Curated OER
Varied Beginnings: Research Process / Narrative Writing Techniques
What's the best way to start a story? Learners write a memoir using effective openings. They research the process and work through a list of hooks to use in their writing. They use at least two hooks to begin their personal memoir. A...
Curated OER
CCC: Credible sources, Creative Commons Images, and Citing Your Sources
As part of a unit devoted to the study of autobiographies, this one-day library session focuses on developing research skills. Class members locate and properly cite a sketch of a Creative Commons image, as well as record the call...
Curated OER
Virtual Vacation
Students are members of teams traveling and exploring the Pacific States Region of the United States via the Internet. Each team travels virtually to its destination to become experts on geography, history, tourism, nature, and economics.
University of California
The Civil War: Perspective
Confederate soldiers saw the Civil War much differently than their Union counterparts. Scholars analyze the perspective of the Civil War from the viewpoint of various key figures in the fourth installment of an eight-part series. By...
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Learners consider the immensity of the the task the author undertook to learn Chinese. They examine the rigors involved in learning another language-particularly one as notoriously difficult as Chinese and compare aspects of Chinese...
Curated OER
Immigration to the Golden Land: Jewish Life in America
Students examine waves of Jewish immigration during three time periods and analyze a variety of primary sources, including letters, memoirs, and laws, to gain insight into both the American immigrant experience and American society...
Curated OER
90 Miles: Immigrant Journeys
Learners view a film that chronicles the experiences of Juan Carlos Zaldivar, a Cuban American immigrant. They discuss and analyze this autobiographical film and conduct further research on historical relations between the United States...
Peace Corps
Starting Off the Day (and School Year) in Ukraine
Students compare the first day of school in Ukraine with the first day of school in the United States, including the challenges students and teachers both face in each country. They respond in class, in their journals, to the following...
Curated OER
Home: The Ties That Bind
Students read two novels, The Human Comedy and A Separate Peace and an autobiographical memoir, Farewell to Manzanar. They focus on the difficulties faced by the teenage protagonists in order to set up a connection between adolescence...
Curated OER
Teaching Imagery with Gary Paulsen
Students read excerpts from memoirs written by Gary Paulsen as examples of how to write a narrative piece. They identify figurative language used and then they write a memoir of their own that contains imagery and figurative language.
Curated OER
Three Part Dialogue
Eighth graders write a three part dialogue as part of an effective memoir. In this three part dialogue lesson plan, 8th graders are given two parts of a dialogue and emotions that accompany the words. Students then create the third...
Curated OER
Auschwitz Episode Guide: Factories of Death
High schoolers examine Hitler's "Final Solution." They watch and discuss a PBS documentary, read handouts, conduct Internet research, and read and discuss a personal memoir.
Curated OER
When Johnny Went Marching Off...
Eighth graders decide whether to join the Union or Confederate army. Then decide under which General you serve and in which battles you fight. Finally students create civilwar documents in assigned roles.
Curated OER
When Johnny Went Marching Off...
Eighth graders explore Civil War campaigns. In this Civil War lesson, 8th graders collaborate and conduct research to create presentations that focus on specific Union or Confederate generals and battles. Students take on the roles of...
Curated OER
The Civil War--The Battle of Corydon
Eighth graders investigate the Battle of Corydon. In this American Civil War lesson, 8th graders discover details about the Battle of Corydon and the leaders of the battle. Students also identify how the Corydon commemorates the battle...
Curated OER
That Was Then - Persuasive Essay
Student explain how geographic and cultural settings influence a person's identity. They compare and contrasting Esmeralda Santiago's Puerto Rican self with her American self by participating in a close reading of the text and writing a...
EngageNY
Presentation of Events: Comparing Two Authors
Give a little clue! Readers learn how context clues can help them determine the meaning of words by viewing a Context Clues Resource sheet then completing a Context Clues
practice sheet. They then compare events presented by two...
Curated OER
The Holocaust: Survival Stories
Students use survival stories as the theme for written assignments and a photography presentation.
Curated OER
Preserving History
Learners discuss how writing is an important historical tool. They read writings from individuals and note how they have preserved history. They describe what those stories say about the communites they came from.
Curated OER
Pioneers On and Off the Prairie- Willa Cather and Mary Cassatt
Students examine the written work of Willa Cather and the impressionist art of Mary Cassatt. They describe parallels in the lives and work of both women and creat a Powerpoint presentation.
Curated OER
The Final Word
Young scholars research biographies of Americans who advanced science. They create an obituary for the person to share what information they have gathered. They discuss the importance of the obituary as the "final word" of a person to...
Curated OER
Independent Project Selection
Students write research proposals, conduct research and interviews and maintain a log of their work, and draft, revise, and edit final written projects to produce a finished research article.
Briscoe Center for American History
Mary Maverick and Texas History - Part 2
To conclude their investigation of the life of Mary Maverick and to demonstrate their ability to analyze primary source documents, groups use the SOAPS questioning method to examine Maverick's account of events in early Texas history.
Curated OER
How Cultures Differ "Two Different Perspectives on the Same Event
Students read excerpts from Peter Hessler's River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze and discuss his difficulties in learning the language, cultural clashes and how cultural perceptions shape our understanding of the world.