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Poetry for Home: Homelessness

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students read a poem to learn about homelessness. In this poetry lesson, students make a list of words about their home and then feelings about their home. Students read the poem 'When I Think Home' and then write their own version of...
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Character Found Poems: Investigating Language in Twelfth Night

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students create found poems to represent characters in Twelfth Night. For this Shakespeare lesson, students discuss how to compose found poems and select characters from the play to write their poems about. 
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Female Poets Speak For Themselves

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Student examine selected works of twentieth-century female poets that speak to the stereotypes about women inherent in Western culture. Individually, pupils explore these stereotypes and their experience with them. Students create a...
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Dr. King and His Advice for Dreams Deferred

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Learners analyze Dr. King's public addresses and Langston Hughes' poetry as a study of the Civil Rights' nonviolent approach to making an impact. In this protesting lesson, students read poetry of Hughes and speeches by Dr....
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The Odyssey and The Morte Darthur: Reading and Making Observations for Writing and Discussion

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Young scholars read "The Odyssey" and "The Morte Darthur". In groups, they research the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology and the history of the places mentioned in the stories. Individually, they are to write a paper about a hero...
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Illuminating Language in Love's Labor's Lost

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners reflect on literature using multiple intelligences.  In this literature analysis lesson plan, students make creative visual representations of vocabulary terms from a speech in the play.  They work in small groups to...
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Listening for Tone

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students read and listen to various poems as they are read by different readers using different tones. They read "Jabberwocky" and in groups, determine what they think the nonsense words in the poem mean. The groups compare thier ideas...
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Recognizing and Combating Segregation in U.S. Schools Today

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore the prevalence of racism and statistical segregation in America's schools. They design a project to investigate how the racial makeup of their school compares to other schools. In addition, they evaluate their...
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Messages in Art Work

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Observe images and discuss what messages they convey. In this critical thinking lesson plan, students determine whether works of art are trying to persuade their audience. They also consider the media and how they communicate messages to...
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VH1 Storytellers for Save the Music Starring Billy Joel

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students pretend they are taking a certain job in the music industry and respond to questions.
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Street Language and Learning

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the type of language they use on the street in the city. In groups, they brainstorm ideas about a topic they decide on from a cluster of words. Using those ideas, they organize them into a written paper using proper...
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Art History and Technique

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers conduct research, using a variety of resources, about their favorite painter and painting. They critique the famous painters work and write a multimedia presentation that showcases his/her work. They paint an original work...
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Art & Drama for Middle Grades

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Learners define humor and consider how people have different senses of humor and therefore different ideas of what is funny. They explore improvisation, cartooning, comics, body language and storytelling as the means to express humor.
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Art, Art, Everywhere

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create a PowerPoint presentation documenting the art of a chosen artist. After a brief presentation by the instructor, students use the internet to research and document the works and life of their chosen artist. They...
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The Research Paper - Searching for a Subject

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students research a website to look for potential topics for a research paper. They develop a narrowed prioritized subject list on an index card (3X5) using word processing program.
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Depression Era Art

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students choose Depression era art to print out from the Internet. They write paragraphs about how the artists interpreted facts about the Depression in their art. The paragraphs and prints can become a student art critic book.
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Time Machine: Drive for the American Dream

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners view a documentary on automobiles. Americans have always been in love with automobiles. They are a definition of character, and a representation of social status. After viewing, students discuss what they saw and create an...
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The Art of Poetry: The Lunatic, The Lover, and the Poet

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Pupils, in groups, reflect on their attitudes towards poets and poetry. They read excerpts from George Puttenham's The Arte of English Poesie, which was written during Shakespeare's day. They compare their attitudes toward poetry to...
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Measure for Measure: Are You Talkin' to Me?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students rehearse and perform an exchange from act three, scene two of the play, Measure for Measure, in pairs. They read the lines from the point of view of a different character in the play, and perform for the class.
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Critical Review for Radio

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students will produce a short radio feature about a favorite entertainer or group, consisting of 45 seconds to one minute of copy and one-to-two minutes of music "clips." In writing this copy, they will use a modified prewriting...
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Perspectives on Written & Spoken English

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore issues surrounding language norms, including the distinction between prescriptive and descriptive norms, the differences between norms for spoken English and those for written English, how word meanings change, and...
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Peace and Non-Violence: the Teachings of Gandhi

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Learners study the Gandhian philosophy. They define certain elements such as power, beauty and discuss what they know about the struggle for independence in India. Finally students collaborate to discuss Gandhian principles to extend...
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Come Fly with Me . . . Open a Book: Travels through Literature

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This detailed overview of a curriculum unit suggests using travel literature to engage and stimulate your third graders’ interest in reading. The suggested reading list includes fiction and non-fiction materials and offers urban children...
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Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Artist's Community: The Real

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What is real or imagined? The lines of beauty reality, and imagination are blurred in Elizabeth Peyton's portraits of her community. Learners analyze her use of artistic technique in conveying real and imagined communities. They then use...