Curated OER
Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents
Arranged into small groups, learners read a paragraph of the news story "Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents." As one reads, others mark the text (underlining important information and writing notes in the margin of the story). After...
Curated OER
A Glacier Ran Through It
Students learn basic geological concepts while researching how ice age floods sculpted the plateau of the Columbia Basin. They synthesize their learning by creating annotated illustrations of the geological principles they studied.
Curated OER
The Great Grizzly
Students generate questions about grizzly bears and use the Internet to research the answers. As a culminating activity, students create a life-size mural of a grizzly that is annotated with the information they've learned.
Curated OER
Iraq In-Depth
Students examine public opinion about the war in Iraq. They read and discuss an article, participate in a poll, analyze statistics, create annotated scales demonstrating their findings, and write a reaction paper.
Curated OER
Naming New Species
Learners explore science of taxonomy and the Five Kingdoms of life,
categorize organisms into Kingdoms, and create multi-media presentations illustrating knowledge of a Kingdom. They collect data and related pictures on the Internet,...
Curated OER
Pre History through Modern Day Timeline
Students explore the historical sequence of cultures throughout history. They demonstrate the ability to organize events in chronological order and demonstrate how time is measured and annotated.
National First Ladies' Library
Politics! Politics! The Emergence of Political Parties in the U.S.
High schoolers are split into six small groups which focus on one of six websites, that tell the story of the emergence of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties at the end of the 18th century. They compile a chronological list...
National First Ladies' Library
The History of Jim Crow: Legal Racism in America
Students study the history and culture of Jim Crow, as well as the scope of Jim Crow laws across the United States. They consider the concepts of terror and triumph with respect to the history of Jim Crow, the recognition of evidence of...
Curated OER
Six Day War
Learn about the diverse perspectives involved in the Six Day War by having learners examine and annotate presidential speeches given by the three nations—Egypt, Israel, and the United States—at the heart of the conflict and producing...
Prestwick House
Reading Nonfiction: Analyzing Joseph McCarthy's "Enemies from Within" Speech
Looking for a lesson that teaches class members how to analyze nonfiction? Use Joseph McCarthy's famous "Enemies from Within" speech as a instructional text. Worksheet questions direct readers' attention to the many historical references...
Curated OER
"A MLA Style of Life"
Learners effectively research using the internet, encylopedias, magazines and newspapers. They desegregate into needed and un-needed information based on their research findings. Pupils recognize and appropriately site sources using a...
Curated OER
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
"It is my lady, O, It is my Love!" Provide class members an opportunity to develop their skills reading difficult text with an exercise that focuses on the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet (Act II, scene ii). Using the provided...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Argument of the Declaration of Independence
When in the course of a course on historic American events, it becomes necessary for learners to examine, with decent respect, the Declaration of Independence, it becomes evident that there are six separate and equal parts of that...
Novelinks
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter: Vocabulary List
A staggering amount of work went into compiling this vocabulary resource for Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. The overview provides a rationale for the strategy and information about tier 1, 2, and 3 words. The 19-page...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 5
After rereading the full text of Walter Mosley's essay "True Crime," groups complete an evidence collection tool worksheet, and then class members independently draft a multi-paragraph, evidence-based response that identifies how Mosley...
Rancocas Valley Regional High School
Teaching American History for All
Although Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X both work for equal rights, social change, and political empowerment, their approaches were radically different. To better understand these contrasts, class members compare King's "I...
Curated OER
Annotated Time Line
Students write biographies and timelines of famous people. They research a famous historical figure and his associated events. They write a two-page biography of the figure and create a timeline detailing the events of his life. They...
Curated OER
This Land is Your Land? This Land is My Land!
Students research the various territory acquisitions in United States history and create an annotated map that tells the history of U.S. expansion. Working in small groups, students outline the land acquisitions and purchases made by...
Curated OER
Color Coding Richard III
Tenth graders use color-coded annotation or text-marking to analyze a passage from Richard III. In this text analysis lesson, 10th graders read a passage from Richard III and use colored pens to analyze the text. Students then devise a...
Curated OER
Preparing for Poetry: A Reader's First Steps
Students complete poetry analysis using William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" as a part of a study of figurative language. In this Shakespearean language lesson, students define literal and figurative language and practice paraphrasing and...
Foreign Policy Association
Public Diplomacy Online Lesson Plan
To build an understanding that there are many perspectives of global issues and that an individual's perspective is influenced by background and experience, class members assume the identity of a person in the global community and...
EngageNY
Getting Ready to Learn About Human Rights: Close Reading of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Introduce young readers to informational texts with a well-designed, ready-to-use, and Common Core-aligned unit. Young readers learn a variety of skills while studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As the first...
Curated OER
1984 by George Orwell
Readers of Nineteen Eighty-Four engage in a close reading exercise that directs their focus to the key details Orwell provides in the opening paragraphs to introduce his dystopian society. The included worksheeet is divided into three...
Curated OER
A Close Reading of Learned Hand's "I Am an American Day"
Judge Learned Hand's "Spirit of Liberty" speech delivered during the July, 1944 "I Am an American Day" celebration is the subject of a close reading activity that models for learners how to approach a dense, difficult text.