Class members read a handout to learn about using I-Messages—honest statements that begin with I to get their points of view across. Next, learners practice using I-Messages with partners to better communicate without hurting...

Themes in Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier's young adult fantasy novel, are the focus of an anticipation guide that asks individuals to agree or disagree with a series of statements.

Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.

Pupils complete an activity sheet to determine what values are most important to them. They then discuss their responses with partners before sharing the results of the discussion with the class. 

To conclude a study of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in a Socratic seminar discussion of Martinez's novel.

After completing Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, readers respond to a series of questions crafted to reflect Bloom's taxonomy.

Good books are accessible through a variety of literary lenses. To consider how the same story can be seen in different lights, groups develop a storyboard for a movie teaser that would focus on one of six concepts found in Suzanne...

Encourage your readers to make predictions about Edward Bloor's young adult novel, Tangerine, with an anticipation guide that presents statements that introduce key issues in the novel.

Young poets demonstrate their understanding of a character from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street by crafting a biopoem that captures the essence of this person.

Students, who are not native English speakers, determine how idioms are used in speaking and writing. For this idiom lesson, students listen to tapes of non-native speakers, and work on vocabulary exercises aimed at increasing their use...

Seventh graders investigate how changes in the mass or height of a ramp can affect the change in potential energy. They discuss the concepts of work and energy, then using the four question strategy, they design an experiment that...

Young scholars observe and demonstrate the process of summarization. They discuss the three steps of summarization, then silently read a National Geographic Kids News article. As a class they complete a semantic map of the article, and...

Learners examine the African American experience after they received their freedom after the Civil War. They complete a Mind Map, read and analyze a poem, and write a paragraph using key vocabulary words. They analyze the impact of the...

Twelfth graders engage in a ten-month long elective course focusing on college board review and an advanced writing workshop. Both course components focus on thinking and reasoning skills. Various approaches include sentence combining,...

Students investigate soliloquies. In this performing arts lesson, students discuss figurative language within soliloquies and then perform a soliloquy to the rest of the class.

After performing a variety of pre-activities, students will complete steps that lead to a successful interview. Activities will include preparation for the interview, marketing oneself, follow-up and assessment. The students will...