The more you practice, the better you get. That's the big idea behind a lesson for middle schoolers about using mindfulness breathing techniques to reduce stress. Class members practice Star Breathing and Rainbow Breathing exercises and...

Teach your freshmen stress management techniques that help them cope with distress and stress. Class members create a Relaxation Station where they practice the C.O.P.E strategy for dealing with stress. They then choose from a menu of...

It requires more than a twitch to shake off stress. But with the help of the stress management strategies taught in a very dynamic lesson, freshmen can learn to do so. Class members watch videos, examine an infographic, read an article,...

Contrary to the old saying, words, like sticks, can hurt. That's the central idea in a lesson about the importance of considering another person's perspective, stopping, thinking, and listening before responding in anger to a conflict....

Hurry up! Pupils practice developing speed on a keyboard, participating in a series of drills to improve efficiency. After tracking their progress, they create an electronic guide about proper keyboarding techniques. 

Don't worry, just QWERTY! Pupils work to improve their typing speed and accuracy by completing online drills and charting their progress. Additionally, they create a how-to guide for proper keyboarding techniques. 

Young journalists learn how to analyze word choice, context, and counterpoints to judge the fairness of a news story. They practice using these tools to judge a series of headlines for the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They...

Scholars examine the techniques content creators use to boost their search rankings. After watching a short "Search Boosters" video, groups select a story from the "News or Noise? Media Map" and analyze the devices used in the story. The...

Let it go! As part of the Mindfulness series, pupils learn a technique to manage stress and strong emotions. While doing the deep breathing exercise, they imagine a train of stressful thoughts, take a step back, and let the train pass.

Eschew obfuscation!! High schoolers learn techniques that permit them to listen critically, sort through verbiage used to hide meaning or mislead listeners, and determine the message's validity.

The big idea in this resource is that listening and hearing are not the same things. A lesson on active listening has class members generate a list of listening techniques that focus on the speaker, confirm what they say, and respond...

Some conversations are easy and enjoyable, while others are horrific! To begin a lesson on communicating constructively, class members list examples of conversations that are easy, average, and those that are difficult and identify what...

Active listening is all about thinking, asking questions, and making connections. That's the take-away from a lesson about active listening. Participants learn techniques for identifying important information, including how to ask...

In the post-pandemic classroom, it's more important than ever to begin the school year by building a strong sense of trust and community. Using the Make Meaning and Big Paper teaching techniques, groups develop a definition of community...

Although they may be based on a novel, a screenplay is not a novel and is read differently. This teacher's guide to Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun teaches readers how to read a screenplay, analyze camera instructions, and...

A headless horseman? Really? A reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" launches a study of how to use the A-CLAP strategy to determine a story's credibility. Writers employ these techniques to craft their ghost stories and make them...

Cold, beautiful, unique! Class members closely examine John Singer Sargent's watercolor "Snow," taking note of the artist's techniques, and pair up to discuss how the image makes them feel about snow. They then repeat the process with...

Seventh graders have a golden opportunity to learn how to read poems and short stories with a unit that introduces them to the techniques writers use to craft their works. They examine poems by William Carlos Williams and Edgar Allen Poe...

How do genetics gurus know so much about gene expression? See traits materialize before your very eyes using a presentation with embedded simulations. Science scholars develop an understanding of the techniques used to follow the work of...

Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth lesson in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing visible thinking...

How do we measure the deviation of data points from the mean? An enriching activity walks your class through the steps to calculate the standard deviation. Guiding questions connect the steps to the context, so the process...

After discussing Haley's techniques in his conclusion of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, class time is devoted to drafting, sharing, and getting feedback on writers' college essays.

Zoot suits, the Lindy hop, and conks. Readers carefully examine the rhetoric of chapter 4 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, analyze the effectiveness of using slang to develop a narrative, and consider how they might incorporate Haley's...

To prepare for drafting their Common Application narrative, class members return to the opening pages of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and examine how Haley engages and orients readers, establishes his narrator and point of view, and...