Curated OER
Facing the Ghosts of Our Past
A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...
Teaching Tolerance
Film Festival
Everybody's a critic—even your pupils! Using the included resources as a guide, screen films related to social justice and ask film enthusiasts to critique them. Publish the reviews for your school community or develop a film festival...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 1
Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...
Newseum
Propaganda Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Working in teams, pairs, or individually, scholars select one resource from a gallery of historical sources and consider which examples might be considered propaganda, the techniques used to persuade audiences, and evaluate how the...
Curated OER
Identifying and Using Parallelism and Balance in Literature
Analyze the use of balanced sentences and parallelism in a narrative. Included in this resource is a narrative about serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan titled, "The Train Ride Home". Middle and high schoolers review...
Curated OER
The Western Hemisphere on Review
Sixth graders research a country in the Western Hemisphere. They write a research paper and present a five-minute presentation on the country. They use PowerPoint to give their presentations to the class.
Curated OER
After the American Revolution: Free African Americans in the North
Students investigate the life of African Americans in the North during the American Revolution. They analyze how authors use various techniques to write biographies, read about Sojourner Truth, conduct research, and write an excerpt...
Curated OER
Multiple Perspectives: Newspaper Stories and Editorials
Newspapers are the perfect medium through which to explore different perspectives in informational text. After researching the fur trade and resultant colonization, groups write a newspaper, including an editorial page, selecting one of...
Curated OER
Literature Study of the Civil War Era
Learn more about the Civil War. Young scholars will choose a novel based on the Civil War to learn more about the viewpoints of that time period. They will then discuss the roles of the members of a Literature Circle and then participate...
Curated OER
A Question of Faith?
Should organized prayer be prohibited at high school sporting events? Students explore their own feelings about prayer in school-sponsored events, before discussing the recent Supreme Court decision banning public prayer at high school...
PBS
1000 Words
A picture really can speak a thousand words—no matter how old! Scholars become history detectives as they learn how to analyze historical photos and evidence to uncover the past. The fun hands-on activity makes history come alive through...
Curated OER
Can You Help A Friend?
Students take on the role of a ten year old girl, "Jessica." Jessica's friend has moved away from the area and is texting people she doesn't know in chat rooms. Students work in groups to write a message for Jessica to send to her...
Channel Islands Film
Magic Isle: Lesson Plan 1
What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...
Curated OER
Chinese Calligraphy
Young scholars explore Chinese culture and Chinese calligraphy. In this Chinese calligraphy lesson plan, students create paintings using Chinese techniques. Young scholars describe the differences in Chinese art and other culture's art....
Curated OER
Visual Arts: Art in Public Places
Students create 3 dimensional art. In this sculpture lesson, students collect objects that represent their community's values to include in a 3 dimensional sculpture. Students write a paragraph explaining the chosen theme of their...
Curated OER
Masks Across Cultures
Students examine various masks from different cultures. In groups, they review vocabulary related to expressing emotions in art. They work together to create a mask using the techniques described to them and representing a season. ...
Curated OER
Unrolling the Landscape
Young scholars create a landscape painting using traditional Chinese techniques. They review Chinese landscape paintings, paint an original landscape and write a poem to go with their picture.
Curated OER
Railroad Advertising: Let's Go for a Ride!
Students examine advertising from early to mid twentieth century. In this advertising techniques lesson, students assess the different ways advertisers "sold" the concept of railroad travel. Students examine a variety of advertisements...
Curated OER
Indentured Servitude and Immigration
Students examine indentured servitude. In this Teaching Tolerance activity, students compare indentured servitude of colonial America to the undocumented immigration of today. Students write reflections regarding how they feel about...
Curated OER
Identify That Culture
Students view various types of artwork and try to identify the culture being represented. Using a worksheet, they answer questions based on the artwork and the artist's use of color and technique. They research the artist's country of...
Curated OER
Exploring the Food and Dining Patterns of Cameroon: Classification Activity
Students practice using new vocabulary on the dining practices of Cameroon. Using classification techniques, they put words into different categories. As a class, they review and discuss the answers.
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
As an introduction to the hypothesis and testing method of investigation, young history detectives engage in a special investigation of a family artifact. After watching a short video that demonstrates the method, they develop a...
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
Students analyze information from a variety of sources in order to create a hypothesis about the origin of an interesting family artifact.They create alternative hypotheses based upon available information to demonstrate that some...
Curated OER
Now and Then
Students record transformations and their effects within and across cultures. Students study the life of specific people in a former time period and then in the present time period. This teacher focused on the Winnebago tribe, using her...