Governments rely on propaganda to build support for wars. Class members examine six propaganda posters, two each from the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II, and analyze how the way women were portrayed in the posters...

Whether new to teaching Beowulf or an experience pro, you'll find much to like in a richly detailed unit plan that asks readers to consider how the epic represents the difficulty in defining good and evil but also reflects the changing...

What's the difference between a position speech and a position paper? Scholars use a rubric to analyze a model essay about Michael Pollan's food chains to understand what makes them unique. Additionally, pupils create anchor charts...

Time to wrap it all up! Using facts, details, and examples, pupils present their claims about whether the American Academy of Pediatrics should increase its screen time recommendations. They incorporate a multimedia visual display and...

There's no time like the present for a presentation. Scholars present their claims about water management using facts, details, and examples from their research throughout the unit. Afterward, they complete exit tickets to evaluate their...

Believe it or not, the plugs and wires on Alexander Graham Bell's patent application for telegraph improvements has a direct connection to devices today. Young historians examine the fine details of the patent application. After they...

A true glimpse of the past, Angelic La Moose smiles back from more than 100 years ago. Young learners examine the picture of a young girl on a Montana Native American reservation from 1913 to comb it for historical details. A form, which...

Take heart! Here's a lesson that will encourage learners to notice details. After listening to Sarah Vaughan singing "My Funny Valentine" and noting how the word heart relates to Valentine's Day, scholars observe a human heart image....

Drawings may be worth even more than a thousand words. Curious scholars query an artist's rendering of troops leaving a ship after they have arrived in Europe to fight in World War I. By zooming in and looking at the entire piece, class...

Field guides are a like a window into an ecosystem. Young scientists collaborate to create their own field guides by recording observations from a local ecosystem. Ideally, they collect information over time to create a more complete...

The National Women's History Museum offers a 20-slide presentation that details the history of the Women's Suffrage Movement from its creation in the 1830s through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

"Understanding Influences," a richly detailed, carefully scaffolded unit, asks middle and high school scholars to examine how internal and external factors like friends, media, and society influence their attitudes and...

Two lessons explore the possibility of living on the moon. First, scholars read various scenarios to identify which careers would best transfer to life in space. Finally, pupils examine a website to locate items made for outer space,...

Help readers make a personal connection to Homer's The Odyssey with a narrative writing assignment. Scholars select one of three prompts and craft a first-person narrative rich in sensory details that describes an experience they had...

A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...

Chapter-by-chapter worksheets ask readers to find specific examples of characterization, symbolism, setting, conflict, themes, and main ideas in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Also included in the packet is an assignment sheet that...

Here's an assignment sheet that models for readers how to craft a literary analysis of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. The packet includes a graphic organizer, a model outline, a model essay, and a detailed rubric.

Avoid the horror of readers straining to recall details of Joseph Conrad's complex Heart of Darkness. Instead provide scholars with a frame for their note taking. As they read, class members record evidence to support their responses to...

A Reading Adventure Pack focuses on rocks. Scholars participate in three activities after reading a fiction and nonfiction text—The Jade Stone, a Chinese folktale adapted by Caryn Yacowitz, and Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst....

Teenage brains are different! Understanding that the teenage brain is still developing and thus more impacted by substance abuse is the key concept in a three-lesson high school health unit. Participants learn about how the brain and...

Just as Kermit the Frog notes, "It isn't easy being green!" it isn't easy occupying "multiple Identity spaces." Class members read and discuss poems by writers detailing what it is like when their identities are "oppressed."

According to Henry David Thoreau, every citizen must object to unjust laws. The teacher's guide to Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" begins with a detailed essay synopsis to help readers understand Thoreau's rationale in the challenging...

"What should we have for dinner?" "What am I eating?" "Where did it come from?" These three questions are at the heart of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan's book provides some very...

Personal involvement in any class is essential! That's the takeaway from the first lesson in the Getting Started module. Class members participate in games to learn each other's names and details. The goal is to create an atmosphere...