In a time when collaboration is challenging, connect peers through a good book using a remote book club. Core principles include autonomy, goal setting, and collaboration between classmates. Diverse reads boost reading skills as well as...

Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...

Learners analyze the evolution of cultural attitudes through the lens of transportation, examining several artifacts, documents, and photographs. Topics covered include how American attitudes have influenced society's evolution into a...

Go beyond the typical earthquake drill and prepare your learners to become proactive responders in the event of an emergency. From blackouts and droughts to thunderstorms and extreme cold, your class members will discover how disasters...

Study the impact and possible outcomes of the Exxon-Mobil merger in your language arts, social studies, or economics class. Secondary learners evaluate a series of graphs, write a paragraph interpreting the data, and engage in class...

"What should we have for dinner?" "What am I eating?" "Where did it come from?" These three questions are at the heart of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan's book provides some very...

Booker T. Washington was often criticized by W.E.B. Dubois and other African American leaders for his conciliatory approach to civil rights and education voiced in his autobiography Up From Slavery.  This teacher's guide not only...

A line from Anne Frank's diary reads, "What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again." Indeed, that is the hope for scholars who study her diary. The 19-page guide to the Definitive Edition of The Diary of a Young...

"Three Stones Back," a passage from Matt de la Pena's best-seller, Ball Don't Lie, allows readers to practice their close reading skills as they compare the passage to an information text about wealth inequality. 

According to Henry David Thoreau, every citizen must object to unjust laws. The teacher's guide to Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" begins with a detailed essay synopsis to help readers understand Thoreau's rationale in the challenging...

Approach ethical online behavior with a series of activities geared toward teaching pupils about digital citizenship. After a brief discussion about ethics, small groups inspect a fictional social networking profile with ethics in mind....

Disagreements happen in a diverse democracy. It's what people do about these differences in a diverse society that the resource models. After listening to an eight-minute podcast about a woman who collaborated with people who have very...

Most Americans have heard of the Gettysburg Address, but may not know what it means and why is it so important. Following guidance and scaffolded prompts, scholars analyze the short document that left an undeniable impact on the American...

While Joshua Chamberlain's name is not as iconic as Abraham Lincoln or Robert E. Lee, he still played a pivotal role in the military engagements of the Civil War. Using two secondary sources—including one that draws heavily from his...

After reading Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower, pupils form opinions either for or against forgiveness as well as analyze Wiesenthal's choice about forgiving. Before completing their essays, learners participate in class discussions to...

Look closely, some details are hidden! Scholars learn how to find attributes by first examining characteristics in illustrations and then move to locating details in text with close reading. The teacher models good practices for...

Take another look—there are probably more details than readers realize. Scholars analyze nine texts in a five-part unit that contains 21 activities to find textual details. Activities include close reading, independent reading,...

After reflecting on jobs people perform in the present day, scholars discuss what they believe jobs would have been like in Colonial Virginia during the American Revolution. Small groups then perform a jigsaw using informational packets....

In many ways, Victorian Christmas is alive and well today! Class members read an informative passage to learn more about traditional Christmas gifts, decorations, crackers, and visits from Santa Claus in nineteenth-century England—as...

Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were contemporaries. Both were gifted orators, both were preachers, both were leaders during the Civil Rights era, both were assassinated. But the two had very different views on violence and...

How did Charles Darwin support his controversial theory of evolution with evidence? Use an excerpt from his 1859 work On the Origin of Species to reinforce the importance of making inferences within an informational text, and to discuss...

Survey says ... social media is here to stay! How do the pupils in your school use social media? Using lesson four from a 16-part series, The Social Media Toolbox, learners study surveys and create their own. The resource includes...