Online Publications
Become a Journalist
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
NPR
Distracted by Everything - Being Wired at All Times
This multimedia activity challenges media-savvy learners to look at the critical issue concerning the inundation of technology and multitasking in the classroom, and its effects on the education of themselves and others. The tasks...
Curated OER
Kids' Newsbreaks
Group learners together to identify a question relating to an issue and create a 60-second kids news break highlighting information that begins to answer the question. They research and answer issue questions in a news story format.
Curated OER
Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe: What is Beautiful?
Young scholars consider the notion of beauty and what impact the media and popular culture have on it. In this cross curricular lesson, students examine print ads, write down and share their thoughts on them. Then young scholars form...
Curated OER
Digital Storytelling
Scholars of all ages can use the various tools of technology to construct and illustrate a story. Utilizing this resource, learners work with a partner to brainstorm and draft a story based on personal experience. They use computer...
Curated OER
Newspapers in the Digital Age
Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...
Curated OER
Publishing Written Reports
Seventh graders discuss the importance of presentation in report writing. They prepare and publish written reports on pre-selected topics. Students use various media, including covers and visual aids.
Curated OER
Credible Sources on the Internet: What to Trust, What to Dismiss and When to Cite a Source
Wait, you mean researchers don't all use Wikipedia? Teach your class about intelligent research with a lesson about evaluating digital sources. The lesson starts with a quickwrite and includes vocabulary exercises and several...
Curated OER
Multimedia Storytelling
Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting their story in...
Curated OER
Personal Stories of the National Parks
Middle schoolers explore historical information about U.S. national parks using the stories of Edward and Margaret Gehrke as a primary source document. In this United States geography, history, and literacy lesson, students view the...
Curated OER
Postcards from Somewhere
Students correspond with e-pals about their community. In this cross curriculum geography, technology, and literacy lesson, students complete a postcard webquest about their home location including local photographs. Students e-mail...
Curated OER
Publishing a Magazine
Students work collaboratively to create, edit, and publish their own student magazine. The lesson suggests the use of iPhoto, a word processor, iPages, and digital cameras for the creative process.
Curated OER
All About Measuring with the Metric System
Students discover the metric system through video clips and Internet activities. In this measurements lesson, students practice using the units of measure for the metric system and compare them to the less popular English system....
Curated OER
Welcome to the Blogosphere
Create a blog spot for your classroom and promote online discussions. There are several blogging websites listed here, and you can create one specific to each class or one collective site. Teach your learners how to post on the blog, and...
Curated OER
Blog Your Truth
Students explore communication by participating in a digital journalism activity. In this aboriginal research lesson, students view a sample blog on the Internet and identify the techniques behind blogging and Internet journalism...
Curated OER
Virtual Chat Study Groups
Students explore studying habits by utilizing technology. In this social networking lesson, students utilize a virtual chat program to connect with students from a nearby school. Students ask and answer study questions back and forth...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing-"Those Whales"
Use an article about an Orca killing a trainer to help writers complete a persuasive essay. The article, other templates, and models are attached. Scholars divide up into groups of three where each person takes a different role,...
Curated OER
The Scoop Through Desktop Publication
Drafting, revising, and editing is all apart of the publishing process. Using a series of documents as inspiration, young journalists compose a class Newspaper. They work independently and in groups to publish their own articles.
Curated OER
Is Modern Culture Ruining Childhood?
There are a lot of different ways a learner could respond to this New York Times article discussing the effects of modern culture on childhood. After reading the article, pupils construct a thoughtful blog post. The guiding questions...
Curated OER
Adventures in Africa
Learners research Africa and prepare an advertisement about travelling to the continent. In this African travel lesson, students research a country in Africa and write an advertisement that encourages travel to the country. Learners...
Curated OER
Book Trailers
Students develop a list of criteria for a book trailer. For this book trailer lesson, students review book trailers, create storyboards and use Photo Story 3 to create book trailers. Students create a mini-webquest to review copyrights.
Curated OER
My Hero Learning Circle
Learners participate in a collaboration activity. In this My Hero Project lesson, students discover what a hero is to someone halfway around the world and themselves. Over the 16-week session, circles, made up of between 6-9 classes from...
Curated OER
Preserving History for Illuminating Today's Values and Traditions
Students discover the value of oral history by creating their own audio recordings. In this traditions and customs instructional activity, students listen to a local historian discuss the idea of preserving history through oral...
Curated OER
Who Do You See?
Students analyze portraits and decide on the most important aspects of their own personality. In this portraiture lesson, students identify feelings and emotions in the sitter and the creator of a portrait. After reading the poem "We...