High schoolers infer the emotions of various individuals portrayed in the photographs and depict these feelings in a monologue or journal entry. Students explore the verisimilitude of art to reality, sharing ideas and observations in...

Step into the great outdoors and develop young scientists' skills of observation with a nature journaling activity. Given a specific focus or goal, children practice making and recording observations of nature through written...

Fifth graders analyze William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, paying close attention to character development, plot, and dialogue. With daily reading and thoughtful discussion, scholars take pen to paper to respond to journal...

Challenge your class to hold a discussion about the theme of death in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead without direct teacher guidance. After going over the discussion protocols and quotes from the text, learners move in a circle...

What was life like as a settler in the 1800s? Get a glimpse of settlers' experiences in Alabama and their relationships with the Native American tribes using an interesting lesson plan. Scholars complete a hands-on activity, participate...

There's more to music than a memorable tune. The songs of those who were enslaved reveal the harsh realities of their lives. Using both songs and slave narratives, historians uncover this hidden history. The lesson plan incorporates a...

Young scholars create a digital journal every week using adapted technology that depicts the chosen focus for the week. In this digital journaling lesson, students search for items that depict the focus of the week and take photos. Young...

Ease your class into reading Running Out of Time by first reading The Boy Who Stopped Time, a picture book with some similar concepts and themes. After a reading of the story, learners participate in a discussion and journaling exercise.

How smart is your home? Middle and high schoolers write a journal entry describing the types of technology found in their homes. After reading an article, they are introduced to "smart" home technology. In groups, they identify and...

Historical accounts of various events have proven to differ depending on the point of view of the person documenting the event. Learners read and analyze two first person accounts of acts of slave resistance seen at a southern...

Make your classroom a supportive and communicative place to be before beginning a unit on the Holocaust. Working together as a class, learners reflect on their previous experiences of classroom discussions before establishing a...

Students examine a painting that depicts a scene from the Underground Railroad. They discuss the painting and write journal entries and poems in response to the painting's themes and their impressions.

Should schools serve soda to students? Learners read an artlcle that argues against the sale of soda in schools and engage in a class discussion. They then complete a short assessment to check for comprehension and reflect on the...

Scholars learn all about the Puritans in the third installment of a 16-part lesson series. After watching a video, they read and discuss biographies of Puritans and Quakers from American history, write journal entries and poetry, and...

How do nineteenth-century texts by African American and Native American writers contribute to the country's ideals of freedom and individuality? Learners explore the topic by watching and discussing a video, reading biographies, writing...

Many American writers in the late nineteenth century wanted their writing to reflect real life. Individuals watch and discuss a video, read and explore author biographies, write a journal entry and a poem, and complete a multimedia...

How did literature reflect people's attitudes in post-World War I America? A lesson explores the topic using a variety of activities. Individuals watch and respond to a video; read author biographies and engage in discussion; write...

Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...

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...

How did Native Americans react to the arrival of the Lewis and Clark expedition? Here, learners review excerpts of journal entries that chronicle the arrival of the Corps of Discovery to the Shoshone and Blackfeet tribes. Your young...

Readers create a literary scrapbook for one of the characters in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and fill it with mementoes, journal entries, letters, etc. A great way to get kids to think about characterization.

After interviewing an immigrant about their voyage to the United States and first impressions of the country, young learners create a fictional series of journal entries and design an iMovie depicting their interviewee's story.

Middle schoolers complete a unit of lessons that explore the poetic voice of Langston Hughes. They define voice, read and analyze various poems by Langston Hughes, and complete journal entries for each instructional activity.

Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...