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Everyone Gets a Laptop
Students view a news segment on a local school district giving every student a laptop. After viewing, they interview the school principal and discusses what he expects the outcome to be. They interview parents and students in their own...
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Preparing for the New SAT
Read the College Board's explanation of changes in the SAT for 2005, including essay and grammar questions, use College Board's suggestions for ways to study, practice sample questions, and explore other sites with practice tests.
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Singing at the Vatican
Students read article by The Plain Dealer columnist Sam Fulwood III, told largely from one student's viewpoint, and write reaction paper on topic: "What will I remember the rest of my life?"
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Hair a disruption or personal expression?
When does hair (or clothing) disrupt the school process? This question is the topic of the argumentative paper your class with write. They read and react to an article about a boy who was expelled from school for sporting a Mohawk, then...
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Browns Player Helps Kids
Students read the brief news stories about Michael Lehan and his involvement in the program Adopt Cuyahoga's Kids. Students then write a reaction paper on the topic: "What is the best way to help parentless teens?"
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Family Sues Over Discipline That Stinks
Students read a brief explanation of a situation in which a family is suing a school district because a teacher made a child spray himself with Lysol in front of the class, saying this would take care of his body odor. Students write a...
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Presidential Endorsements: Newspapers Decide
Students read The Plain Dealer editorial about its "non-support" of a candidate and other articles about this and discuss the newspaper's role in the political process. Students then form an editorial board and debate which candidate...
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Picture America's Sweetheart
High schoolers examine Seventeen Magazine's America's Sweetheart contest and one of their finalists by reading about Sunia Arif and what made Seventeen choose her. Students then write a 300-word essay about what would make them or...
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Voter Fraud: Are Ghosts Going To The Polls
Learners research background material about voting in their community. They interview local/county election officials to see what is going on in the community. They also interview teachers, and students to determine if they are newly...
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Football game seating: Security or Restriction
Students read the Ohio High School Athletic Association Sportsmanship Resource Guide, paying particular attention to what it says for School Reporters. They then write a news article about the issue presented.
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Rosa Parks: Mother of Civil Rights Movement
Students read an article from Time and react to the article based upon what they have studied about Rosa Parks. They find that even though Rosa is no longer alive, she still has an impact today. They focus on that impact she has and...
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Beauty Queen Heads to Iraq
Students study about Jessica Gaulke, a beauty queen from Minnesota. She is then deployed to Iraq with the National Guard unit she is in. They have to role play her and react to what they think they would feel if they were in her shoes.
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That #!%@! English class
Students research the Alameda story. They interview English teachers, curriculum experts, parents, etc. to view their intake on the story line. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions on a...
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Outsourcing City Hall
Students examine how some city halls around the country are using private companies to run them. After watching a video, they write a reaction paper to some part of it. They write an article for their school newspaper discussing whether...
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Language Arts: Cocaine in a Can
Students examine the case of "Cocaine," a new soft drink targeted at teens. They explore the decision by some stores not to sell it. Students compose essays expressing their views about the drink and the ensuing decisions.
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Laura Bush
Students read an article about First Lady, Laura Bush's visit to the Midway Atoll, in which she was hoping to focus attention on preserving wild places. They discuss what role they think First Ladies should play while their husbands are...
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Project Playhouse
Students read about Kent State's ongoing support for Hurricane Katrina victims by building and auctioning off playhouses for children. They create an ad for the playhouses, including a headline and some copy (words) plus visuals that...
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Hip-Hop: A Journalist's View
Students watch a CNN television news special about hip-hop and write a review. Using the internet, they investigate the pros and cons of the music while interviewing students on their opinions. They examine the growth of this type of...
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Language Arts: Prince Harry - A Bullet Magnet?
Students research Prince Harry's upcoming deployment to Iraq as a British soldier. They write reaction papers expressing their opinions about it. Students choose from two points of view - should he be deployed, or will his deployment...
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Treasure Hunters
High schoolers design an on campus treasure hunt to find various architectural vocabulary words which they then create definitions for on the blog page on the Environmental Design website.
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Telling the Blue Angels Story
Pupils use the internet to research a recent Blue Angels plane crash. As a class, they list the various ways journalists list the facts of an incident and which one is most effective given different scenerios. They write a story on this...
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Prom king...or not?
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to...
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'Song of the South' a racist tune?
Students read the information about the movie "Song of the South" and watch some of the clips. They write their reaction to the proposal to re-release the movie. Students consider whether it would matter if the studio adds an...
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Destressing: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
Students interview peers, teachers, counselors, parents and local health providers to see how they identify "good" stress and suggest teens cope, write news feature about stress, complete with extra boxes, such as list of signs to spots,...