Powerful women need not look like Wonder Woman. After writing a paragraph about a strong woman they know, young scholars examine images of Alice Paul and then do a close reading of Katharine Rolston Fisher's poem "Alice Paul." Finally,...

Readers of Lord of the Flies examine the four main symbols William Golding develops in his novel: the island, the conch, the Lord of the Flies effigy, and fire. Partners select one of the major symbols and create an image by adding words...

Stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce provide readers with an opportunity to investigate unreliable narrators. The lesson plan begins with an activity about different types of point of view and continues as scholars apply their...

Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...

Young historians conduct a close reading of the text of an interview with Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who taught herself to read, grew up to establish schools for other Black women, and went on to become an advisor...

Young historians investigate how sexism impacted the 2020 United States presidential election. They examine media coverage of the six women candidates, engage in a four-corners debate reacting to statements about gender and the...

Excerpts from an 1898 speech by civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell offers young scholars an opportunity to investigate how Black American women fought for civil rights long before Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement of the...

Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...

A 13-page packet introduces high schoolers to a lady of amazing firsts. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States, and a leader of the Women's Rights...

The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote—as long as they were white. High schoolers read articles and essays about racism in the suffrage movement and consider how intersectionality played a role in the movement. Scholars...

The vaulted ceiling of the Old South Meeting House has heard many voices. Young scholars read an excerpt about its importance in American history and then do a close reading January Gill O'Neil's poem, "Old South Meeting House." After...

In theory, news reports should be fair and unbiased. Young journalists test this theory by selecting a current news story covered by various media outlets about the President of the United States. They then locate and analyze five...

After class members brainstorm a list of current social and political issues, groups each select a different topic from the list to research. Teams create a portfolio of at least 10 examples of stories about their issue, stories that...

Scholars examine front-page news stories to gather evidence about significant historical events. They hypothesize how these events changed people's lives who lived through them and how they continue to impact lives today.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" was written in response to "A Call for Unity," written by eight white ministers from Birmingham and published in the local newspaper. After reading both letters and following a list...

Young journalists compare news coverage of four major events with how the same events are covered in historical accounts. The ensuing discussion asks class members to compare and contrast the role of a reporter and the role of a historian.

Scholars use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (Evidence Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, Execution) strategy to analyze a historical source to determine why mistakes happen in news stories. They then apply the same strategies to contemporary flawed...

After reviewing persuasion techniques, young historians examine how a specific technique was used in the pro- or anti-suffrage messages. They then examine how that same technique is used in modern-day media messages.

Challenge groups to create a recommended reading list of contemporary young adult fiction that explores the same themes found in Ernest Hemingway's short stories and novels. After examining a list Hemingway created and a list put...

Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; however, the critical interpretations of the novel have called it everything from "ordinary" and "schoolboy writing" to a "masterpiece." Readers are allowed to...

The man, the myth, and the reality. Three clips from the documentary Hemingway by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick introduce viewers to the unique features of Ernest Hemingway's writing style and the events in Hemingway's life that influenced...

After watching a short video clip from the documentary Hemingway by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, learners read an article by Ursula Le Guin about gender roles and sexuality. Scholars then consider how an author's concept of gender roles is...

Song lyrics, like poems, are meant to be heard. After examining the literary devices in several poems, scholars examine the lyrics of popular songs and identify the sound devices and the figurative language writers use to create the...

What do hula hoops and the American system of government have in common? Using hands-on station activities, pupils consider the roles of the three branches of government. A script for teachers and writing prompts help round out a...