From April to July of this year millions of barrels of oil leaked into the ocean due to the historic BP oil catastrophe. To put it lightly, that is quite a bit of oil. With this rate of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, and the difficulty of containment efforts, imagine how much oil is contami...
Often in my classroom I have found that my students hated reading, especially when faced with dreaded dittoes. One way I got students past this automatic aversion to reading worksheets is to use ones that are meaningful. Another is to ask them to use critical thinking skills, and create reading w...
On Tuesday January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a crushing 7.0 earthquake that practically leveled the city, killing more than 220,000 people, and destroying approximately 60% of the Haitian government's infrastructure. About 190,000 homes have been lost, and unemployment within Haiti continues to...
Teaching students content is very important, but I often found that teaching students enduring life skills was just as important. One way I do this is to teach organizational skills. Throughout the year I help my students organize their notes by keeping a copy of a classroom notebook. It holds al...
We take pictures of the prom. We take photos of weddings, birthday celebrations, newborn babies, class pictures, and graduations. Why? We want to capture a special moment in time so that we can remember it. Memoirs serve the same purpose. Authors create memoirs so that readers can experience ev...
The 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament has gained widespread attention and remarkable viewership from around the world. Hosted this year in South Africa, the popular event has generated a kind of hype that can be comparable to the Super Bowl or World Series, but with an international twist. FIFA (...
It is no accident that Michael Jackson was granted the title "King of Pop." Like him or not, his music, image, and talent revolutionized modern popular culture, redefined the music video, and roused the public's interest.
Because his music spread into ...
Today's kids are wired. The "GenTech" generation with their IM's, iPhones, and iTunes have become increasingly impatient. Text messages, and emails are wonderful forms of communication that give us the opportunity to obtain information at the click of a button, but the content can suffer. The sen...
The American Dream is something we sing about, hear about, read about, and of course . . . dream about. But the American Dream means different things to different people. As students explore the writings of great American authors, politicians, civil rights leaders, and other influential people, t...
Mythology, whether it comes from the Roman Empire, the Greek territory or the Egyptian region, is a part of grade appropriate standards within the language arts framework. As educators, we are required to expose our students to the myths, heroes, gods, goddesses and legends that these mythologica...
We all want the sweeter things in life. That’s why honey is so popular and why it can be found in so many products that we consume. Honey can be found in cough drops, syrups, cereal, and snacks. Honey is a household name. But if it wasn’t for the honey bee, honey wouldn’t be. So these next few le...
One day, while substituting for the high school art teacher, I stumbled upon a box of yearbooks. The yearbooks were out for a reason – obviously the art teacher was responsible for yearbook layout. As I leafed through the yearbooks of decades passed, I couldn’t help but notice how archaic and cl...
One of my favorite units to teach is one on Shakespeare. It might be because I taught drama classes, but I particularly enjoy watching my students act out the parts in Shakespeare plays, and the opportunity to use my own flair for the dramatic in the classroom. I begin the unit with background in...
Celebrating Earth Day and the environment is a great way to bring students and teachers together, and discuss cause and effect. In my classroom I also use it as a way to challenge students as problem solvers, and to see the world through a new perspective. I start the day by asking them to define...
Cooperative learning is something that gives students ownership over curriculum, and alleviates the workload on the teacher during the actual class period, however, it takes a lot of preparation before the students enter the room. In my classroom, I always make sure to give students a clear set o...
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Black History Month- Lessons for Everyone
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Christopher Columbus Lesson Plans
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