PBS
Journalism Ethics
As a journalist, would you publish everything you heard or saw? Discuss the ethics of journalism with a lesson from PBS. Young reporters imagine themselves to be the editor of their school's newspaper, and as they read five scenarios,...
Global Oneness Project
Recording a Dying Langauge
Is there value in preserving indigenous languages that are almost extinct? That's the question posed to viewers of a short film about the attempt of one Native American woman who is creating a dictionary for Wakchumni, the language of...
Curated OER
How Bear Lost His Tale: Storytelling
In this storytelling lesson, children practice re-telling the story of "How Bear Lost His Tale", review and write out the story sequence, and learn about homophones like tail/tale, sail/sale, etc. Extension activities for various content...
Curated OER
Declarative and Interrogative Sentences
Learners write interrogative and declarative sentences in a short message. After seeing many examples of these types of sentences, students write sentences of their ownl.
Curated OER
Civil Rights: Rosa Parks Centers
Research the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks. Set up different centers and have learners rotate through the activities aimed at researching Rosa Parks. They read The Bus Ride that Changed History: The Story of Rosa Parks, write a...
Curated OER
Digital History
Tenth graders analyze different types of photographs. In this Digital Records lesson, 10th graders create a digital history of a specific topic in World History. Students present their story boards to the class.
Curated OER
Leaf People
Kids create leaf people out of sticks, glue, and leaves. They use their imagination to construct leaf people and then glue them onto construction paper. Tip: Extend this craft by incorporating writing. Have learners write a short story...
Curated OER
Getting Hooked, Introduction for a Narrative
How can you interest your reader? Here is a great lesson on reading and discussing the characteristics of a narrative. Elementary schoolers explore writing techniques to hook the reader. They identify their hook and share their...
Curated OER
Fill a Jar
Sometimes short lesson outlines are enough to give you a great idea. Young writers draw any object inside an image of a jar, that doesn't belong in a jar. They can draw a tree, truck, or dinosaur. Tip: Have kids write a short story...
Curated OER
If I Were An Animal
Learners choose a favorite animal and identify its prominent characteristics. They draw their favorite animal adding their own heads to animal bodies. Then they write a creative, detailed short story about themselves as a nonsense creature.
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Outline and Shine
Seventh graders read and discuss a short story. They complete an outline of the story. They pair and share to evaluate each other's outlines.
Curated OER
Controlled Narrative Writing
Learners examine a short story and add possible adjectives. They re-read the story and add adverbs. They also add other information to make the story interesting.
Curated OER
Predictions, Predictions, and More Predictions
Third graders pose questions about the subject of a short story based on the title and cover illustration; then read the story and determine if their questions actually pertained to the story line, and, if so, how the story answered the...
Curated OER
Revising Your Mystery Story
Learners edit and improve their short stories by examining character description, dialogue, and plot elements. In peer editing groups they correct gramatical and spelling errors. they read aloud their new story drafts.
Curated OER
Truman Capote: Other Voices, Other Rooms
Students read and analyze Truman Capote's autobiographical short story, "A Christmas Memory." They discuss writing styles, conduct Internet research on Truman Capote, write a book review, and write a short story based on one of Truman...
Curated OER
DRMRS VANDERTRAMP: Le pass?? compos?? avec ??tre
Students assess the acronym DRMRSVANDERTRAMP (Dr & Mrs Van Der
Tramp) to help them memorize verbs. They pair up to create a short story describing what they did yesterday incorporating ten to fifteen of those verbs. In addition, a...
Curated OER
For Richer or for Poorer
Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
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Human Evolution
Students recognize that achievements of human beings throughout human history can be considered part of the ongoing story of human evolution. They research settings such as the biosphere and Mars and write imaginative short stories using...
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Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find": Who's the Real Misfit?
High schoolers read and analyze the short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor. They write a one-page response, explore various websites, take an online interactive journey, and write a final assessment paper.
Curated OER
Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. For this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
Curated OER
How Does Power Affect Conflict?
Students use several short stories to analyze different types of power. While discussing the role of power in these short stories, students will practice communication skills essential to conflict transformation, specifically attentive...
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Was the Wolf Really Guilty?
Students read plays, short stories, or novels which revolve around trials, and write essays explaining or defending the assigned role in a mock fairy tale trial.
Curated OER
Diego Rivera: Art as the Universal Language
Learners analyze the work of Diego Rivera. They participate in a class discussion, critique various paintings, write a short story based on a Rivera mural, and create a class mural.
Curated OER
Haunting Music
Students discover music that was inspired by the spooky and bizarre. In this music of Hector Berlioz and Camille Saint-Saens lesson, students identify elements of music and listen to the Symphonie Fantastique and Danse Macabre....