-
proach to learning. Both of my lessons center on vocabulary throughout
which supports the students in getting a grasp on a more complex learning
objective like text comprehension.
2. CONTEXT: Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching
a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focus—Cite evi-
dence of what students know, what they can do, and what they are still learning to
do.
b. Personal, cultural, and community assets related to the central focus—What do you
know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural and language back-
grounds and practices, and interests? Describe the classroom community.
 Some of the prior academic learning and prerequisite skills necessary for the central
focus are: a grade-level command of the English language, general knowledge about cit-
izenship, and basic writing skills. The majority of the students in my classroom meet
this criteria, however, I have 3 ELLs and 2 of them are siblings. All of them speak Span-
ish and the sibling who’s a few months older is able to glean material pretty well.
However, since I’ve noticed the siblings mess around with each other at times, I try
to keep them separate instead of having the more advanced one help out the younger
one. Since the older one is able to glean material pretty well, I keep them in the grade-
level group where they can receive assistance from the bilingual paraprofessional
whenever they need it.
For the other 2 ELLs, I usually keep them in the low-functioning group where a few
of my bilingual students within that group assist them with comprehending a lesson. I
have the class structured in a way where the students are split up according to their
comprehension level. The high functioning group of students are grouped together and
called the “Lions”. The average functioning group is called the “Tigers” and the low func-
tioning group is called the “Bears.”
Lately, I’ve noticed how the students have been discussing who their parents sup-
port for political campaigns so I feel as if this is the perfect time to provide a lesson
which deals with citizenship, voting, and democracy. My class is very diverse and fortu-
nately my students have already learned about racial issues as well as slavery in the U.S.
So, I’ll gauge the room in a considerate manner when it comes to comparing slavery in
Ancient Rome with slavery in the U.S. I’ll probably also do a comparison between presi-
dents, political Higures and emperors.
The students responded pretty well to the first lesson. They were very en-
gaged and they liked how I tied our recent history to the history of Ancient
Rome. They were able to see the connections and understood how emperors
can be seen as presidents. They also saw how in the same way that slaves
didn’t have the right to vote back then, slaves in the U.S. didn’t have the right
to vote either.
The ELL student who’s a younger sibling was goofing off for quite some
time during the lesson so they fell behind. In order to remedy that, the para-
professional will transition back and forth from the average group to the low
functioning group just to make sure they stay on task. I warned the bilingual
student who was also goofing off with the ELL that they’ll be disciplined if I
see them talking with them again.
I believe the “Scoot!” game is a fantastic way to get the kids excited about
lesson 2 because it gets them moving and they’re not in the mind frame of
seeing the activity as an “assessment.” However, it’s a veiled assessment
which will reveal what they’ve learned from lesson 1. Moreover, I noticed how
having a variety of activities, especially with optional selections, is quite con-
ducive for students to grasp the subject. Furthermore, the distinction in the
writing prompts appears to work best for the high and low-functioning stu-
dents since the demand for expression varies.
3- Supporting Students’ Literacy Learning
Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for
the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with speciPic learning needs. Dis-
cuss accommodations for students with disabilities, adaptations for ELLs, extensions for gifted
learners, and other modiHications to support learning for all students.. Describe common devel-
opmental approximations or common misconceptions within your literacy central focus and
how you will address them. In addition, use principles from research and/or theory to
support your justiPications.
 I have a pretty diverse classroom which has a pretty even amount of African
Americans and Caucasians. I also have about 6 Hispanic students and 3 of them
are ELLs while the other 3 are bilingual. Other than the ELLs, everyone in my class
was raised in America so they’re pretty familiar with the culture and basic history. My
school also encourages racial awareness within the curriculum so the students are
aware of past minority leaders and they’re accomplishments. Since this is the case, I
feel as if my instructional strategies and planned supports will work out very well
when it comes to discussing Ancient Rome since there are so many parallels with
the United States.
I’m aware that some students have different learning modalities which is why my
informational text sets vary. In order to accommodate different learners, the text sets
are comprised of visual, audio and abridged content. So, learners who fair better
with visual aids will have access to a text set that supports them, while other learn-
ers can choose to listen to or read a separate text.
Not only do my text sets vary, I also made sure that there was differentiated in-
struction throughout my whole lesson to ensure that each learner was challenged
according to their readiness level. This is a principle I gleaned from the text (Cecil,
et. al, pg. 273). One example of this is how I provided a True or False worksheet
along with a Fill-in-the-blank worksheet; I expect some students to do one of those
sheets and some students to do both of them. For additional support, the students
will be able to request help from the bilingual paraprofessional as well as the TA.

