Curated OER
Juan Verdades
Cement comprehension skills using the strategies in this activity. After reading the story, Juan Verdades by Joe Hays, learners use context clues to answer questions, identify main ideas and details, and sequence events.
Curated OER
Graphic Novel Writing Workshop
Khaled Hosseini’s video “Using Real People and Events” motivates learners to reflect on their own experiences and to use those experiences as the basis of a graphic novel that expresses a universal truth. The richly detailed plan...
Curated OER
Writing History: From Students to Scholars
An Online NewsHour article about scholarly ethics launches this study of plagiarism. Since historians are supposed to bring original ideas and perspectives to their publications, they must give credit to the ideas of others. After a...
Curated OER
Go for the Gold!
The options are vast with this Ancient Greece and Olympics research project! Using Scholastic online resources, historians have interactive and educational supports to guide them through researching and writing about the 2004 Olympics in...
Curated OER
Jim Murphy, The Great Fire - Grade 6
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy provides the text for a study of the Chicago fire of 1871. The plan is designed as a close reading activity so that all learners have the same background information require for writing. Richly detailed, the...
Curated OER
The Rest Cure: Gender in Medicine and Literature
Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...
Shakespeare in American Life
Performing Modernized Shakespeare
“All the world’s a stage…” What do Leonardo DiCaprio, Heath Ledger, and Kenneth Branagh have in common? They have all starred in modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. After viewing a series clips from modern Shakespeare videos,...
Curated OER
Proofreading, Revising, & Editing Skills Success
Some self-paced writing resources are just better than others. This one is great. The 205-page packet includes exercises on every aspect of the writing process, from crafting sentences and paragraphs, to proofreading, revising, and...
Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Anne Frank: Facing Hatred, Daring to Dream
The stories of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White illustrate the power of children to make a difference. The three lesson in this must-have resource are designed to inspire young people to make a difference in their world....
Rockefeller Archive Center
Understanding Mass Media News
In an age of fake news and photoshopped images, it is vital that 21st century learners development the skills they need to evaluate mass media and assess its validity. A great way to launch such a study is with a carefully crafted lesson...
American Bar Association
News Literacy Model Curriculum in Social Studies
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...
Curated OER
Communicative Choices & Linguistic Style
Start by watching a video entitled Do You Speak American? and respond to discussion questions about the various dialects showcased throughout the video to identify the regional linguistic styles throughout America. As a culminating...
Curated OER
Writing Fables
Young scholars write their own fables. In this writing fables lesson, students use handheld computers to write a fable. The class designs a spreadsheet to organize common elements of fables. Young scholars also edit each others' work.
Curated OER
Say Hi to Haibun Fun
Learners examine the Japanese writing form of Haibun. They identify the elements of Japanese prose and poetry, analyze a haibun for writing devices, complete a graphic organizer, and compose an original haibun as a form of journal keeping.
Curated OER
Telling Our Own Stories
Explore online profiles and social media with your middle and high school classes. Use blogs to inspire your class to craft a well-written, thoughtful response to a prompt you give. A few example prompts are given.
University of Oklahoma
Developing My Resources
Learners with special needs create Summary of Performance (SOP), a written document which describes their disability, its impact on their daily life, ways they have learned to compensate, their personal strengths, and their goals. The...
Curated OER
Jacksonian America and the Indian Removal Act of 1830
Students utilize primary sources to explore the national climate concerning Native American Indians during the Andrew Jackson administration. They are presented with opinions for and against the Indian Removial Act of 1830 as they...
Curated OER
Reading Primary Source Documents: Historical Content
Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...
Curated OER
William Apess and the Mashpee "Revolt" of 1833
Prompt your class with the following question: What was the status of American Indians in Massachusetts during Jackson's presidency? To answer this question, class members will read a series of primary source documents (attached),...
National Constitution Center
Creating Your Own Town Hall Poster
Middle and high schoolers are walking into a world rife with strong political viewpoints and vocal opinions. Help to prepare them for controversial discussions with a lesson in which they choose, research, and learn more about a...
Bright Hub Education
Using Evidence and Supporting Details in Writing
In expository writing, it is important to back up claims with evidence and details. Help your class to develop their writing with notes on different types of evidence. Once they have the basics down, practice with a sample thesis and...
Curated OER
Abigail’s Daily Life
Young scholars continue their analysis of Abigail Adam's letters looking in this lesson plan at what they reveal about her daily life and concerns about the increasing political tensions with the British.
Curated OER
Redesigning Resumes
Ninth graders identify the elements of resumes and then design a resume to be used by an eighth grader applying for high school. In this resume lesson, 9th graders define resumes and work in teams to use computer software to design...
Curated OER
Hero Highlights
Young scholars create documentaries. In this Vodcast instructional activity, students in high school interview elementary school young scholars regarding highlights of their lives. High school students create Vodcasts of the interview...