Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Don't Believe the Hype

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Are hand sanitizers good for you? What about the environment? Research the science behind commonly used cold medicines. The class reads an article, creates a product poster, and conducts independent research on product claims made by...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: Competing Views Regarding Mining on Inuit Lands

For Teachers 5th Standards
Scholars build background knowledge about mining on Inuit lands. Working in small groups, they sort information about the Inuit onto a point of view chart to determine if mining is beneficial to Inuit communities. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Industrial Revolution Unit

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders create their own newspaper and write articles about things related to the Industrial Revolution. They include five different inventions from the time period and explain how they either benefited or harmed society. They...
Lesson Plan
The New York Times

Getting Personal: Writing College Essays for the Common Application

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Develop an understanding of the open-ended questions that are a part of the college Common Application. Future college learners collaborate, discuss prompts acquired from the application, and philosophize on their plan of attack for the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Quiet on the Set!

For Teachers 7th - 12th
In pairs learners perform a silent skit portraying relationships between two known characters from a popular book or a play for their classmates. Next, the class will read and discuss a NYTimes article about a film school in the Bronx...
Lesson Plan
Learning to Give

What Are Your Thoughts?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The varying responses of the characters in Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to the discrimination they experience or perpetrate provides readers with an opportunity to not only examine the feelings of the characters but...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Antonia: K-W-H-L Strategy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Use the well-known KWHL chart as a tool for building up to a research project and oral presentation related to Willa Cather's My Antonia. Starting with a class brainstorm, pupils research and gradually narrow down topics relating to...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Modeling with Inverse Trigonometric Functions 1

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Where should I stand to get the best view? Pupils use inverse trigonometric functions to determine the horizontal distance from an object to get the best view. They round out the lesson by interpreting their answers within context.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The New York Draft

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the draft that originated in New York during the time of the Civil War. They examine the primary resource of a newspaper article from the time in order to gather information. The students check the grammar of the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Inferring About the Silversmith Trade in Colonial Times

For Teachers 4th Standards
The seventh lesson plan in this unit on colonial trade assesses fourth graders' ability to use details from an informational text to make inferences and create a piece of informative writing. The included assessment begins with learners...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Listening Closely and Taking Notes: Colonial Trade Podcast About the Wheelwright

For Teachers 4th Standards
Voices from the past. Young scholars listen to a podcast interview with a historical re-enactor as they continue their research in the eleventh instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. Applying their close reading skills,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jews in America at the Time of Growth and Change: Forging New Frontiers

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders examine the role of Jewish Americans in the 1900s. They examing the changes in industry and inventions. They also identify how Jewish Americans changed society and religious organization.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Choosing a Book That Interests Me: Seeking the Superhero Reader in Me

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Selecting a "power book" and engaging in a structured class discussion are the learning targets for this fourth lesson plan in a larger unit. It is designed as a beginning of the year unit for establishing norms and routines in the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Developing Reading Fluency: Beginning the End of Unit 2 Assessment

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Third graders continue to develop their reading fluency in preparation for their assessment in the tenth lesson plan of this unit. Young readers are provided with a short passage on Helen Keller, which they use while working in pairs...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boosting Rap's Rep

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners consider the negative image that some have of rap and hip-hop music through discussion and reading an opinion piece from The New York Times. They create CD cover artwork reflecting these messages.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lifestyles of the Rich and/or Famous

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students explore and analyze the detailed, yet complicated profiles that society placed on the lives of the prosperous as well as those with economic disadvantages in 19th century New York. In addition, by seeing the Merchant House...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

High Profiles

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars research and write newspaper articles about current world leaders, using a New York Times International article as a model. They research a current world leader's personal background and political history.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Time and Time Again

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars analyze the effects of time zone differences on how we function as a global community, focusing particularly on the turn of the millennium as a way for students to calculate time zone differences.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Power to the People

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the pros and cons of government structures, then decide whether or not African countries accept the new African Union based on a variety of categories.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Taking to the Airwaves

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider the purpose of talk radio and examine its importance in the new democratic Iraq. They enact mock talk shows based on current events and reflect on the value of free speech and the role audience members play in radio...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Freedom of Hate Speech?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students, using a New York Times article as a springboard for discussion, investigate and debate the complex issues of First Amendments Rights and censorship for Hate Groups using Websites for propaganda.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

In the Pilot's Seat

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine a review of several of the new television series launching in the Fall 1999 season and interpret how a critic discusses the notion of 'repurposing' old shows. They work in small groups to create basic character sketches...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A New Deal for Peace in a Land of War

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the causes and effects of recent conflicts in the Balkans, and discover the current peacekeeping attempts by NATO and the new Yugoslav government. They research an aspect of the Kosovo conflict and prepare skits based...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Its All In The Delivery

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students investigate the concept of different words and how they are used in specific texts. They develop scripts based upon readings and then design props and costumes to act out the new text. Students read to one another using the...