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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

“Walling Out the Unwanted”: Understanding the Barriers that Perpetuate Anti-Immigrant Bias

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As part of a study of immigrant bias, high schoolers investigate the language used in blogs, readings, media reports, and current legislation whose language perpetuates xenophobia. They then consider ways they can get involved in...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

“They Don’t Know Me”: Exposing the Myths and Establishing the Facts about Immigration

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Middle schoolers engage in a lesson that teaches them to distinguish myths from facts about United States immigration. Class members take an immigration quiz, watch a "What Would You do" video, and discuss how they could be an ally to...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

‘Migrant Caravan’ and the People Seeking Asylum

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The controversies surrounding migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. have recently been a hot topic. To understand some of the issues involved, young scholars investigate the Migrant Caravans of 2018. A 10-page packet, including photos, a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Considering "Charles": Pictograms, Annotations, Reading Strategies, And Multimodal Responses

For Teachers 8th Standards
Shirley Jackson's short story, "Charles," provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to practice their close reading skills. Using the provided list of prompts, scholars read and reread the story, then create a multimodal response to...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Introduction to Arguing Effectively: Argument Writing

For Teachers 10th - 11th Standards
Which is better—Chick-fil-A or MacDonalds? High schoolers learn how to craft an argument essay by beginning an opinion statement. They state a claim, back up their claim with evidence, and consider counter calms. Scholars then create a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Let Us Start The Lettuce Club (Or Not): Writing A Thesis Statement

For Teachers 9th Standards
Let us be frank! Writers learn that crafting a thesis statement is not that difficult if one peals back the layers. After watching several videos about the elements of a thesis, class members read the article "Lettuce Club helps students...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Ichabod and Brom - Two Wild And Crazy Guys: Characters' Differing Perspectives

For Teachers 9th Standards
After reading Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," class members compare the characteristics of Ichabod Crane and Brom Van Brunt. Next, they read an article about ghosts that supposedly haunt the campus of Oklahoma...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Ichabod and Brom - Ghostfacers: Credibility and The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

For Teachers 9th Standards
A headless horseman? Really? A reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" launches a study of how to use the A-CLAP strategy to determine a story's credibility. Writers employ these techniques to craft their ghost stories and make them...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

I Theme, You Theme, We All Theme For Ice Cream: Themes In Literature

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Teach readers how to distinguish between a topic and a story's theme in a short lesson that uses the children's book, Should I Share My Ice Cream, as an exemplar. After listening to the story, pairs generate a list of topics covered in...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

I Need A (Super)Hero: Literary Elements And Narrative Writing

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Need a hero? Super! Groups create their modern-day marvel and craft a narrative with all the elements required in such a tale.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

HOT Questions: Creating Meaningful Questions

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Scholars examine a list of questions and sort them into corresponding groups based on similarities. A gallery walk allows peers to see how their peers sorted questions and leave notes. Costa's Level of Questions is the topic of a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Emotions: Julius Caesar

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Scholars, high schoolers, class members! With the help of this lesson, you too can identify the three persuasive appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) the characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar used to convince their...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Growing Themes

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
The theme of a work is not a single word! Rather it is a statement that reflects what a writer believes or wants readers to understand about a topic or subject. Here's a short, but powerful lesson plan that utilizes passages from The...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

From Apples To Oranges: Examining Literary Devices

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Make learning the definitions of literary terms memorable with a fun and engaging activity. Teams of scholars are given several terms and create an acrostic poem with simplified definitions and examples.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Femme Fatales - The Landlady and Mrs. Maloney: Character Analysis Across Multiple Texts

For Teachers 9th Standards
Two stories by Roald Dahl, "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "The Landlady" provide readers an opportunity to compare stories by the same author. After a close reading of the stories, teams select a character from one of the tales, craft...
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Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

Building Alliances

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Bystander or up-stander? The final lesson in the "Looking Back Reaching Forward" unit asks participants to consider how they can become involved in encouraging change in their school and community. 
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Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

Bringing It Home

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The "Bringing It Home" lesson plan asks scholars to investigate segregation and diversity in their school. They research, collect, and analyze local demographics. After reflecting on their personal experiences with cliques and social...
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Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

Sixty Years Later

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Has any progress been made in desegregating schools since 1954's Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education? To find out, class members examine charts and graphs representing U.S. schools' racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic...
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Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

With All Deliberate Speed

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Has the integration of U.S. schools proceeded "with all deliberate speed?" Has progress been made? Those are the questions young historians must consider as they examine the barriers to and opportunities revealed in a study of timelines...
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Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

The Road to Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As part of the study of segregation in U.S. schools, scholars research and create a timeline of events that led to the historic Supreme Court case, Brown V. Board of Education. Groups research a topic or event that led to the decision,...
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Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

The Problem We Still Live With?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Norman Rockwell's painting "The Problem We Still Live With" launches a unit study of racism in the United States and segregation in U.S. schools. In the first lesson, scholars discuss the painting, review key elements of the Supreme...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Persuading Your Audience

For Teachers 10th - 11th Standards
Ethics, emotion, reason—scholars investigate advertisers' persuasive techniques to attract buyers. After examining the techniques used in infomercials, writers craft a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Diggin' Deeper - Poetry Made Relevant: Poetry And Poetic Devices

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
What do Beethoven, Bob Dylan, and Pharrell all have in common? Works by these three musicians are used to launch a study of poetry. Class members listen to passages from the music and craft a quick write about how the music makes them...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Brushstrokes: Communication/Using Descriptive Language

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
Sometimes a picture reflects a thousand descriptive words. To illustrate the importance of sensory words in descriptive writing, scholars listen to a song and craft a painting in response. After sharing their work with the class,...