North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies
Using Drama to Address Social Justice Issues in School and the Community
Artists, musicians, and dramatists have long been the leaders in the quest for social justice. To gain an understanding of the power of the arts to address social issues, class members listen to a reading of Drew Daywalt's The Day the...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
From Ben’s Pen to Our Lives
What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Arts Showcase
An art showcase encourages class members to explore the themes of social justice and tolerance. They create an original artwork, engage in group discussions, and journal writing. The art gallery also provides a chance for families and...
Orlando Shakes
The Importance of Being Earnest: Study Guide
Historically, members of the upper class provide plenty of fodder for comedic writers. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is no exception, and a study guide for the classic play discusses some of the Victorian social issues he...
ReadWriteThink
Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath: A Multigenre Project
Challenge readers of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to create a museum exhibit that uses artifacts to focus on one issue raised by the award winning story of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the Joads.
Curated OER
Social and Cultural Issues in the Civil Rights Movement
Students watch videos, listen to speeches and analyze the information that is presented about the civil rights movement. They examine visual art of the period.
Curated OER
We and Thee
Students examine class structure. In this diversity education lesson, students discuss stereotypes within their school as an introduction to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. After students have read the play and discussed social class...
Curated OER
Health Education: An Integrated Approach; Causes of Violence
Fourth graders brainstorm about situations that they think may lead to violence in order to learn how to predict when violence might occur. In this instructional activity on violence, 4th graders first participate in an activity to...
Teach With Movies
Learning Guide To: Gone with the Wind
The film version of Gone with the Wind is the focus of this learning guide that asks viewers to consider some of the issues that the Southern states faced prior to and during the Civil War.
Curated OER
Celebrating Women: Toni Morrison
How authors address issues of their societies is addressed in this very detailed lesson plan. After researching Toni Morrison and her work, groups create a dramatization based on a scene from one of Morrison’s novels and act it out....
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Chraisma by Jeanne Ryan
Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest in...
Shakespeare Globe Trust
Much Ado About Nothing
Love, deception, witty bante—that's much ado about a lot! As learners navigate the resource, they view an interactive character map and read character biographies from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Pupils also listen to...
Curated OER
Exploring Values Towards Conservation
Students read First Nation story, identify values expressed in it and discuss how those values relate to conservation issues faced today. Students then seek out stories relevant to climate change from their own Elders and respected...
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan- Tableau (part 2)
Students explore tableaux. In this social studies and fine arts cross curriculum instructional activity, students work in groups of four to create "frozen" stage pictures (tableaux) representing vocabulary and concepts from a "From Farm...
Curated OER
Circle Sculpture
Students discover the Theatre of the Oppressed. In this diversity lesson, students practice confronting injustice as they participate in "circle sculpture" to role play performance models that deal with social justice issues. Students...
Teach With Movies
Title: "The Red Badge of Courage" - Topics: U.S./1860 - 1861; Literature/U.S.
Designed to be used with a showing of the 1951 version of The Red Badge of Courage staring Audie Murphy, this learning guide includes discussion questions, suggestions for activities, and topics that can be discussed with parents.
Curated OER
English Literature: An Overview
Relate literary works and authors to the major themes of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 20th century. Working in groups, high schoolers will evaluate period philosophy, religion, and politics that influenced...
Curated OER
Historical Puppet Play
Fourth graders analyze the book Train to Midnight, based on the Underground Railroad. They compose and perform a puppet play based on the book. Students perform and videotape their puppet plays.
Curated OER
Literature: Porgy and Bess
Students examine the various portrayals of African-Americans in literature, focusing on the opera, Porgy and Bess. They conduct Internet research on African-American culture between the two World Wars. Students write fictional or...
Curated OER
More Than Mock Elections
Students create a presidential campaign story. In this presidential campaign lesson plan, students produce, direct and act in their own campaign story. Stories focus on setting, characters, context, critical incidents, and concluding...
Curated OER
Act it Out
Students discuss racial stereotypes. In this racial stereotypes lesson, students develop a character from information given to them on an index card. Students give their character a race different from their own and write a description...
Curated OER
Forms of Poetry
Students identify distinguishing features of poetry. They identify and use literary terminology including symbol, theme, simile, and alliteration. They recognize the effects of language.
Curated OER
Community Evolution: Putting the Puzzle Together
Students, working in groups, to study on aspect of their community history. They put their research together in one story about their community.