The memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, is the focus of a unit designed for fourth graders. Scholars begin each lesson with a warm-up, then listen to a read-aloud of a section of the book. Pupils complete word work,...

Students discuss the idea of 6 word memoirs. In this technology lesson, students explore how using a small number of words sometimes is the best. Students practice using 6 word memoirs writing six words for various nursery rhymes and...

Students analyze how personal diaries and memoirs record actual events, compare and contrast diaries and memoirs from the Holocaust, and engage in journal or diary writing as a way to explore one's own feelings and self.

Here is a nice set of activities and discussion questions to accompany your class reading of No Pretty Pictures, a memoir of a young girl's experiences and struggle for survival during the Holocaust.

Students read excerpts from Jim Toner's memoir Serendib which chronicles his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sri Lanka. They work in small groups to analyze the excerpts and discuss how the author came to terms with Sri Lankan...

The definitions for unfamiliar words drawn from Art Spiegelman graphic novel memoir, Maus, provide the clues for a vocabulary bingo game. 

The Cay has been criticized by groups such as the Council on Interracial Books for Children because of the way race is portrayed. Explore the argument against the book while taking the author's perspective into account. Class members...

Explore nonfiction writing with your class. They will identify elements in nonfiction by reviewing elements of fiction. Then they use biographies, memoirs, menus, Time for Kids, and text books to identify elements of nonfiction. They...

A 12-page teacher's guide to Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees provides the discussion questions and activities that lead readers to understand not only Lily's fears, but her reasons behind them.

Students read and discuss the book So Far From the Bamboo Grove. They select and reflect on the events that they consider most important in shaping their lives.

Students study Japanese American internment camps. In this American history instructional activity, students compare and contrast the camp internees' experiences with with team sports-related challenges students have encountered....

Students explore the psychological coping mechanisms of cancer patients and relate individual cancer survivors' stories to Dr. Kubler-Ross' stages of grief. They use first-person accounts, discussion and journals to explore these concepts.

What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...

Discover how writers express identity in their writing. Learners explore how issues of identity surface in the literature of minority writers. Scholars watch a video, read and discuss biographies, conduct research, engage in creative...

Have historians use primary sources to learn about the circumstances and implementation of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and think about the issue of boycotts as a means of effecting social change. Wrap it up with a...

Students explore the dynamics, the challenges, and the rewards of adjusting to a new culture through the reading of "Help! My Father is Coming" and "The Visit to Vijay's". In this social culture lesson, students carousel brainstorm about...

Students explore the concept of crossing cultures through reading the stories "Help! My Father is Coming!" and "The Visit to Vijay's." In this culture lesson, students predict what will happen next in the stories. Students discuss the...

Stump speeches are the focus of this exercise that combines politics and language arts. After learning about this type of speech, the class listens to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign stump speech and answers a series of questions that...