After viewing a clip from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in which major characters are introduced, and the violence between the Montagues and the Capulets is depicted, the class reads Act 1, Scene 1, lines 158-202. Groups then analyze the...

Are we interested in crime stories because we either identify with the victims or enjoy watching the rich suffer? Do we feel guilty and want someone to take our blame and let us feel innocent? Groups investigate how the author of "How...

As part of a mid-unit assessment, class members exchange their draft of a multi-paragraph essay with a classmate, review their partner's writing using the provided text analysis rubric, and evaluate the strength of evidence, the...

Young writers examine dialogue conventions, including indentation, quotation marks, and expressing thoughts and feelings through a fictional text. By noticing where and when authors use dialogue, they decide how to incorporate dialogue...

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an illustrative source of rich prose, deep character development, and strong literary themes. Use two of the book's key chapters, which focus on Waverly's relationship with chess and with her mother, to...

Using the open-ended discussion questions developed the day before, class members engage in a fishbowl discussion of the three texts that anchor the unit: “True Crime: The Roots of an American Obsession," “How Bernard Madoff Did It,” and...

Why is Hamlet so upset with Gertrude? Using the resource, scholars read Act 3.4 of Hamlet, analyzing how Shakespeare develops Gertrude's character in the scene. Next, pupils participate in a jigsaw activity to discuss Hamlet's monologues.

How does Shakespeare develop the main ideas in Hamlet? Using the resource, scholars continue analyzing the famous monologue from the play. They identify a central idea from the passage and write to explain how it relates to other central...

How does the theme of gender inequality develop in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Shakespeare's Hamlet? Pupils craft a multi-paragraph response to analyze the relationship between the texts. They use evidence from both works to...

Nine lessons in a grammar and usage unit provide endless opportunities for drill and practice. Topics include the four types of sentences, subject and predicates, nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs and prepositions, conjunctions...

How much is a million? This unit has a set of lessons investigating large numbers on the order of millions and billions. A culminating project has groups creating a slideshow and poster about large numbers found in the school and/or...

How well does your class understand the concept of correlation? Use an activity to explore different methods of calculating correlation. Working alone and then in groups, your class will make decisions on what math to apply to the...

What do you do with a difficult-to-factor quadratic expression? This lesson provides the answer. Pupils learn a grouping strategy to help factor trinomials. When guess and check seems too tedious, this method is the "works every...

Time to teach your students how to read a clock? This resource is here to help! Engaging young mathematicians with two fun videos and a series of hands-on activities, these lessons offer a multimedia approach to teaching this important...

If you give teachers a few good ideas, they can really bring a story to life. Included in this resource are dozens of activities to use as your class reads books in the If You Give... series. From holding puppet shows and creating...

High schoolers create a "back story" for a character from Measure for Measure.  In this Measure for Measure lesson, students read the text closely as they look for clues about where the character came from and how he or she became...

There is so much more to data than just numbers, and this resource has learners use three methods of comparing data in a multi-faceted lesson. The 21-page packet includes a warm-up, examples, an activity, and assessment for a...

New-to-school learners create a fall quilt consisting of three different paper geometric quilt squares. They use various geometric shapes that when assembled will form a scarecrow, pumpkin, and a crow. Assembly will require sorting...

Dive into journalism with your high schoolers! The resources provided here will help your learners write unbiased, clear, and succinct newspaper articles. First they spend time sifting through stacks of articles, filling out a graphic...

Carryout the lesson plan to determine the cost of pizza toppings from a Domino's Pizza® website while creating a linear model. Learners look through real data—and even create their own pizza—to determine the cost of each topping....

Burning off a Big Mac® doesn't seem like a big feat until you calculate the minutes of exercise necessary to break even. Young mathematicians look at different menu items in relation to different body weights and exercises to calculate...

Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...

During or after reading Catch-22, have your high school scholars complete this research project. First they'll brainstorm a list of people they might like to research, then they'll dive into your library's resources! There are...

After watching an engaging 13-minute video about the colorless blood of icefish, future ichthyologists examine icefish blood and non-icefish blood (blood samples are simulated with Karo syrup mixtures) to determine advantages of...