I plan on opening up with a game that’s suitable for the whole class. The
game is called “Scoot!”. It’s designed to get the class moving and test some
of the knowledge they've been acquiring for the subject so far. It’s pretty fast-
paced so it won’t take too long to get through it and it'll also prime the stu-
dents for the rest of the lesson.
Something else will be doing as a class is the Ancient Rome Interactive
Notebook. There’s nothing complex about it and the students can also use the
Word Wall in case they need to know the correct spelling of the academic lan-
guage we’ll be covering. I’ll still have the TA and paraprofessional walking
around the class to ensure everyone remains on task and behaves.
As far as scaffolding goes, I’ll have an Acrostic Poem available for my low-
functioning students while the other students utilize a note-taking graphic or-
ganizer. I mainly want the kids to do this activity on their own so they can get
their own creative juices flowing versus constantly being guided by the adults
in the room.
There are also 2 writing prompts so that low-functioning and high function-
ing students are properly challenged. The adults may provide light guidance,
but I’d like a gradual release of responsibility to occur near the closure of the
lesson. The writing prompts provide the perfect opportunity for this to happen
since the expression depends on the child’s unique voice.
4. Supporting Development Through Language
Consider the range of students’ language assets and needs—what do students already
know, what are they struggling with, and/or what is new to them?

Language Function. Using information about your students’ language assets and needs, identify
one language function essential for students to develop and practice the strategy within your cen-
tral focus. For literacy or mathematics, the edTPA handbooks will have suggested language func-
tions.
Identify a key-learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to prac-
tice using the language function in ways that support the essential strategy. Identify the lesson in
which the learning task occurs. (Give lesson day/number.)
Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task identified
above, describe the ACADEMIC LANGUAGE demands (written or oral) students need to under-
stand and/or use: Describe the formal language of instruction, considering vocabulary, syntax,
and discourse. How will you ensure that your students understand the academic language that
you are using, as well as learn to use the academic language appropriate for the discipline? Vo-
cabulary or key phrases/symbols Plus at least one of the following: Syntax and discourse
Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed in your
response to the prompt. Identify and describe the planned instructional supports (during and/or
prior to the learning task) to help students understand, develop, and use the identified language
demands (function, vocabulary or key phrases/symbols, discourse, or syntax).
 Most of the students in my class have a good grasp of the basic language necessary to
do well with this lesson. For the few ELL students and low-functioning students, I’ve
provided scaffolding activities to aid their comprehension. The students will also be
working in pairs so they can receive the proper assistance from their peers. ELL stu-
dents will be paired with bilingual counterparts and they’ll also have support from the
TA, the paraprofessional and myself.
I’m aware that some of the academic language may be a little challenging for ELLs so I
have an activity where the students will be labeling pictures with their corresponding
academic terms. This visual aid will help students make the right association for the
words they’re learning. The activity is called: “What Belongs To Ancient Rome?”
They’ll initially start off by circling pictures of what they think belongs to Ancient
Rome and I’d administer this just to determine their prior knowledge. Then, once we’ve
gone further through the lesson, I’d provide this activity again to reinforce what they
learned and then have them write down the names of the pictures they circle. This ac-
tivity would occur for the closure of Lesson 1.


