New ReviewBass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...

New ReviewWhat does the data say? Using provided voter data from the 2016 presidential election, scholars describe the data and identify questions they could answer by analyzing it. Learners then construct tables and use them to determine whether...

Are you looking for a timely, engaging project-based learning activity for 21st-century learners? Here's a fine one. A carefully scaffolded, richly detailed plan asks scholars, working individually or in small groups, to create original...

New ReviewThe Paradise Papers, a year-long research project from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) exposed how political leaders, business people, and wealthy individuals used offshore entities to avoid taxes and hide...

Teach the importance of showing gratitude at any age with a teacher's guide comprised of thirty activities. Browse the extensive table of contents to find the array of exercises designed to meet the needs of your learners. Scholars take...

Using the announcements of presidential candidacies, pupils consider how contenders make their initial arguments to the public. A worksheet helps structure collaborative work to analyze 10 video clips. Writing prompts allow for extension...

It's that time of year, and the year. Once again the race is on for the White House. It's important that young voters, and would-be voters, understand the process for becoming the United States President. Class members research the...

Confirmation bias makes it difficult to overcome our preconceived notions of others. That's the big idea in a lesson that teaches learners strategies to recognize and question their biases.

The focus of the second lesson in the Standing Up for Democracy unit is on the power of assumptions based on a single experience or point of view. Class members begin by journaling about assumptions others make about their identity based...

Get the lowdown on five different types of biases (confirmation, anchoring, blind-spot, negativity, outcome) with a activity that not only provides examples but also offers suggestions for how to detect and combat each type.

Famous as a horror story, as the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein is also a tale of ambition, a warning about unbridled science, and responsibility for actions. Readers consider what the tale says of the consequences of creation...

Identifying the tone of a piece of writing or the author's attitude toward the subject matter can be difficult for learners. Simplify the process with a lesson that begins with skits, moves to songs and their lyrics, and then to passages...

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is difficult to read and difficult to teach. The novel is so highly regarded that it is one of most often listed as an option for the AP Literature and Composition exam. The materials in this packet from PBS...

Toni Morrison's powerful and painful Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved is not easy to read or easy to teach. Here's a teaching guide, loaded with primary source materials, that gives readers the background they need to understand the...

21st-century learners live in such a visual world that many are unused to letting their minds imagine the picture that words create. An excerpt from Carl Sagan's lecture, "The Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,"...

What characterizes a living thing? Scholars explore the concept during a differentiated instruction unit on living things. They perform lab experiments to determine how animals adapt to stimuli, watch videos and learn about...

Dream or nightmare? Class members craft a synthesis essay with textual to determine to what extent the United States has fulfilled the ideas embodied in the America Dream.

Scholars know him for his role in the American Revolution, but Ben Franklin was also a journalist and printer. Learners investigate his standards for what was fit to print using primary sources—including writings where Franklin explains...

The framers of the United States Constitution felt a free press was so essential to a democracy that they granted the press the protection it needed to hold the powerful to account in the First Amendment. Today, digital natives need to...

Understanding the US government's role proves very important in the American economy, especially for consumers. Scholars learn about how varying government agencies help them when facing an issue. The third and final resource in the...

Simply understanding consumer rights may not help people solve their problems. Understanding who to turn to becomes key in many different scenarios. Teach the value of various organizations that fight for consumer rights through...

Whether new to the Socratic seminar format or an experienced veteran of the popular discussion technique, you'll find much to like in a five-page, richly detailed packet that not only details the prep necessary, the process, and the...

Accuracy, transparency, trustworthiness, and impartiality are four unspoken rules of journalism. Scholars delve deep into the subject by discussing the pros and cons of relying on social media for news. They also play an online game to...

Rather than a whodunit, "The Masque of the Red Death" is the perfect story to analyze how Poe combines literary devices to create the suspense that grips readers. The richly detailed lesson is carefully scaffolded, moving from teacher...