Curated OER
When Art Conveys Political and Social Conflict
Twelfth graders consider art as a medium to convey information and opinions on social conflict and issues. They analyze images from the Crocker Art Museum, discuss their effectiveness in raising awareness of an issue, and create a...
Curated OER
"Zebra" by Chaim Potok
Combine art and literature to teach greater themes and symbolic meaning. Using the plan outlined in this resource, expose your class to the story "Zebra" by Chaim Potok, conduct discussions about social issues and nicknames, and ask...
Curated OER
Lesson: Mixing Metaphors across Current Events and Literature
Expression, current events, and art can go hand-in-hand. After analyzing a multi-media piece entitled, Trade Canoe for Don Quixote, the class explores their own expressive process. They create collages that show a current event or issue...
Curated OER
Literature Study of the Civil War Era
Learn more about the Civil War. Young scholars will choose a novel based on the Civil War to learn more about the viewpoints of that time period. They will then discuss the roles of the members of a Literature Circle and then participate...
Curated OER
Issues of Gender
High schoolers study the issue of gender. Here, they are invited to view works of art, and read pieces of literature through history to show how the issue of gender has evolved over time. The works of Robert Harris are used extensively...
Curated OER
Lesson: Skin Fruit: Propaganda of the Deed
Art can express acts of injustice and move society to action. Upper graders analyze contemporary art relating to specific moments in history. They discuss propaganda, anarchy, sociology, and violence as activism. After researching and...
Film Foundation
To Kill a Mockingbird: Historical and Cultural Context
As part of their study of the film adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, class members analyze how Robert Mulligan uses the film lens to depict the historical period and social issues presented in Harper Lee's novel. A superior resource...
Curated OER
Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music
Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...
Curated OER
Celebrating Women: Toni Morrison
How authors address issues of their societies is addressed in this very detailed instructional activity. After researching Toni Morrison and her work, groups create a dramatization based on a scene from one of Morrison’s novels and act...
Curated OER
Lesson: Michael Blum: National Identity at a Distance
Immigration, refugees, and cultural change due to the movement of people around the globe is discussed. Learners examine the work of Michael Blum to gain an understanding of how national and cultural identities shift due to immigration....
Curated OER
America in Film and Fiction
Learners begin the lesson by reading a book on film study. After watching the movie "Citizen Kane", they work together to identify the issues concerning the United States before World War II. As a class, they discuss how the ideas and...
Curated OER
Our Global Community
First graders experience literature which shows how communities live around the world. In this global community lesson, 1st graders read books such as Whoever You Are, by Mem Fox and create a work of art based on their feelings about the...
Curated OER
Art of Cynicism
High schoolers analyze selected pieces of art and infer how they reflect a sense of disillusionment, and/or cynicism in American society in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. Then they identify and place cultural...
Curated OER
Jazz in America
Young scholars participate in a class discussion about jazz music, compare improvisation with regular conversion, listen to various jazz musicians and compare and contrast their individual sounds.
Curated OER
A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
Curated OER
Making Good Decisions
Learners examine the "Little Planet Times" and discuss how to solve the town's problem. In this literature/problem solving lesson, students record the opinion of each of the council members and role play their position. Learners...
Curated OER
Reflections and Revisions
Students reflect upon and express affective and cognitive learning experience as a result of a direct service experience. For this service learning lesson, students examine and analyze symbolism portrayed in literature and its...
Curated OER
Jazz In America
Students gain a fundamental understanding of the role of jazz in the Harlem Renaissance. They explain its historical significance and cultural implications.
Film Foundation
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: What Is a Movie?
Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...
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...
Curated OER
Stand Up and Sing
Learners journal and respond to the question," How does society respond to change?" They create original lyrics to their own song that reflects the context of the Progressive Era.
Curated OER
Puppets and Tolerance
Learners study tolerance in a puppet activity. In this tolerance lesson plan, students watch a puppet performance to learn about tolerance, diversity, and understanding.
Curated OER
Memorandum of a Conference with President Eisenhower after Sputnik
Young scholars document and list excerpts from a document that shows how calmly officials reacted to the launching of Sputnik. They research contemporary magazines and newspaper articles of the day as well.
Curated OER
Baga Drum
Pupils examine a Baga Drum in order to explore the history of the Baga people of West Africa. In this art history lesson, students recognize figures used in Baga Drum design that represent aspects of Baga culture. They also design and...