Teaching Tolerance
Understanding Other Religious Beliefs
Learn what it means to respect others in an engaging lesson on religious beliefs. An inclusive resource focuses on understanding other religious beliefs, the right to freedom of religion, and the U.S. history of religious diversity....
National Endowment for the Humanities
Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
Teaching Tolerance
Social Media for Social Action
Engage in activism, not slacktivism! Scholars discuss social media and the Internet as tools for social change. Next, they engage in a close reading strategy called Thinking Notes as they read an article about social media activism.
EngageNY
End of Unit 2 Assessment: Writing the Analysis Essay, Part 1
1,2,3,4 score! Writers use the grading rubric to score the model essay. After comparing and discussing their scorings, the individuals begin the end-of-unit assessment.
Judicial Branch of California
Planet Fourth Grade is Researching the U.S. Constitution
Using the Constitutional Convention as a model, learners create their own governments. Other activities to explore the American Constitution include creating posters to help explain the Bill of Rights.
Judicial Branch of California
Constitution Hall of Fame
Using a tableau activity, class members consider who they want to include in a Hall of Fame to honor the framer of the Constitution. Other activities include using a tableau to act out the various sections of the Constitution and related...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Legal Action: The Supreme Court
A social justice lesson focuses on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans. The lesson begins with class members examining a photograph of...
Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms and the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Emulating Emily Dickinson: Poetry Writing
High schoolers analyze mood and voice in Emily Dickinson's poem, "There's a Certain Slant of Light." After the analysis, students write a poem of their own emulating the Dickinson poem, and then write a one-page essay describing what...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Burying Addie's Voice
Students explore the use of voice and title in William Faulkner's, "As I Lay Dying". They identify and discuss the use of image, symbols and narrative voice in the story.
National Endowment for the Humanities
In Emily Dickinson's Own Words: Letters and Poems
Analyze the depth and beauty of American Literature by reading Emily Dickinson's letters and poems. The class analyzes Dickinson's poetic style and discusses Thomas Wentworth Higginson's editorial relationship with Dickinson. They pay...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Music of African American History
High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...
Learning for Justice
Beauty is Skin Deep
If you are in need of a lesson on tolerance or the impact of media, this plan could be useful. The class begins with a brainstorming session in which they reflect on their own experiences with bias based on appearance. Next, they...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Concluding the Novel
As I Lay Dying is a beautiful book and a wonderful vehicle for understanding, interpreting, and comparing themes. The class reads and analyzes the novel, discusses possible interpretations, and characterizations. They compare the themes...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World
Students complete poetry analysis activities. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students consider the use of imagery and sound devices in poetry. Students translate poetry into another art, read a diverse selection of...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Responding to Emily Dickinson: Poetic Analysis
Learners explore Emily Dickinson's poem "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers." For this Dickinson poem lesson, students analyze the poem as proof of Dickinson' awareness of her reader. Learners analyze her style and identify her editorial...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Crossing the River
Students analyze the multiple voices in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this multiple voices lesson plan, students explore the use of symbolism with the narrative voices of the text. Students write a detailed profile of one...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Family Voices In As I Lay Dying
Learners analyze William Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' and his use of multiple voices. In this William Faulkner lesson plan, young scholars analyze Faulkner's use of multiple voices in narration. Learners examine the Bundren family through...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Images of Faulkner and the South
Learners research one aspect of the life of Faulkner and the culture of the South. In this As I Lay Dying instructional activity, learners explore a webpage on Faulkner and write a summary. Learners analyze the images and consider the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Shakespeare's Macbeth: Fear and the Motives of Evil
Students use an online search engine (or a printed concordance) to locate passages that highlight Macbeth's response to fear and his descent into evil. They analyze the motives of Macbeth's increasingly desperate and evil actions.