Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and...

Investigate letters to the editor and their persuasive qualities. Break your class into reading groups and give each one a different article. As they read, they complete a graphic organizer to record their thoughts and opinions. There is...

Are your learners working towards their GED? First they study the GED essay rubric, and then they read a sample essay as a group. After studying the basic elements, they write an essay of their own. After peer editing, they revise their...

Considering adding more research to your curriculum? Check out this idea. The assignment example, which connects to the Common Core, is written for a lesson on "The Scarlet Ibis." However, you could adapt the bigger idea to almost any...

Introduce your young readers to the book review. Groups of writers practice the basic steps of writing a book report and complete an Accordion-Book Summary activity. The lesson includes book report basics and directions to make...

Examine the process of summarizing a piece of text using the book So You Want to Be a President? Kids review the definitions for main idea, topic sentences, superordinate terms, and supporting details. Next, they work in small...

Elementary schoolers explore writing conventions. First they play a ball toss game to practice spelling high frequency words. (A link to a 2nd grade list is attached.) The class works together to correct spelling, punctuation, and...

Readers of Twelfth Night use a KWHL chart to record information about what they know about Shakespeare's play, what they want to find out, how they plan on finding this information, and what they have learned or still want to learn about...

Make note of what readers know, what to know, and have learned during a unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As class members read the book, they jot down their ideas on a KWHL chart, and consider what they have...

To prepare for a reading of Christopher E. Crowe's Mississippi Trial, 1955, class members create a KWHL chart and begin by generating questions they have about the civil rights movement, slavery, and the death of Emmett...

Prior to reading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, class members use the provided worksheet to list what they know about the Holocaust, what they want to know, and how they will find the information they seek. After...

As part of the introduction to Edward Bloor's Tangerine, class members generate a KWHL chart listing what they know, what they want find out, how they plan to find this information, and what they have learned or still want to learn.

As part of a study of Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, class members create a KWHL chart listing what they know, what the want to know, how they will find information, and what they have learned about prejudice.

Booker T. Washington was often criticized by W.E.B. Dubois and other African American leaders for his conciliatory approach to civil rights and education voiced in his autobiography Up From Slavery.  This teacher's guide not only...

Another version of noughts and crosses, the classic English game known as tic-tac-toe in American. This fundamental phonics matching activity uses the letters v,w,y,z,j,n,k,and e, in CVC words that are great words for...

Most have heard of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks, but few recall Elizabeth Jennings, Samuel W. Tucker, or Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher. Young historians research and then develop a presentation about the contributions of...

 High school freshmen consider how their resources and values can support them in their future goals by answering questions such as; What do you value? What do you enjoy doing? What do you do well? Of what accomplishments are...

Students say the /w/ sound, following teacher modeling. In this phonics lesson, students select the letter w each time it appears in a set of 12 letters and practice saying its sound, remaining silent when another letter is pointed out....

Third graders examine how multiplication is a quicker and neater form of addition and how they can simulate the concept of groups and (sets) to construct the visual effect of multiplication by way of forming groups of (2's) (3's) and (4's).

Students discuss the U.S. foreign policy and the components they consider important. They read and discuss President George W. Bush's speech of November 10, 2001. Students locate and mark countries President Bush identified in his speech...

A unit designed for kindergarteners builds letter-sound correspondence in preparation for reading. Over four weeks, young scholars build proficiency in recognizing and matching the sound of 9 letters. They take that knowledge to read a...

Should refugees fleeing poverty be allowed the same entrance into the United States as those fleeing persecution? High schoolers read about US foreign policy in the late 20th century regarding refugees from Cuba and Haiti, and engage in...

Useful as a blast from the past, this current events activity is outdated (Fall 2001). Many global events are part of these fifty questions, but quite a few of them are very specific to pop culture and sports. This could be helpful in a...

High schoolers examine the Bush Administration's plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from varying points of view. They work in small groups in order to perform their research, but they compose individual journal...