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Lesson Plan
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Health Smart Virginia

Health/Social Emotional Skills

For Teachers 8th
Designed for instructors, a seven-page packet provides an overview of the Health Smart unit for eighth-graders. The resource includes the objectives and goals of the unit, details suggested procedures and provides links to additional...
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Activity
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Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Examples of Social and Emotional Learning in Elementary Mathematics Instruction

For Teachers K - 6th
A 12-page document lists an abundance of math-related activities that boost social and emotional topics; self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.  
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Activity
DiscoverE

Slender Tower Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Looking for an engineering project that will tower above the rest? Try a design experiment that has built-in fun! Groups examine a variety of skyscraper designs, then compete to create their own slender towers. The teacher's guide is...
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Lesson Plan
Facing History and Ourselves

A Scene from a Middle School Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Citizens in the modern world can't imagine making the same social choices made by many Germans in the 1920s and 1930s, but they don't realize that they actually do it every day by ostracizing others. A case study of middle schoolers...
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Lesson Plan
Visa

Savvy Spending: Sharpening Money Decisions

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Do you really need that new laptop/phone/dress/jacket/etc.? Financial decisions require us to distinguish between our wants and our needs. Through discussion and the evaluation of scenarios on provided worksheets, this resource will...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Green Classroom Audit

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students audit their classroom for environmentally friendly practices. In this "green" instructional activity, students take an inventory of the classroom and identify ways to improve practices. Students complete a worksheet, brainstorm...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Contraception

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Just about everything you need to teach a unit on sexual education. Diagrams, charts, factual information all here. This lesson plan is thorough and goes step by step in guiding everyone through the topics providing questions for...
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Lesson Plan
Council for Economic Education

You Can BANK on This! (Part 2)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This is part two in a four-part instructional activity on banking and personal finance. For this instructional activity, learners analyze whether or not they have made a good purchase, then discuss how to make an informed decision about...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stop! Explore Go!

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students examine a three-step process for making decisions and how their peers can influence them in different ways. They role-play different roles when making decisions and other students reflect on how they feel about the activity.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Mob Mentality and "The Outsiders": Integrating Fiction and Nonfiction

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders allows middle schoolers to reflect on mob mentality. After reading an article and watching a video about herd mentality, class members find examples in the novel of when characters go along with the crowd and...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Handling Peer Pressure

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The second lesson in the "Looking to the Future " module provides participants with strategies for handling peer pressure, especially when peers urge behaviors that go against one's values, beliefs, and family rules.
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Defining Problems Big and Small

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Problems come in all shapes and sizes, but the first step in solving a problem is to identify just what the problem is. Through a series of games and activities, middle schoolers learn first to identify a problem, decide on a solution,...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Finding Solutions

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers apply all they have learned in the Problem Solving module by participating in a contest to see which group can build the tallest tower using only sheets of paper and masking tape.
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Considering Pros and Cons

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers continue to study the problem solving process by identifying the pros and cons of different options they listed on their "How Could I Do This" activity sheet from the previous lesson. After weighing the options, they...
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Is it possible to have too much concern for others? Can we be trapped by our expectations as well as those of society? Edith Wharton's chilling tale of Ethan Frome asks these and other disquieting questions. Signet's guide to Ethan Frome...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Making a Choice

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The big idea in the last instructional activity in the Decision-Making module is that responsible decision-making is a process rather than a knee-jerk reaction. Participants practice the five steps in the decision-making process they...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Weighing Options and Consequences

For Teachers 6th - 8th
When making decisions, it might be wise to revise Newton's Third Law of Motion to read, "For every decision, there are options and consequences." Although in decision-making, not all these forces may be equal. The third activity in the...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Identifying Options

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Making a decision can be more like a multiple-choice question than a yes/no one. Through a series of activities, middle schoolers learn how to consider and identify options, choices, and alternatives when faced with an important decision.
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Gathering Information

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Before making important decisions, gathering as much information as possible is best. That's the take-away from the second instructional activity in the Decision-Making module of the Overcoming Obstacles course. Middle schoolers engage...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Making Decisions Big and Small

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Making responsible decisions can be hard, especially in difficult situations when the consequences can be difficult as well. Through a series of activities and games, middle schoolers learn that when making decisions, they must consider...
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Activity
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Facing History and Ourselves

Closing Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The future can be yours to see with a bit of planning. That's the takeaway from a routine that asks participants to first brainstorm a list of personal and academic goals. Individuals then select one to focus on for the week, identify...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Clarifying Values

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The fourth instructional activity in the Confidence Building module asks participants to think about what they value and how these values influence their decisions. Class members engage in activities that help them identify what they...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Handling Peer Pressure

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Class members participate in a discussion to identify all types of positive and negative peer pressure and brainstorm strategies to not give in to negative peer pressure. Scholars create a T-chart to record their observations. Pupils...
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Lesson Plan
Overcoming Obstacles

Problem Solving Techniques

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Participants in the first lesson of the "Problem Solving Module" discover that the techniques used to solve problems follow the same steps they practiced in the "Decision Making Skills Module." Groups focus on different characters in a...