National Endowment for the Humanities
Charles Baudelaire: Poète Maudit (The Cursed Poet)
After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, students work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations to see...
Curated OER
Foreign Language And Culture
Students consider the importance of appreciating a different culture in connection with the language associated with it. They explore how international politics, celebrations and relations are affected by language and culture.
Curated OER
Eliminate Fragments and Run-ons
Fix fragments and run-ons. Kids practice editing a piece of their own writing, read, and take notes of common examples. They practice connecting independent clauses and then use the information to edit previously written pieces. Note:...
Curated OER
High Frequency Word Work
First graders make an "All About Me" book. In this high fluency words activity students use a computer program to create a book about themselves. Students write their own text.
Curated OER
Schools for Sale
Learners explore the concept of for-profit companies running schools. In this privatizing schools lesson, students simulate a meeting of school board members, community leaders, and other stakeholders to determine the privatization of a...
Curated OER
From Canterbury to Little Rock: The Struggle for Educational Equality for African Americans
Students explain the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans. They examine how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude toward educating African Americans
Curated OER
All About My School
Students construct a website with several links to pages they create. The site weaves logo titles, photos, animation, and textured backgrounds created and edited in PhotoShop into pages created using Dreamweaver software. The project...
Curated OER
Our School's News
Students work collaboratively in small groups to create and edit various publications to promote their school's activities and accomplishments. Groups work to complete these publications and publish or update them bi-monthly.
Curated OER
Sense of Place: Our School
Students explore the concept of 'sense of place' through journaling and class discussion. In this community lesson, students discuss what makes them feel like they belong. Students give three speeches that develop the sense of place...
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Photography for Language Use and Awareness
Pupils make storyboards and take photographs for slides to illustrate stories or "how to" demonstrations and write and recorded scripts to accompany their slides.
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Writing About Art: Objective vs. Subjective
Students examine the sculpture "Head With Horns" by Paul Gauguin. In this perspectives instructional activity, students discuss what the terms "objective" and "subjective" means. Students are shown the sculpture and write their...
Curated OER
Discovering Shakespeare's Language through Sonnet 27
Students explore the language of Shakespeare. In this poetry lesson, students watch a video of illuminated images that accompany Sonnet 27. Students analyze the language of the poem and the image selections.
Curated OER
Reader's Theater, King Lear, and the Language of Gesture
Students perform a Reader's Theater of a small section of the play, King Lear. They examine the text, read a handout for Reader's Theater techniques, cut and reorder lines in small groups, and add choreography to perform their scene.
Curated OER
Instrumental Rehearsals for Excellence - Lesson 3
Pupils identify some characteristics of successful music teachers and rehearsals. They develop a list of criteria for evaluating the quality of a performance, and apply those criteria to a specific performance.
Curated OER
For Thy Sweet Love Remembered Such Wealth Brings
Students read sonnets and choose one which contains words or phrases that create an emotional reaction to study the Shakespearean language. In this Shakespearean sonnet lesson, students read Shakespeare sonnets and circle words that...
Curated OER
"Tear him for his bad verses:" Cinna the poet and Shakespeare's Sonnets
Poor Cinna, the poet. His dream of “things unlucky” certainly comes true as the mob tears him apart, at first because they mistake him for Cinna, the conspirator, and then continue to “tear him to pieces for his bad verses.” As part of...
Curated OER
'P' Is for Poetry
Students write rhymes for each letter of the alphabet. In this rhyming lesson plan, students come up with various words that could rhyme for each letter. Once they come up with rhymes for each, they publish them in a book along with...
Curated OER
A New Ending for Of Mice and Men
Students rewrite the ending of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In this Of Mice and Men lesson, students enter a fictitious contest in which they compose a new ending for Of Mice and Men in which Lennie is not killed. The...
Curated OER
Learning Festival ~ Book Buddies Visit High School
Students work together to develop a festival for book lovers. High schoolers work with young children and practice their reading. Traveling between reading stations, they focus on different reading standards. They act as role-models...
Curated OER
Immigration Debate
The 2010 immigration bill passed in Arizona provides class members with an opportunity to examine various perspectives of the immigration debate by watching news videos, reading interview, editorials, and viewing images. Discussion...
Curated OER
Many Ways of Seeing
Investigate themes and issues in art such as the concept of originality, interpretation of visual language, symbolism, and examination of the categories of fine art and folk art.
Curated OER
Adapting Narratives for Skits to Teach Language Through Drama
Learners in a Spanish foreign language class are giving topics to develop a skit to preform in front of the class. As a class, they are introduced to new vocabulary and the concept of paraphrasing. After performing their skit, they...
National First Ladies' Library
Movies for a Nickel! The Nickelodeon
Students identify and participate in this activity to identify and learn about the early history of the film industry, and consider the impact of movies on society ever since. Then they use the websites listed to study various aspects of...
National First Ladies' Library
Designing an Appalachian Folk Art Museum
Learners investigate the concepts related to the Appalachian area and the movement of Folk Art. They conduct research using a variety of resources and use the samples as inspiration for creating their own works of art. They could...