Students read an essay by George Orwell's life in Burma and place it in its cultural and historical context. They identify the main points of the essay and Orwell's use of symbolism in the essay. They explain how each persuasive tool...

Young readers select a book from a provided list to use as the basis for an intensive class study of Holocaust novels. After completing their novels, groups create a multimedia presentation highlighting the elements of literature...

Learners are introduced to using computers as a means of developing communication skills within an authentic context. Students communicate with each other and share ideas via e-mail or other types of computer appllications.

Learners explore the difference between animal rights and animal welfare. They take a field trip to a farm to explore the producing animals for human use. After researching and collecting information from animal welfare/rights...

Students collect financial statements from the district and find out what, if anything,is cut from athletics. Students investigate how many hope to use athletic scholarships next fall. Students interview students, their parents and...

Students research Ohio's concealed gun legislation using provided resource links, read editorials and commentaries from Ohio's daily and weekly newspapers, and analyze these opinion pieces.

Students research the way phones work and what places - both locally and nationally - have already faced the problem of in appropriate use. Students also interview gym owners or managers in their community and those who use they gyms....

Students gather and read articles about school closures in Ohio or other nearby town or city, make list of criteria to use when deciding which schools should close, develop list into essay that argues for these criteria to apply in...

Students create a Star Book report in 30 minutes or less using exactly 15 words, computers, and the Kidspiration or Inspiration educational software. This quick Language Arts lesson plan is ideal for assessment of each student's reading...

Combine your friendly letter lesson, grammar lesson, and technology lesson with this fun activity! Young writers compose letters to friends, and then convert the text to Webdings font. Their friends then decode the letter based on a key....

Kids almost always want to share the things that make them special. They create and deliver an autobiographical multimedia presentation using step-by-step outlines to plan their content. This is a great "All About Me" lesson, perfect for...

What is the difference between primary and secondary sources? Help your middle schoolers develop a knowledge of appropriate sources to use when doing accurate research. They develop unique ways to incorporate literature in historical...

Students employ their technology skills to produce campaign commercials. In this political campaign instructional activity, students discover the appropriate uses of video cameras and create fictitious campaign commercials.

Academic writing is characterized by certain phrases. Young writers are asked to indicate where, in an academic paper, phrases like, having said that, most experts agree that, the generally accepted view is that, etc. would appear....

What is a homograph? Develop your students' vocabulary with a word association tool.   Language arts classes discover what a homograph is and how it can be used as a visual thesaurus. They discover the other uses for homographs...

Use this lesson to focus on a compare and contrast writing structure in your middle school language arts class. Here, young writers compare and contrast two texts using graphic organizers. They use a double bubble format for their...

Explore run-on sentences with your language arts class. There is a SMART Board presentation included, but even if you don't have access to this technology, there are several useful pieces here. Provide your learners with the "student...

Organizing information gathered for a research topic can be a challenge. Read aloud notes you have collected on a topic and use suggestions offer by the class to categorize and sort this information. Partners then follow this pattern,...

As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...

The photograph, Nellie and her Italian Soda is viewed and discussed by the class. They are instructed to use the photograph as inspiration to write a poem about non-events, or things that are beautiful in every day life. Pupils use...

What are the characteristics of a good research source? At the beginning of a research project, have your class brainstorm evaluative criteria for primary and secondary source material. They then use the generated list to guide their...

Find out what your Spanish pupils like and dislike with an oral presentation in the form of a video, poster, or PowerPoint. The assignment page provides requirements for the project in paragraph and checklist format. Pairs can use the...

Bring a lesson about Negro League Baseball to your Black history unit, or any other research unit throughout the year. While the lesson plan itself is simplistic, there are several good ideas that you could use, such as creating trading...

Ask your pupils to explore the sounds, forms, and language of poetry by putting together a portfolio of their own work. In a binder, learners collect the poems listed on the second page of the assignment sheet. Each individual creates a...