Wondering how to respond to the age-old question when will I ever use this? The answer is very simple when discussing technical writing. Teachers and administrators gain an understanding of using technical writing in the classroom....

Lights, camera, action! Math educators consider how to improve their instruction by examining a model of the five-practice problem-solving model involving a movie theater. Participants examine cognitive demand in relation to problem...

What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...

You'll C-E-R a difference in classroom achievement after using a helpful lesson. Designed for economics, civics, government, and US history classes, participants practice using the CER model to craft arguments about primary and secondary...

Is a college education necessary for success in today's world? The class investigates the question, along with others at the end of the sixth workshop in a 15-part series. The lesson plan has four parts with multiple activities and...

How have educational standards evolved? Educators of adults examine expectations in the 10th workshop out of 15 to better determine how standards have grown. Participants respond to a variety of sample questions to determine how they...

Are video games sports? Pupils investigate this question as well as various nonfiction selections to learn more about claims and the support that defines them. All of the selections mimic the rigor on state tests and encourage close...

Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Imagine seventh graders developing a school wide plan to promote respect in their school. That's the vision behind the second lesson in the R-E-S-P-E-C-T series. In preparation for designing a school-wide media campaign, class members...

After reading song lyrics to Brad Paisley's "A Letter to Me" and the personal essay "A Letter to My Younger Self" by Brian Elroy, students write a poem, lyric, or letter from George Washing to his younger self. Then students write a...

In this lesson, Ralph Fletcher's writing style is introduced to student writers. Learners will write a rough draft about a time they ate, or a time when they saw someone else eat, something unusual. Then students will read and analyze...

In this instructional activity, students will engage in revising their writings to incorporate sensory images. Students will brainstorm topics of places, away from their home, that are special. Then students will choose and then write a...

Inspired by Mem Fox's Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge which includes four metaphors for memory, this writing prompt asks students to think of an original abstract noun. Students will brainstorm details as they come up with ideas for...

In this instructional activity students use the format and structure of a mentor text such as A. Lincoln and Me by Louise Borden to write an interesting biography about a historical figure with an emphasis on idea development, voice, and...

After reading several clothing descriptions and stories from the J. Peterman Clothing Catalogue, students imitate the voice of the catalogue to write descriptions and stories of their own clothes. Teacher instructions, printable graphic...

In this lesson, Bertrand R. Brinley's The Mad Scientist's Club is used as a mentor text. Young scholars will analyze the introductory paragraph of the mentor text and its sequel. Then students will use an interactive button to select a...

In this instructional activity students will write a descriptive short story based upon 16-word imagery poems they have previously written.

Houghton Mifflin has created a comprehensive resource for project-based learning. This site is full of ideas, explanations, projects, and more.

This article describes the Digital Hammurabi Project at The Johns Hopkins University. Its purpose is to advance scanning technology in order to produce high-quality 3-D images of cuneiform tablets, and to store these in a digital library...

For this lesson plan, students will learn about the season through decriptive words and phrases incorporated in two different books, Have You Seen Trees? by Joanne Oppenheim and The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons. They...

In this lesson, writing partners work together to develop a plot and characters. The lesson emphasizes the use of dialogue to develop the characters and plot of the story.

This is a challenging first computer science project. You'll learn the basics of how digital devices can represent numbers using only 0's and 1's, and you'll write a JavaScript program to convert numbers between binary, decimal and...

This is a good first-time programming project. You'll learn how to use JavaScript to create a basic calculator program that you can run in your Web browser.