PBS
Standing Up Against Injustice
“Sometimes things are lawful yet are actually wrong.” Researchers examine primary and secondary source materials as they study five legal cases involving civil rights attorney William Kunstler in which he attempted to use the legal...
PBS
Journalism in War Time: What Does the Public Need to Know?
A viewing of the documentary War Feels Like War, launches an exploration of the importance of accurate and comprehensive war reporting. Groups investigate various news agencies and assess the factors that influence their stories. A...
Curated OER
Literary Newspaper: Candide
Prejudice? Religious intolerance? Political sedition? Class distinction? Plight of women? Voltaire satire, anyone? A literary newspaper offers an opportunity for readers of Candide to make text-to-self and text-to-world connections as...
Brigham Young University
Socratic Seminar for Cold Sassy Tree
Tired of giving the same old multiple-choice tests, and have the urge for a new assessment? Then bring the precision of a Socratic seminar into your classroom. Even if you did not read Cold Sassy Tree the organization and explanation on...
Curated OER
Unknown Frost Poem Discovered
What? A long-lost poem from Robert Frost? Introduce your class to a poem recently found and published from Robert Frost's personal collection. The lesson includes background information on the author, the poem itself, and a list of...
EngageNY
Launching Readers Theater Groups: Identifying Passages from Esperanza Rising for Readers Theater that Connect to the UDHR
Teach young readers how to compare two texts and select passages that exemplify a specific theme with Lesson 6 from Unit 3. Begin by modeling how an expert reader selects examples from a text, performing a think aloud on how Article 2 of...
Curated OER
Advertising in the Contemporary World: An Introduction to Persuasive Texts
Beginning a persuasive writing unit with your middle schoolers? Approach it through something that persuades us all: advertising! Through studying video and print advertisement, your class will practice Common Core skills for reading...
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
Juliana Dogbadzi: Slavery/Trafficking
Progress your learners' comprehension of universal human rights by exploring the violation of human trafficking through the experiences of Juliana Dogbadzi. This activity analyzes and discusses very sensistive and graphic issues but is...
Public Media for Northern California
An Educator’s Guide to Teaching Gun Control Issues | The Lowdown
The topic of gun control is vast, controversial, and difficult to introduce to students. This gem of a resource covers both sides of the issue and provides topic background, various multimedia and print resources, analysis questions, and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A “New English” in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”: A Common Core Exemplar
To examine the “New English” Chinua Achebe uses in Things Fall Apart, readers complete a series of worksheets that ask them to examine similes, proverbs, and African folktales contained in the novel. Individuals explain the meaning...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary Morphemic Elements: Affix Game
How well do you know your affixes? Find out how proficient your learners are with a game that requires them to define various affixes and use them to create words that will go into sentences.
Curated OER
Writing a Screenplay
It's time to make a movie! Kids follow 15 steps to take their movie ideas from concept to script, following clear examples. The resource includes creative ways to guide learners into developing a few words and concepts into fully...
Curated OER
Children's Health on the Decline
Demonstrate the importance of children's health with this cross-curricular lesson, which includes elements from health and science as well as expository writing. Middle schoolers develop realistic and obtainable one week health and...
Curated OER
Pickles
Young learners compare healthy foods to junk foods. They examine the growing process of a vegetable from a seed all the way to maturity. The book, The Magic School Bus in a Pickle is used. Some nice cross-curricular activities in math,...
Curated OER
Being Responsible for Earth
Eighth graders explore the characteristics of responsibility. In this character lesson plan, 8th graders complete a self-evaluation. Students view a responsibility video. Students write a newspaper article on selected environmental issue.
Curated OER
Deep Impact's Comet on a Stick!
Students create a model of a comet. In this space science lesson, students compare their model to the characteristics of a real comet. They evaluate and make necessary modifications to their original design.
Curated OER
Does Mother Nature Know Best?
Investigate herbal medicine in the science or health classroom with this lesson from the New York Times. After a discussion about class members beliefs about and experiences with herbal medicines, pupils read an article that might impact...
Curated OER
Children's Playthings And Books
Students categorize studenT toys by intelligence types. They review toy safety and function and identify the appropriate play age of various toys. They read and evaluate studenT books and write one of their own.
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance Births a Black Culture
Students examine the men and women who were a part of the Harlem Renaissance. Individually, they recreate their favorite pieces of art from the time period and create their own original works after reading poem from the movement. In...
Curated OER
Creating a North Carolina Gallery
Eighth graders, in teams, create a new North Carolina Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Art. They explore the concept of citizenship by creating criteria for an artist's inclusion in the gallery.
Museum of Tolerance
Cultural Research Activity
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt pieces....
Curated OER
Eugenics Lesson Plan: Button or Bumper Sticker
Young scholars investigate how fear can cause problems with policies associated with people with disabilities. In this people with disabilities lesson, students study the associated vocabulary, fill in a chart which contains policies...
Curated OER
Designing Experiments - Procedures for Teachers
Young scholars evaluate a hypothetical experimental design and attempt to improve upon it. In this scientific method lesson, students are presented with an experiment and are instructed to determine its flaws. They conduct their own...
Curated OER
Bring Literature Circles Into Your Classroom
Tips and strategies for adding literature circles to your language arts curriculum.