Curated OER
Show Me the Story
Students examine the elements of a story, read a review of Chris Rock's new sitcom, "Everybody Hates Chris" and create original sitcom episodes based on their own lives.
Curated OER
Deep like Rivers: Four African American Poets of the 1920s and 1930s
Students examine work by outstanding African American poets from the time period of the 1920s and 1930s. They study aspects of American and African American social, cultural and artistic history that influenced the content of some of the...
National First Ladies' Library
The Play's the Thing...or Two
Students explore melodram as a form of theatre. They write about lucid and factual news accounts and about sensationalism. Students gain experience in relating one time period with another and with doing historical research.
Curated OER
Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...
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Off the Hook Books
Students complete a survey that gives their teacher an idea of their reading habits and favorite books. The teacher will use the survey in order to build a classroom library that appeals to all students.
Curated OER
Cooperative Learning Groups
Students become experts on various topics, researching their topics and creating presentations to teach to the rest of the class. They are grouped into expert groups, or discovery groups, then compare/contrast the information presented.
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ESL Network: Exploring Racial Identity
Twelfth graders drill for the Regents Comprehensive Exam in English by answering questions about selected readings as preparation for writing essays. After answering the questions, they compose essays adhering to formal written Spanish...
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Night by Elie Weisel
Students read "No News from Auschwitz" and answer the study questions as an introduction to the novel. They record reactions to the essay and compare with reactions after reading "Night".
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Responding To Rembrandt's Work Through Poetry
Students write poetry in response to Rembrandt's landscapes and portraits. They create accompanying illustrations based on interpretations of Rembrandt's work and present them along with the poems in book format.
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Disease and Culture through Literary Time
Students select books to read that include disease as a plot or theme component. They fill out a matrix for the disease in their novel and write a five-paragraph paper about their book. Students use the rest of the week's classes to...
Curated OER
Slave Narratives
Students use a database to find and read examples of slave narratives. In groups, they read the various narratives and discuss their feelings about them. They also research the time period in which the narratives were written to end...
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Grappling with Identity in Latino Poetry
Students identify some common themes involving the Latino immigrant experience as conveyed through a variety of media, explore issues of identity in some examples of poetry written by Latinos and learn some basic poetry reading strategies.
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Fantasy Stories
Students create fantasy stories. In this creative writing lesson, students write a fantasy where they can use characters that they have read about in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Recognizing Similies: Fast as a Whip
Pupils review what they have already learned about similies and begin to engage with similies on a deeper and more abstract level as they create their own.
Curated OER
Honour killings: What do we need to understand in looking for solutions?
Students prepare a chart with four columns: things we know, things we think we know but need to check, things we wonder about, and new things we have learned. Each group is given a case study and they discuss the three cases of "honor...
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Ode to a Nightingale
High schoolers read poems about Tuberculosis by John Keats. Using the poems, they identify similies, metaphors, personification and imagery. In groups, they make connections about the author's outlook on life and how his disease...
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The Great Depression and Now: The Migrant Worker Experience
High schoolers identify the concerns of people caught in desperate times during the Great Depression. They make connections between The Grapes of Wrath and historical images from the Great Depression. Students make connections between...
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Guideline For Book Reports
Students are introduced to the guidelines regarding their upcoming book report. As a class, they brainstorm opening statements to grab the reader's attention and what type of information to present. They must include an evaluation of...
Curated OER
Fate vs. Mind: A Macedonian Folk Tale
High schoolers examine the work of Carla Bachechi as a Peace Corp volunteer in Macedonia. Individually, they read various folktales from the country and break into groups to discuss how it is different than a novel. To end the...
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Step-by-Step to the Final Destination
Students write their own radio plays. In this writing process lesson, students script their own scary radio plays based on the radio plays they read in class in previous lessons. Students also perform the plays for their classmates.
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What Difference Does it Make How Old I Am?
Students identify subtle messages advertisers send (often unintentionally) about age in the course of trying to sell products; to analyze the consequences, both positive and negative, those messages have on the American audience; to...
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Editing Emily's Way: An Exercise in Diction and Its Implications
Students examine the poetry of Emily Dickinson and the diction in her poetry. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Dickinson poetry and analyze the diction in the poems. Students journal about the poetry and rewrite their own...
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Looking Through Lenses
Students explore the various societal and cultural "lenses" which color their perspectives and life experiences by reading the short story "What Means Switch" by Gish Jen. They discuss how the cultural ideas and beliefs affect the...
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Electronic Journals about Latin American Folktales
Young scholars exchange folktales with a key-pal using dialog journal writing. They write out a folktale from their own cultural background and exchange it with students of another. They record their impressions of each other's folktales.