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...

In order to better understand Muslim civilization, culture, and politics one must first familiarize themselves on the 5 Pillars of Islam, ideas which dominate much of Muslim societal and cultural norms. Provide your learners with a...

Artists working in different media often explore the same themes—to model how these same themes weave their way through different forms of artistic expression, scholars analyze images by Dorothea Lange, identifying key themes in her...

A creative spin occurs when one pupil acts as author Ann M. Martin. Using a Q & A at the back of her book A Dog's Life, other classmates ask the "author" questions. They discuss the reasons why they know the book is from a...

Kids consider revolution as a basis for creativity, art, and storytelling. After reading an excerpt from the book, Persepolis, learners choose one event from any world revolution to write about. They storyboard the event focusing on...

Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...

Students read and analyze a personal narrative written about a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching English in Guinea-Bissau, Africa. They discuss the concept of crossing cultures, analyze maps, complete worksheets, and develop a writing...

Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...

Young scholars investigate the customs and habits of other cultures by reading letters from a Peace Corps Volunteer.  In this global customs instructional activity, students discuss how analyzing a culture is similar to analyzing...

Teach your class the perspective Native Americans had on Christopher Columbus. They will examine the effects of Christopher Columbus' exploration on the Native Americans using a reading theater and a carousel brainstorming activity. They...

Students view themselves and their surroundings from different perspectives and gain insight into how others might see them, and discuss how and why they act differently when around various people. After brainstorming multiple meanings...

The class explores and debates, from multiple perspectives, a petition to allow Hopi Indians to take golden eagle hatchlings from a federal wildlife sanctuary for use in a religious ceremony. Pupils defend their personal views on the...

Prompt your class to interact with Jack London's Call of the Wild. By analyzing the events in the novel, middle schoolers discover how human experiences create who a person becomes. They critique and analyze the reading, focusing on...

Students read a New York Times article in order to examine the importance of cultural artifacts. They create essays from the point of view of one cultural artifact to demonstrate the knowledge they gained by doing research.

“There is no story that is not true, . . .” And uncovering the truths in Things Fall Apart is the focus of a 68-page resource packet designed to provide instructors with a wealth of materials that enhance understanding of Chinua Achebe’s...

Second graders read a story from an online picture book. After reading the story, they pretend to be Gilbert, one of the main characters and create a narrative to accompany the illustrations. They compare their narrative with that of...

Students listen two versions of the story of The Three Little Pigs in order to clarify the concept of point of view. They complete a Venn diagram and write a postcard to one of the book's characters using their point of view.

How does the particular point of view in a situation affect the way it is presented? Focusing on perspectives on slavery during the Civil War, middle schoolers use research to write narratives from the points of view of their historical...

Your class hears a Native American Indian point of view of Europeans' arrival in Louisiana. They assess how cultural perspectives (especially an insider's view) and native language can shape a story. Each pupil identifies the...

Study opposing viewpoints with this instructional activity, which examines President Bush's September 2004 address at the United Nations. Middle schoolers study the text of the address, and then stage formal debates arguing for or...

They always say to write what you know. This approach is used to get middle schoolers prepared to write novels of their own. Using a favorite book as a model, potential novelists respond to prompts that ask about characters, plot, main...

Upper elementary learners read about jobs on a cattle drive and the lives of cowboy during U.S. Westward Expansion. They create a "Help Wanted" poster for one of the jobs. After reading primary source accounts of cowboys, they write...

Sixth graders conduct research on the internet to discover the principles of drawing using one and two point perspectives. After examining street scenes by Edward Hopper and postcards of Main Street USA in Disney, they write about and...

Third graders are introduced to the story elements of fairy tales. As a class, they rewrite the story Little Red Riding Hood, told from the wolf's perspective. Then they create a class PowerPoint of the story, each partner group creating...