For my second lesson, the Ancient Rome Interactive Notebook activity is
intended to support students with more than just word meanings. The activity
allows them to see the many functions of different terms. 

As far as the note-taking graphic organizer, this will help the students de-
velop organization skills so they can assess the material at a deeper level
which is a key learning task.
The students vary in their academic level, so some of them will have the op-
tion of using an Acrostic Poem so they can organize what they learned in a
more relaxed manner. The letters within the Acrostic Poem also support low-
functioning students by providing prompts for different terms they’re learning.
In order to help with another key learning task, the students will be provid-
ed with two different writing prompts where they will be encouraged to incor-
porate the academic language learned. The writing prompts will also provide
them with the opportunity to properly summarize and express what they
gleaned from the informational text.
The kids will have support from myself, the TA, the paraprofessional as well
as their peers. The adults in the room will provide detailed feedback for the
whole duration of the class just to make sure the students are staying on task.
The academic language will also be present on 3 separate word walls which
will be frequently referred to.
Academic Language:

Arch: a curved structure that provides support

Rome: a city in Italy that became an empire

Empire: land ruled by an emperor

Emperor: a ruler

Civilization: a population that has a high level of culture and social organization

Trade: to give something in exchange for something else

Citizen: a person who could vote

Colosseum: an arena where sporting events took place

Aqueduct: a system of bringing water to the city through pipes

Architecture: the design of buildings

Representative Democracy: a government in which people vote for a smaller

group of citizens to make the rules and laws for everyone

Elect: to choose by voting

Gladiator: a person who fought wild animals and other gladiators for sport
5- Monitoring Student Learning
Refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the materials. Describe how your planned
formal and informal assessments will provide direct evidence that students can use the essen-
tial literacy strategy to comprehend OR compose text AND related skills throughout the learn-
ing segment. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows stu-
dents with speciHic needs to demonstrate their learning.

For lesson 1, I’ll provide an informal assessment and it’ll be done through an activity
called “What Belongs To Ancient Rome?” This is an activity that I’ll open up the les-
son with and then end the lesson with. When I initially present it to my students, I’ll
use it to activate their prior knowledge and assess what they already know. Once
they’ve reviewed the informational text as well as the other activities, I’ll give them
the “What Belongs To Ancient Rome” sheet once again to see what they learned.
This activity allows students to use visuals to determine what they know which is not
only beneficial for regular students but ELLs as well. Another conducive moderation
is the fact that the students will be instructed to connect the visuals to academic
language for the informal assessment.

For lesson 2, I’ll attempt to utilize formative, informative and summative as-
sessments. All of the adults in the room will provide detailed feedback during
the lesson to properly guide the students.
The bilingual paraprofessional will be working with the low-functioning
students as well as the ELLs, while I remain close to the advanced students
and the TA assists the grade-level students.
I expect to see varied results from the students when it comes to the Venn
Diagram and the writing prompts. For my students who are originally from the
U.S., I have a higher expectation level for them when it comes to doing a com-
pare and contrast of U.S. history with Ancient Rome.
I’ll be looking for the students to discuss voting, political figures, presi-
dents, emperors, gladiators, trade, slaves and so on. I’d like them to make as
many connections as possible so they develop a deep understanding of the
text.
Furthermore, I may encourage a couple of students to compare their notes
with their peers so they can see the differences and possibly brainstorm as
well. For the summative assessment, as the semester wraps up, the students’
level of comprehension for literacy would be reflected in their transcripts.

