Great minds think aloud! Pupils participate in the Fishbowl protocol, discussing their opinions about the Mary River mine proposal. As they share their thoughts, peers provide feedback about their thesis and supporting ideas.  

After viewing a Prezi presentation on Toulmin’s argument, (claim, reason, warrant, backing, grounds, qualifiers, rebuttals), groups re-examine the format, and then individuals craft an argument essay in response to Lord Chesterfields...

Here’s a series of exercises designed to be used after readers have finished reading The Hobbit. Pairs identify the speaker of a series of quotes, match characters with qualities, and provide evidence from the story to support their...

Assess your new learners' writing abilities and knowledge of literary terms with these diagnostic activities. Part of a back-to-school unit, this is meant to provide the teacher with information about the ability levels of their class....

Let your learners be the judges for a series of case studies that focus on broadcast codes in Canada. In order to familiarize your class with the codes and guidelines that govern the broadcasting industry, in particular Canada's...

 High school freshmen consider how their resources and values can support them in their future goals by answering questions such as; What do you value? What do you enjoy doing? What do you do well? Of what accomplishments are...

An excellent lesson plan on the classic book, Where the Red Fern Grows. Learners view the W. Wilson Rawls website and engage in a series of activities generated by the website. They write in their reflective journals, watch a video, and...

In instructional activity 13 of this unit on colonial trade, young researchers learn about apprentices as they prepare to write help-wanted ads for the specific trade they have been researching. To begin, the class listens closely as the...

An incredibly thorough, and well-designed lesson teaches youngsters about the presumed extinction and rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas. Learners discuss the environmental factors that led to the birds disappearance....

A fabulous lesson which combines mathematics with space science. Middle schoolers work in cooperative groups in order to research early astronauts and their accomplishments. They look at a variety of rocket and space shuttle designs, and...

Elementary schoolers evaluate the legend of Norristown Mountain by looking at facts about the Osage Indians and the legend itself. They do an exploration of Arkansas' Native American groups which includes a look at their legends,...

Here is a mid-unit assessment for a group of lessons studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The first half of this instructional activity calls for several forms of review. Your class will review the content of the...

Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...

Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....

Here is a great set of eight scenarios that require the writing of a one-variable inequality and then solving to find the solution. This inequality word problem activity is then followed by the solutions to each of the eight problems.

A reading of “Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers,” a New York Times article by Sara Rimer, triggers a discussion of the American Dream and what it means to strive for something. Following the discussion, class members...

Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...

Are you a koalafied biologist? The instructional activity begins with research about human survival and our ecosystem. Then, an online training module simulates the effects of changes to the plants and animals in an ecosystem. Finally,...

It will cost you little to ask class members to engage in a free writing exercise that helps even reluctant writers craft a poem.

Note values are the focus of a short worksheet that asks young musicians to respond to short-answer questions and to complete a measure with notes of the appropriate value.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" provides the text for an activity that asks readers to select specific passages from the story, identify the aspect of American Romanticism the passage exemplifies, and then provide an...

From three-way neck rolls to a figure-5 hurdler's stretch, this is an ultimate guide to healthy exercises. It begins with a bulleted list of general guidelines on cardiorespiratory exercise, flexibility, resistance exercises, and range...

Using a simple technique, learners practice identifying integers on a number line. As numbers, both positive and negative, are pointed to, they name them. This could be part of anticipatory set before a instructional activity on integers.

Here is a two-part lesson that introduces learners to genealogy by having them create family trees, and map the movements of their ancestors. While this resource is designed for kids who live in Arkansas, it certainly can be adapted for...