Middle Tennessee State University
Fights, Freedom, and Fraud: Voting Rights in the Reconstruction Era
As part of a study of post Civil War era, young historians investigate the changes in voting rights during the Reconstruction Era (1863-1876), the fraud involved in the Hayes-Tilden presidential election of 1876, and efforts by Pap...
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Cultural and Social Transformations Since 1865
Students research cultural and social issues in the areas of Westward Expansion, Immigration, and Civil Rights. They use their research to create a PowerPoint electronic book to be used by other students.
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Groups Coming to America
Fifth graders use text or other references to locate different types of information about the Mayflower and pilgrims. They create a presentation for lower elementary classes about the Pilgrims.
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Activating Background Knowledge
Students create a Venn diagram illustrating characteristics of the past versus characteristics of the present. They discuss the past and present and compare their Venn diagrams.
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Teaching With the Power of Objects
Students define value of an object. In this value lesson plan, students identify reasons for collecting objects, compile a personal inventory of items they find valuable, and then define why those items are valuable to them. In step two...
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Minerals, Crystals, and Gems
Students discover the relationships between minerals, crystals and gems. They bring in rocks that they find at home, in the schoolyard, etc. and examine them and attempt to identify them. They set up a classroom exhibit that includes all...
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"Hello, I Am Deborah Sampson"
Fifth graders learn the role played by individuals during the American Revolutionary War.
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Listen Up: Antigone Rising
Upper graders listen to and watch a documentary about an all female group Antigone Rising. They discuss how females are portrayed in the rock world, the type of music they play, their song lyrics, and what they note in the documentary....
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The Causes of Prohibition
Eleventh graders explore the origins of the Prohibition Movement in the United States. In small groups, they analyze the influence of World War I in the passage of the eighteenth amendment. Students explain how different demographics of...
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Literacy Lesson: Guided Reading
Here is a wonderful lesson designed for pupils with special needs. This well-thought-out lesson uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping Quilt is used in the main part of the...
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Personal Narrative Paragraphs: Class Quilt
Begin this activity by asking third graders to bring from home pieces of cloth that represent something important to them. (Have extras for students who need them.) They reflect on important events in their lives, compose narrative...
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How to Write an Essay: Secondary ed.
Whether introducing the structure of expository essays or reviewing the format with your high schoolers, take the time to check out this resource. Examples of seven common forms of introductory paragraphs and six types of conclusions, as...
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OCCUPATIONAL OXYMORON: Examining the Circumstances of the Hidden Working Poor
Young scholars use the book, The WorkingPoor, as a basis for this lesson plan. They state their current understanding of poverty., work in groups to prepare presentations on different aspects of the working poor and give oral presentations.
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Hello, I Am Deborah Sampson
Fifth graders research a historical figure from the Revolutionary War, dress as that person, and present information on that person. In this Revolutionary War lesson plan, 5th graders are videotaped as they present to the class.
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Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: The Novel as Historical Source
Students examine historical fiction as historical sources. In this historical fiction lesson, students analyze excerpts from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as well as Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the...
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Donut Day
In this Donut day worksheet, students complete activities such as reading a passage, phrase matching, fill in the blanks, choose the correct word, multiple choice, spelling, sequencing, scrambled sentences, asking questions, surveying,...
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Piercing the World of Silence
Students explore the sign language alphabet. They examine the difficulties faced by handicapped persons, and are introduced to Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan and The Miracle Worker.
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The Harlem Renaissance
Students, after researching/analyzing the movement "Harlem Renaissance" and Africa as well as reading literature from that time period, create lists of the major characteristics of the movement and its important writers. They bridge the...
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Immigration; The New Colossus
Seventh graders explore The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. In this The New Colossus lesson, 7th graders read the poem and analyze its meaning. Students discuss what the poem means about American culture and why it was engraved on the...
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"We, the People": New Voices in the Constitutional Debates
Learners study the goals set out for the Constitution. They examine the resolutions arrived at to resolve three major conflicts which arose during the writing of the Constitution. They discuss or write down a one-sentence summary of...
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Slave Trade Day
In this Slave Trade Day worksheet, students complete activities such as reading a passage, matching phrases, fill in the blanks, choose the correct word, multiple choice, unscramble the words, sequencing, unscramble the sentences, write...
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Texas Originals
Seventh graders research the Native Americans of Texas. They create a PowerPoint presentation or poster showing the culture of the Native American tribe they were assigned.
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Sixteenth Street: Civil Rights at the Crossroads
Learners study the Civil Rights movement constructing definitions of discrimination, prejudice and racism. They use varied media to study the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, write a newspaper and complete a mock trial.