6. References *
List cita4ons for materials used.
https://www.npr.org/2015/11/30/457319066/from-gladiator-duels-to-caesars-last-
words-the-myths-of-ancient-rome

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/currency-and-the-collapse-of-the-roman-empire/

https://infograph.venngage.com/p/149929/ancient-roman-empire

Vibas, Kristen. Ancient Rome Vocabulary Activities, Assessments and Games pdf

Cecil, N. L., Gipe, J. P., Merrill, M. (2014). Literacy in the grades 4-8: Best practices for a
comprehensive program (3rd Ed.). Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway.
 DePaul University Elementary Lesson Plan Format
(Components required by edTPA are noted below with a *. Your instructor may ask you to incorporate addi4onal
elements that are tailored to the course—these will be designated with a ***.)

Name: James Ebomoyi

Grade: 5th
Segment: 1 of 2
Title: Ancient Rome Vocabulary

1 STANDARDS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In the spaces below, ar4culate your specific learning goals for your lesson. Through each sec4on, you should
be addressing the ques4on: what do you want students to KNOW and BE ABLE TO DO as a result of this les-
son?
- Standards *
State adopted student academic content standards and/ or Common Core State Standards that are the target
of student learning (List the number AND text of each standard that is being addressed. If only a por4on of a
standard is being addressed, then only list or bold the part or parts that are relevant.)

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: L.5.4

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases
based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.


Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: L.
5.4.A

Use context (e.g., cause/effect relationships and comparisons in text) as a clue to the mean-
ing of a word or phrase.
- Learning ObjecLves *
Learning objec4ves associated with the standards. These should be specific, a]ainable, and measurable.

Students will be able to define unknown words in sentence level context using vocabulary
worksheets designed to stimulate recognition and recall.
2 ASSESSMENT
In this sec4on, ar4culate the tasks or evidence through which students will demonstrate the desired under-
standings. In other words, how will you know students “got it” by the end of the lesson?
Discuss/explain Informal and formal assessments used to monitor student learning, including type(s) of as-
sessment, both forma4ve and summa4ve, and what is being assessed

For the formative assessment, I’ll utilize certain worksheets which will draw upon recall and
recognition. During the reading portion of the instruction, an emphasis will be placed on cer-
tain words which the students will cover later on. I’ll use

During the reading, the students will be asked to do a comparison of specific vocabulary
with current affairs. A verbal prompt will be provided, and then the students can answer the
prompt with a correlating sentence stem.



For example, “What can this term be compared to today?” “This term can be compared
to_____ because ______.”

As the students work, I’ll assess their understanding level by asking if they see any connec-
tions with the opening activity designed to test their pre-existing knowledge. I’ll also keep in
mind to see if students notice how some terms haven’t really evolved and are being used un-
til this very day.

3-LEARNING PLAN
In this sec4on, ar4culate the materials/ resources necessary to implement the lesson and the step-by-step
sequence of the lesson.

- InstrucLonal Resources and Materials *

Instruc4onal resources and materials (including technology) used to engage students in learning. 

If technology is used, be sure to indicate how it enhances the lesson.
Informational Text Sets:

https://www.npr.org/2015/11/30/457319066/from-gladiator-duels-to-caesars-last-words-the-
myths-of-ancient-rome

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/currency-and-the-collapse-of-the-roman-empire/

https://infograph.venngage.com/p/149929/ancient-roman-empire

Pencils

True or False Vocabulary Worksheet

Fill-in-the-blank Vocabulary Worksheet

What Belongs To Ancient Rome? Worksheet

Ancient Rome Word Wall With Vocabulary Cards
- InstrucLonal Strategies/ Learning Tasks *
Instruc4onal strategies and learning tasks (including what you and the students will be doing) that support
diverse student needs. This step-by-step process should indicate how much ?me you intend each segment to
take and should be detailed enough that a subs?tute teacher could teach your lesson as you intended.
(There are par4cular lesson models that might guide your thinking further here, such as the 5E model, etc.)
IntroducLon: How will you introduce the lesson and engage students (how will you get them in-
terested, help them see the relevance and purpose of the lesson)?



As a way to test the students’ prior knowledge, we’ll open up with an activity using a worksheet
called: “What Belongs To Ancient Rome?”

