Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The activities in a curriculum guide to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein provide readers with an opportunity to explore various concepts in depth. First, groups research controversial scientists, examine their work, and decide whether or not,...
Curated OER
Jazz in America Lesson Plan 7
The student will explore free jazz, fusion, and contemporary jazz. They will listen to avant garde, fusion, and pop recordings. In addition, they participate in a class discussion regarding jazz's contribution to and reflection of...
Media Education Lab
Propaganda Techniques
In an age of fake news, alternative facts, and biased reporting, it is more important than ever that 21st century learners develop the critical-thinking skills necessary to recognize, analyze and resist the propaganda techniques used in...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 1
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...
Minnesota Literacy Council
Grapes of Wrath and Pronouns
Many regard John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath as the great American novel. The lesson plan combines a variety of strategies, including partner work, independent practice, creative writing, grammar instruction, and small group...
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Massachusetts 54th Raid at Darien, Georgia Shaw Letter
Students examine the expectations of Civil War soldiers. In this American Civil War lesson plan, students analyze a letter written by Colonel Shaw to his wife in order to gain an understanding of the expectations of the 54th Regiment....
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Crime Drama Teaching Units
Investigate the nature of crime dramas on television. What exactly are they trying to portray? Questions and a comparison chart support learners as they watch shows from Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. An oral presentation...
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Thornton Wilder's Our Town: The Reader as Writer
Students read a play and create their own play using Thornton Wilder's Our Townas a resource. In this play lesson, students analyze how theatrical elements contribute to a play's meanings and effects. Students recognize differences...
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Cold War Battle Grounds Arms Race, Space Race, Sports
Students explore the Space Race and Arms Race. In this Cold War lesson, students watch video clips and read information about how the Cold War was fought. Students complete a writing activity based on the information presented.
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Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Questions
In this reading comprehension instructional activity, students respond to 6 short answer and essay questions based on "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," by Walt Whitman.
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Lessons in Drama: Learning About American Political Thought
Students develop critical thinking skills so that they may produce their own written plays or music from their thoughts and feelings. They express their thoughts based on what has been presented to them over the duration of the course.
Channel Islands Film
Once Upon a Time (Saxipak’a): Lesson Plan 4
How did the environment and natural resources found on the Channel islands influence the culture of the Chumash? Archaeology meets technology in an activity designed for middle schoolers. After viewing West of The West's documentary Once...
Curated OER
Art of Cynicism
Learners analyze selected pieces of art and infer how they reflect a sense of disillusionment, and/or cynicism in American society in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. Then they identify and place cultural attitudes...
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Propaganda
Students discuss wartime propaganda after viewing the World War II film "Christmas Under Fire." They answer discussion questions, identify passages of propaganda from a transcript of the film, and write a brief from the Ministry of...
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Viewing Guide for The Ponder Heart
Students conduct research through library and Internet resources. They research in a multidisciplinary fashion, and make creative leaps in their analysis and interpretation of the novella.
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How Transportation Transformed America
Eleventh graders focus on the role of transportation. In this transportation lesson, 11th graders look at the lives of Americans at the turn of the centuries. They compare and contrast 2000 to 1900.
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Bob Dylan: No Direction Home
Students hold panel discussions on selected topics about the 1960s and their impact on modern-day events. As visual reinforcement, they watch the film about Bob Dylan and research the music of the period as well as his musical...
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"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
Curated OER
Motion Capture and Analysis
Students capture the serve motion of a tennis player with a digital or video camera. Using transparencies or a software package, analyze the speed, acceleration, displacement and time of the racquet head and ball in the tennis stroke.
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Data Gathering: Vietnam
Students study the Vietnam Era by interviewing people and writing a questionnaire to gather data on the attitudes, feeling, and experiences of the interviewee during this era.
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Teaching Acting Technique and Building a Character Through Cinema
Learners review the style techniques related to the American Method Acting and practice using them in groups. Using various scenes from films, they try to recreate the scene using props. In groups, they discover the proper way to get...
Curated OER
The Wealth In Poverty
High schoolers investigate the social problem of poverty. They view a film in order to create context for the lesson plan. Students evaluate different quotations about the issue. Classroom discussion is used to find the definition of...
Curated OER
Civil Rights Methodology Martin Luther King, Jr. – Stokely Carmichael
Students compare and contrast the visions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael. In this African-American history instructional activity, students read speeches by each of the men and summarize the arguments made by each of...
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Case Study: Manzanar
Eleventh graders investigate Japanese-American internment. In this World War II lesson, 11th graders conduct research from the Manzanar National Historic Sites and then write essays based on their findings.