English · English 9

SEL activities for StudySync Grade 9

36 RoseThread Connect activities matched to the chapters of StudySync Grade 9 (McGraw Hill). Each one teaches the chapter's content and builds one Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skill in about 20 minutes.

We look only at each book's table of contents (chapter titles and topics) to suggest activities that fit the flow of your course. We don't use or reproduce any textbook content, and your edition's chapter order may differ slightly. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by these publishers.

Unit 1: Empathy

• Who Tells My Story? Self-awareness · English 9Students choose a meaningful moment and draft the opening of a personal narrative with a clear point of view.
• Reading Characters, Reading People Social awareness · English 9Students analyze how a complex character develops and what motivates their choices.
• What Lies Under the Surface Self-awareness · English 9Students cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support inferences about characters' emotions.
• Slowing Down a Moment Self-awareness · English 9Students use pacing and precise sensory details to slow down the most important moment of a narrative.
• Through Another's Eyes Social awareness · English 9Students analyze a point of view or cultural experience reflected in literature from outside the United States.
• Words with Weight Self-awareness · English 9Students analyze nuances in word meanings, including connotation, and use context clues to determine meaning.
• Torn Between Two Choices Responsible decision-making · English 9Students analyze a character's internal conflict and how it advances the plot.
• What the Story Teaches Self-awareness · English 9Students determine a theme and analyze how it develops over the course of a text.
• Discussion Norms We Build Relationship skills · English 9Students prepare for discussion by referring to evidence and work with peers to set rules for collegial discussion.

Unit 2: Leadership

• Disagree Without Disrespect Relationship skills · English 9Students propel discussions by posing questions, responding to diverse perspectives, and qualifying their views.
• Building Tension Self-management · English 9Students analyze how an author's choices about structure and time create tension and suspense.
• Writing Through Conflict Relationship skills · English 9Students write a short narrative scene with a conflict, dialogue, and a reflective resolution.
• Claim, Evidence, Reasoning Responsible decision-making · English 9Students introduce a precise claim and support it with relevant evidence and reasoning.
• Does the Evidence Hold Up? Responsible decision-making · English 9Students delineate and evaluate an argument, assessing whether reasoning is valid and evidence is sufficient.
• The Other Side Social awareness · English 9Students develop claims and counterclaims fairly, pointing out strengths and limitations of both.
• How Words Move Us Responsible decision-making · English 9Students determine an author's purpose and analyze how rhetoric advances it.
• Sources We Can Trust Responsible decision-making · English 9Students assess the usefulness and credibility of sources and cite them correctly.
• Midyear Letter to Myself Self-awareness · English 9Students write a reflective letter with clear purpose, organization, and style for an audience of their future self.

Unit 3: Dreams and Aspirations

• Speaking Up Self-management · English 9Students present a claim and evidence clearly, with a logical line of reasoning and appropriate eye contact and volume.
• Listening to Speeches Social awareness · English 9Students evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
• Rights and Responsibilities Social awareness · English 9Students analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance and how they address related themes.
• Whose Voice Is Missing? Social awareness · English 9Students analyze whose perspective a text includes and whose is missing, and how that shapes meaning.
• Questions That Matter Social awareness · English 9Students develop a focused research question and plan a short research project.
• Credit Where It Is Due Responsible decision-making · English 9Students integrate information into their writing selectively, using quotation and paraphrase, and avoid plagiarism.
• Explaining an Issue Clearly Relationship skills · English 9Students write an informative paragraph that introduces a topic, develops it with relevant facts, and uses precise language.
• One Event, Many Accounts Responsible decision-making · English 9Students analyze accounts of the same subject told in different mediums and determine which details are emphasized.
• Words That Hurt, Words That Heal Relationship skills · English 9Students interpret figures of speech and analyze their effect, and make effective language choices for meaning and style.

Unit 4: All for Love

• Poetry of Feeling Self-awareness · English 9Students analyze the cumulative impact of word choices on a poem's meaning and tone.
• A Poem of Resilience Self-management · English 9Students write a short poem using precise words, imagery, and a shift.
• Impulsive Choices on Stage Responsible decision-making · English 9Students analyze how a character's impulsive decisions drive the plot and create dramatic irony.
• Same Story, New Medium Social awareness · English 9Students analyze how a scene is represented in two different mediums and what each emphasizes or leaves out.
• Stories Built on Stories Self-awareness · English 9Students analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material from an earlier work.
• Grief, Hope, and Literature Social awareness · English 9Students analyze how a theme about loss and hope develops and is refined by specific details.
• Revision Is Growth Self-management · English 9Students strengthen writing through revising and editing, focusing on purpose and audience.
• My Reader Portfolio Self-awareness · English 9Students reflect on the texts they read and the writing they produced, citing evidence of growth.
• A Speech of Gratitude Relationship skills · English 9Students deliver a short formal speech adapted to an audience and purpose.

RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.