This worksheet has various pictures on it and the students will be instructed to circle what
they think belongs to Ancient Rome. I’d tell the students not to worry about whether their
answer is right or wrong. Then, they’ll write their name on the sheet and hand it in.
Lesson: What are the specific steps and sequence of the lesson?


The kids will be split up into different groups which are based on their comprehension level. In order
to prevent students from detecting their intellectual differences, the groups will be labeled with ran-
dom animal names.

The lions will be composed of the high-functioning students, the tigers will be composed of students
functioning at grade level and the bears will be composed of students functioning below grade level.
This is something I would’ve had established at the beginning of the school year. At my school,
there’d be a TA, a paraprofessional and myself.

The advanced kids would get the advanced informational text set, the average kids would get the
middle set and the lower level kids would get the basic set. I would read the advanced set, the TA
would cover the grade-level set and the paraprofessional would cover the basic set. We would cover
the material by asking questions as we read and make sure that the students were engaged.

After reading the informational text, the grade-level students and the high functioning students would
be given an Ancient Rome Vocabulary sheet which would assess their knowledge from the reading.
I’d also provide a True or False Vocabulary Sheet for differentiation so the lower functioning students
and ELL students could actively participate. The True or False Vocabulary Sheet would be recom-
mended, but not required for the high-functioning and grade level students.

While the students are working on their worksheets, the TA, the paraprofessional and myself would
put up a Word Wall in our group so all of the students within each group could see the different vo-
cabulary terms up close. An emphasis would be placed on learning the tier 1 terms.



Closure: How will you conclude the lesson? How will you bring the lesson together for students
to help them return to the bigger purpose and big ideas of the lesson?

To close out the lesson, in our separate groups, we would briefly go over the answers for our Ancient
Rome sheets and then the students would be given another “What Belongs To Ancient Rome?” pic-
ture sheet. This time, the students would not only be asked to circle the images that belong to Ancient
Rome, but they’d also have to write the name of the image next to the image.
 DePaul University Elementary Lesson Plan Format
(Components required by edTPA are noted below with a *. Your instructor may ask you to incorporate addi4onal
elements that are tailored to the course—these will be designated with a ***.)

Name: James Ebomoyi

Grade: 5th
Segment: 2 of 2
Title: Ancient Rome Text Comprehension
1 STANDARDS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In the spaces below, ar4culate your specific learning goals for your lesson. Through each sec4on, you should
be addressing the ques4on: what do you want students to KNOW and BE ABLE TO DO as a result of this les-
son?
- Standards *
State adopted student academic content standards and/ or Common Core State Standards that are the target
of student learning (List the number AND text of each standard that is being addressed. If only a por4on of a
standard is being addressed, then only list or bold the part or parts that are relevant.)

Craft and Structure: RI.5.4


Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phras-
es in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: RI.5.9

Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak
about the subject knowledgeably.
- Learning ObjecLves *
Learning objec4ves associated with the standards. These should be specific, a]ainable, and measurable.

The students will increase their comprehension skills for informational text by be-
coming familiar with the academic language and using conducive worksheets to as-
similate and express what they’ve learned.

2 ASSESSMENT
In this sec4on, ar4culate the tasks or evidence through which students will demonstrate the desired under-
standings. In other words, how will you know students “got it” by the end of the lesson?
Discuss/explain Informal and formal assessments used to monitor student learning, including type(s) of as-
sessment, both forma4ve and summa4ve, and what is being assessed



Informa4ve, Forma4ve and Summa4ve Assessment


For the lesson segments, I’d instruct the TA and the paraprofessional to provide feedback on
the worksheets the students a]empted so they could be guided properly during the learn-
ing process.

I’d also encourage the students to do peer assessments for partner-based ac4vi4es like the
note-taking graphic organizer.

Once the students finish up different ac4vi4es such as the “Scoot!” game or their wri4ng
prompts, I would assess whether the students were able to recall and summarize what they
learned from the informa4onal text.

