The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the instructional activity includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to...

Investigate the future of the presidency in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Clinton. The class brainstorms both sides of the argument, reads and discusses an article, then analyzes and writes a journal...

Reinforce persuasive and argumentative writing skills with this lesson, which utilizes SchoolNet News Network's website/SNN Monthly magazine. Young writers review journalism writing styles that help them explain that writing a persuasive...

Using the article "Escaping Afghanistan: Children Pay Price," discuss the lives of Afghan refugees and the impact of Taliban rule. A detailed list of questions is provided, but you will have to search for the article. Extension...

Students read a CNNfyi.com article in order to identify causes of ozone depletion. They compare and contrast the effects of chlorofluorocarbons and bromine on the ozone. They develop a plan to prevent future destruction of the ozone.

The New York Times article “Lessons in Internet Plagiarism,” launches a look at how the Internet has increased the prevalence of plagiarism. The richly detailed instructional activity includes warm-up and wrap-up activities, discussion...

Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...

What is the Nobel Peace Prize? After they establish criteria for great leadership, secondary learners read a New York Times article about President Jimmy Carter's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Individuals research the...

Be more specific. Scholars take a look at domain-specific vocabulary by discussing an anchor chart. They then look at vocabulary words recorded from paragraphs one through five in Water of Life. After analyzing the vocabulary used in the...

Discover the damage that was caused by the terrorist attacks on September 11th with your class. They will learn about the events of that day and the litigation process for damages incurred that day. Their research will cover the various...

How do facts and opinions impact the news? After reading "How to Cover a War" from the New York Times, middle schoolers evaluate the claims in the article. They also consider the media's responsibilities in reporting during wartime....

Review economic vocabulary, presidential election campaigns, and current campaign budgets (2004). Your class will determine how they feel about the amount of money spent on presidential campaigns, they will read an informational article,...

Creative projects are a great way to engage your class and can be a fun way to assess mastery! Learners create brochures and postcards that might have been created by and for travelers to ancient Mayan cities. They read and discuss the...

The New York Times article “Supreme Court, Split 5-4, Halts Florida Count in Blow to Gore” provides the opening to an assessment of the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of the 2000 presidential election. Assuming the...

Using an article from The New York Times, students answer discussion questions about gun control. They are divided into four groups to research different standpoints on gun control, including the Executive Office, Congress, Gun...

A guide for competitive swimmers to take a look at how stroke length contributes to swimming efficiency. There is a PowerPoint and several websites for the swimmers to visit to gather information. They then keep track of their swimming...

High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a...

The class will make observations to determine how environment has shaped the way particular birds and fish eat. They will view a series of photographs, read two short articles, and then consider how food availability has determined how...

Local linearity isn't the first thing that comes to mind to start off an AP® Calculus course. A scholarly article discusses one possible beginning to the AP® Calculus course: investigating and introducing derivatives through activities...

Although this is part of a series, lesson plan nine has your class take a break from their close study of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) text to read the firsthand account “Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and...

Elementary learners create an ABC grammar book. The project begins with class members taking digital pictures of items that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Depending on level, they then add a word or a complete sentence to...

Being expressive in a creative, empathetic, or imaginative way is not only fun, it builds good pre-writing and communication skills. Learners with visual impairments have a roundtable discussion session where several sentence frames...

Should school and professional teams test athletes for sickle cell trait? Will it protect them by providing knowledge or lead to discrimination by not allowing them to participate in sports? After learning about this genetic disorder,...

Should gray wolves be removed from Yellowstone National Park? After researching the complex relationships between the various habitats and species at Yellowstone National Park,  including humans, class members take a position...