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Lesson Plan
Judicial Branch of California

The Constitution: What It Says and What It Means

For Teachers 5th Standards
Learners get the chance to act as representatives to the Constitution Convention, and must decide whether or not to recommend your state ratify the new framework. After examining the Constitution line-by-line, they consider their...
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Lesson Plan
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Museum of Tolerance

And Justice for All? Slavery Not Just in the Past

For Teachers 6th Standards
Slavery in India, Sudan, and Mauritania? What about in the United States? Groups research modern slavery in these four countries, collecting factual evidence (What), determine their feelings about this evidence (So what), and consider...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Should States Shift to Mail-In Voting during the Coronavirus Pandemic?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
With the coronavirus pausing many norms in American society, officials are trying to decide how to safely hold voting in the 2020 presidential election. Using curated video clips, including speeches from Congress, journalists, and...
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Lesson Plan
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ReadWriteThink

The Chinese New Year Starts Today

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
As part of a celebration of Chinese New Year, class members research the Chinese zodiac and examine the description of the personality attributes associated with the animal of their birth year. Individuals then craft a persuasive essay...
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Lesson Plan
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Federal Trade Commission

Ad Creation

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
How would someone market a new cereal to space aliens? Using the third lesson from a four-part Admongo series on advertising, pupils learn about persuasive techniques companies use to convince consumers to purchase their products. As a...
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Lesson Plan
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Federal Trade Commission

Ad Awareness

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
Movie theaters, shopping malls, television, the Internet ... no matter where people go, they are inundated with advertisements. Scholars discuss the topic of ad awareness using the first of four Admongo lessons about advertising. Pupils...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A carefully crafted three-day lesson integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson activates...
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Unit Plan
University of Virginia

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Reading the Novel

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Teach the importance of context and perspective with a unit focused on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first lesson considers the role of female characters and readers, including the gender expectations of the time. The...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Media Literacy and Persuasive Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Investigate ways to persuade by introducing learners to the three rhetorical appeals (Pathos, Logos, Ethos). Pupils receive a worksheet for their definition development of the terms and coinciding vocabulary words. The activity continues...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Master of the Airwaves: How FDR Used Radio to Ease the Public’s Fears

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
The political and economic climate during the 1930's was uncertain and tumultuous. But Americans' minds and hearts were eased with the reassuring words of their president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and addresses over the radio. High...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Genetic Testing: Road Map or Crystal Ball?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
After looking at the many aspects of the issues behind genetic testing, students are exposed to the pros and cons and must take a stand by writing a position paper. They will view the "Who Gets to Know?" video and/or reading case studies...
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Unit Plan

Building Evidence-Based Arguments: Grade 9

For Teachers 9th Standards
High schoolers investigate the dilemma of a proportional response with a lesson about the history of terrorism and militant extremists in the United States. As they examine memos from the FBI and speeches from President Bush and Obama,...
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Activity
Gourmet Curriculum Press

Author's Purpose

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 6

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Is a college education necessary for success in today's world? The class investigates the question, along with others at the end of the sixth workshop in a 15-part series. The activity has four parts with multiple activities and...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Poems about Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners of all ages hear the words “Today we’re going to start poetry” and begin their plans to drop out of school. It is not the teacher's fault! Use this resource to help young scholars understand the genre of poetry and why it is...
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Lesson Plan
K20 Learn

Building Arguments With Evidence Part 2: Constructing Arguments

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
What is the biggest issue facing young people today? Class members consider the question—along with other provocative pieces from the New York Times—and then try to write their own arguments and back them up with evidence. Once complete,...
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Article
The New York Times

Teaching Orwell and '1984’ with the New York Times

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Doublethink and alternate facts? Big Brother and Facebook? 1984 and 2019? Sales of 1984 have surged and so has the use of George Orwell's dystopian classic in classrooms. Whether new to teaching the novel or a seasoned veteran you'll...
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Lesson Plan
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2
iCivics

No Rambling Allowed

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What makes for a strong persuasive argument? Organization! After deconstructing a sample argument and then following the guidelines of an included worksheet, your class members will learn how evidence can be organized in order to produce...
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Lesson Plan
Facing History and Ourselves

The Audacity of a Vote: Susan B. Anthony’s Arrest

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Susan B. Anthony's speech "Is It a Crime for Women to Vote?" takes center stage in a lesson that asks class members to consider how they might respond to what they consider an unjust law. Groups work through the speech paragraph by...
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Lesson Plan
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Museum of Tolerance

Oral History Activity

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate where they...
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Lesson Plan
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Nemours KidsHealth

Food Labels: Grades 9-12

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Check the label! That's the big idea in a lesson about using the nutrition facts on food labels rather than advertising hype to make healthy choices about what to eat. After reading background articles and learning how to read nutrition...
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Unit Plan
Crabtree Publishing

Why Does Media Literacy Matter?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Criticism of news and entertainment journalism is at an all-time high. Help 21st-century learners develop the media literacy skills they need to become critical consumers with a three-lesson guide the looks at persuasive techniques used...
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Unit Plan
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4
Odell Education

Building Evidence-Based Arguments: “Doping can be that last 2 percent.”

For Teachers 7th Standards
Even the most thrilling sports career can end in an asterisk if the player uses performance-enhancing drugs. Focused on the topic of doping in sports, a seventh grade unit breaks down the arguments for and against steroids in five...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Forming a Research-Based Claim: Comparing Cascading Consequences

For Teachers 7th Standards
It's time to weigh the risks and benefits of screen time! Pupils work in triads to identify the strongest positive and negative consequences from their Cascading Consequences chart. Next, using the chart and their researcher's notebooks,...