Scholars investigate news literacy in the twenty-first century. They use technology, legal decisions, writings, and digital privacy to analyze the topic. Using what they learned, a group assignment looks into both the challenges and...

What skills do employers look for in potential employees? Introduce scholars to the skills that pay the bills during the second of six career and college readiness lesson plans. Once they have defined critical 21st-century skills, groups...

Those in positions of authority don't always have the best interest of their people in mind. As part of a sample assessment question, readers must consider how works of literature they read apply to a quote from Edmund Burke—"The greater...

Maximize a profit with an understanding of geometric dimension. A real-world task challenges learners to design a pattern using three different brick shapes. The bricks are dedicated with a different donation for each shape, so part of...

How many ways can you stock a shelf? It's probably more than you think! Young scholars use data in a frequency table to determine how many ways to stock a shelf given a specific constraint for types of groups. They then repeat the task...

Develop a radical approach to covering the Smarter Balanced targets for 8th grade math with a presentation that helps further develop math skills. Seven sample items demonstrate the expectation for working with integer exponents,...

Economics and demographics—how are they related? A set of questions from the College Board explore complex ideas such as how the location of raw goods drive the economics of where industries develop and what dynamics weaken or...

Put expressions, equations, and inequalities to work! Young scholars solve problems using various strategies. Meant as a snapshot of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, a set of seven questions includes topics from writing expressions to...

In 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opened in Washington, DC to much praise and some criticism. Part of a series of response questions from the AP® English Language and Composition exam, writers consider what factors...

Have you ever felt left in the dark? Scholars write essays after analyzing two poems pertaining to night and darkness. Pupils also read a passage and write an essay discussing the author's depiction of characters. A third essay allows...

Suppose a country increases its budget deficit. How would such an increase affect businesses and the exchange rate? Learners consider what happens and ponder other questions from College Board that look at employment, supply and demand,...

The Federal Reserve guides banking policy for the country. Learners consider the effects of its force using authentic materials from College Board. Other practice problems examine the connection of national savings rates and interest...

The price of avocados is holding steady. What happens when the competition for labor to grow them intensifies? Learners consider this and other questions about supply and demand and the effects of monopolies using authentic College Board...

Statistically, prepared classes perform better. Teachers and pupils use the released 2002 AP® Statistics Free-Response questions to gain an understanding of how questions may be worded on the exam. Resources request that teachers put an...

How much can a cat eat? The five-question fraction assessment asks pupils to determine the fractional portion of a food box eaten by cats. Learners show their proficiency in adding and subtracting fractions using several scenarios...

Split the work three ways. Learners use their knowledge of fractions to solve problems dealing with splitting up work loads evenly between three groups. Scholars determine the fractional portion of work each group will do along with...

During the early 1500s, parts of modern-day New York were inhabited by Eastern Woodland Native Americans. To learn about the daily life, value, and traditions of these tribes, fourth graders research the Iroquois.  Groups select...

Introduce middle schoolers to the First Nations that inhabited the Northeast during the Age of Exploration with a series of activities designed for differentiated groups.

Take a central look at data. The differentiated lesson provides activities for pupils to calculate central tendencies. Scholars begin choosing three central tendency activities from a Tic-Tac-Toe board. Learners then choose from sports,...

Pupils gather measurements of real-world objects that have slopes. They then plot the measurements and find an equation of a line that fits the measurements. Finally, groups investigate the ADA and determine whether different ramps meet...

Scholars read Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal before writing essays to analyze the use of rhetorical devices in the text. Essay writing begins by underlining key words in the writing prompt and discussing the prompt with...

You have the power! Scholars learn that they have power of the pen in their writing. After reading and viewing various sources about standardized testing, they express their own opinions about the testing by writing letters to the...

Shark! Scholars read about sharks in Facts about Sharks by Susanna Batchelor. They then pretend they are shark scientists and choose a shark they want to study. Learners research their sharks and record information in graphic organizers...

No need for radians to be mysterious. Scholars use a cardboard cut-out of a unit circle and measure the radius and circumference using a piece of string. They consider the number of radii needed to cover the entire circumference and use...