There are some historical events that may warrant greater reflection and more in-depth analysis, and the decision to intern Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, as well as to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and...

Upper graders explore equality by writing an essay. They read the story Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco, and discuss the meaning of the story and its relevance to Civil War events. Learners investigate the five writing process steps and...

What evidence supports the big bang theory? Individuals analyze scholarly resources about the the theory and develop arguments backed by evidence. They brainstorm, share ideas, watch a video, and read articles to complete a graphic...

Review MLA format, particularly the 7th Edition and its updates. The slides cover the first page of an essay, section headings, in-text citations, formatting questions, and the Works Cited page. This is a great way to make sure papers...

The beauty in this resource is the lengthy list of highly charged, controversial-issue research topics. Categories include issues of race, politics, law, environment, education, athletics, gender, and technology. After selecting a topic,...

Explore the world of amazing mammals with your kids with special needs. Each child identifies one mammal from a previous lesson and writes a short paragraph on that mammal. This lesson states that it is intended for all levels, but not...

Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...

Take young scientists on an exploration of the cosmos with this cross-curricular writing exercise. Tasked with producing an expository composition describing a planet of their choosing, students perform research and...

Take a look at tobacco advertising techniques through the decades. Young scholars analyze the differences in strategies, and write an essay on the advertising history of one brand of tobacco, how tobacco advertising has changed over...

Collect evidence and reasons and fill them in on this page to prepare for presenting an argument. Learners can evaluate what they are missing and make sure they fill in each line and bubble before considering their argument complete.

There's more to newspaper articles than meets the eye. Scholars learn the different features of a newspaper article, including headline, byline, subheadings, etc. Pupils circle the features in an article as the teacher discusses their...

Middle and high schoolers participate in a seven-part lesson creating Escher-Esque tessellations. They demonstrate their knowledge of geometric transformations after viewing a PowerPoint presentation, conducting Internet research, and...

Help your students undertand the critical problems around healthcare. By focusing on the political and private process of healthcare, students will watch a video, analyze issues, and write an essay on their findings. Additionally, they...

In this writing about your hero worksheet, students read stories about personal heroes at an assigned web site that were written by other students. They think about their own hero, write an essay, and follow directions for publishing it...

Introduce high school freshmen to the characteristics of informative writing with a 5-day lesson that distinguishes informative writing from other modes. Scholars learn how to search for and cite reliable resources, then research and...

Nearly every people group has some type of dance, and those dances usually reflect history and culture. Little researchers write an essay on the cultural significance of the Hawaiian hula dance. They research the role of the hula dancer...

Summary writing is tough for native English speakers, let alone English language learners! In this plan, high school English learners examine how to annotate online articles and write a one-page summary. They can post this summary on...

Students create a standard outline, using a word processing tool, while they are learning about the basic writing device of the 5 paragraph essay.

Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical...

How did the women in France feel about their country’s involvement in World War II? Class groups are assigned a country involved in WWII, and individuals within the group adopt the point of view of leaders, laborers, businessmen, women,...

Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique high schoolers' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book,...

Children have rights! Exploring those rights and using media to express those rights is the focus of this Media Awareness Network lesson. Although some of the law links reflect the Canadian Articles of The Convention, the majority of the...

Ninth graders develop ideas for an invention and write a persuasive essay explaining why their invention is best. In this invention essay lesson, 9th graders review persuasive essay writing. Students create a graphic web for an original...

First graders investigate natural weather disasters by writing an essay.  In this weather lesson plan, 1st graders research one aspect of dangerous weather such as hurricanes, snow, floods, etc.  Students take notes on their...