For the summa4ve assessment, the students would receive their transcripts at the end of
the semester which would reveal whether they understood the informa4onal text and dif-
ferent vocabulary 4ers.

3-LEARNING PLAN
In this sec4on, ar4culate the materials/ resources necessary to implement the lesson and the step-by-step
sequence of the lesson.

- InstrucLonal Resources and Materials *

Instruc4onal resources and materials (including technology) used to engage students in learning. 

If technology is used, be sure to indicate how it enhances the lesson.
Informational Text Sets:

https://www.npr.org/2015/11/30/457319066/from-gladiator-duels-to-caesars-last-words-the-
myths-of-ancient-rome

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/currency-and-the-collapse-of-the-roman-empire/

https://infograph.venngage.com/p/149929/ancient-roman-empire

Pencils
Scoot Game Sheets
Interactive Notebook
Acrostic Poem Template
2 Writing Prompt Worksheets
Note-taking Graphic Organizer
Compare and Contrast Worksheet

- InstrucLonal Strategies/ Learning Tasks *

Instruc4onal strategies and learning tasks (including what you and the students will be doing) that support
diverse student needs. This step-by-step process should indicate how much ?me you intend each segment to
take and should be detailed enough that a subs?tute teacher could teach your lesson as you intended.
(There are par4cular lesson models that might guide your thinking further here, such as the 5E model, etc.)


IntroducLon: How will you introduce the lesson and engage students (how will you get them
interested, help them see the relevance and purpose of the lesson)?

In order to get the students engaged, I’d start off the lesson by playing a game called
“Scoot!” First, I’d give each student a blank Scoot Answer Sheet, then I’d place one card on
each desk, or at various places around the room.

Next, I’d have the students write their response to each card in the same numbered box on
their answer sheet.

So, if they start at card #5, they will write their response to it in box #5. I’d also give stu-
dents a set amount of time for each card, and then say “Scoot!” and whether the kids were
ready or not, they’d have to move onto the next numbered card.

Although there are 24 cards, I would base this activity off of my classroom size and the
amount of time I have to get through my lesson. When the students finish responding to all
the cards laid out, I’ll check their answers.
Lesson: What are the specific steps and sequence of the lesson?

The lesson would begin with the whole class doing an Ancient Rome Interac4ve Notebook.
I’d ask certain ques4ons to see what the students remember, and then as a class we would
write in the answer on the worksheet.

Once we answer all of the ques4ons, the students would be instructed to cut around the
foldable sheets and then glue the correct informa4on under the corresponding category.
Then they’d glue the full worksheet into their social studies notebook.

As we finish up that ac4vity, the students would be given a note-taking graphic organizer so
they could recall geography, contribu4ons and resources. This is an ac4vity I’d want them to
do by themself or with a partner.

In order to further accommodate low func4oning students and ELLs, I’d provide a scaffold-
ing ac4vity in the form of an Acros4c poem. This is a poem where certain le]ers in each line
spell out a word or phrase. I wouldn’t be strict about what they put in their acros4c poem
but I’d let the students know that I’d be looking for relevant terms they’ve learned so far.

As the students finish up, we would then transi4on to doing a compare and contrast venn
diagram so they could see the similari4es and differences of life in Ancient Rome and what
life is like today.
Closure: How will you conclude the lesson? How will you bring the lesson together for
students to help them return to the bigger purpose and big ideas of the lesson?

We would conclude the lesson by using 2 different writing prompts. One of the prompts fo-
cuses on discussing the inventions and contributions Ancient Rome gave to the world. The
other writing prompt deals with describing what Rome is like if you were to travel there and
write a letter to one of your friends.

I’d allow everyone to pick whichever writing prompt they prefer to use. I’d also let the stu-
dents know that I’d be looking for at least 7 academic terms inside of their writing prompt
just to make sure they’re comprehending the language which makes up the informational
text.