Boys Town
More Tools for Teaching Social Skills in School
Put an end to wasted instructional time with this lesson on responsibility and preparedness. After completing this series of activities young scholars will learn the importance of these social skills not only in the classroom, but at...
Skills USA
Personal Growth and the Personal Leadership Inventory
What are employers looking for in prospective employees? Career-minded high schoolers examine their strongest technical skills as well as important 21st century skills, including leadership, empathy, clear communication, working well...
Close Up Foundation
Teach the Vote
Why is voting important? A social studies unit presents a non-partisan approach to the importance of voting, to voting laws and procedures, and to resources that voters need to become informed voters.
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Survey
Survey says ... social media is here to stay! How do the pupils in your school use social media? Using lesson four from a 16-part series, The Social Media Toolbox, learners study surveys and create their own. The resource includes...
American Psychological Association
Counting Fidgets: Teaching the Complexity of Naturalistic Observation
Why do psychologists conduct experiments in controlled laboratory settings? High schoolers gain an understanding of the importance of controls with an activity that involves naturalistic observations with no imposed controls.
PBS
How to Teach Your Students about Fake News
What media literacy skills do people need to evaluate a news source? Scholars listen to and discuss an NPR story about how fake headlines often dupe young people and adults alike. Next, they study news stories, using a fact-checking...
Curated OER
Hate 2.0
Combat hate online by bringing it into the light. Begin by giving learners a quiz, then lead a discussion based on the issues the quiz brought up. As a class, develop strategies to confront online hate. Assign different venues to groups...
Middle Tennessee State University
The Invention of the Telephone
All of the people in your class would agree that life would be different without the invention of the telephone! Study Alexander Graham Bell's most famous and influential invention through the primary source document of his sketch of the...
Curated OER
The Social Skill of Communication
Fifth graders explore communication by analyzing manners. In this social skills lesson plan, 5th graders review the different forms of communication and how to present yourself in a phone conversation, face to face meeting, e-mail, etc....
Overcoming Obstacles
Identifying Your Learning Style
How many different learning styles are there? Four? Five? Seven? Twelve? It depends on who you ask. But the point of this lesson is that people learn differently, and most have a way or ways that work best for them. To help identify...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Power of Images
One picture but a thousand stories. As a part of a case study of how the death of Michael Brown was reported by professional news sources and on social media class members examine the reactions of various groups to a photograph taken by...
eNet Learning
10 Minute Leadership Lessons
Forty pages offer 21 lessons to encourage leadership among kindergarten through eighth-grade scholars. Hands-on activities use the experiential learning model while exploring personal traits, getting to know peers, teambuilding,...
Curated OER
Fighting Fake News
Fake news. Alternative facts. Internet trolls. In an age of Newspeak, it's increasingly important to equip 21st century learners with the skills needed to determine the legitimacy of claims put forth on social media, in print, and in...
Common Sense Media
My Online Code
Approach ethical online behavior with a series of activities geared toward teaching pupils about digital citizenship. After a brief discussion about ethics, small groups inspect a fictional social networking profile with ethics in mind....
Council for Economic Education
Using an Excel Checkbook
High school is the time that many scholars get their first jobs. Help young entrepreneurs apply economic principles to crucial skills for their new jobs and for functioning in society in general. They use Excel to balance a checkbook by...
Music Publishers Association of the United States
I Made It. I Own It. Please Don't Steal It.
Explore the world of copyright law with a variety of activities to instill the importance of respecting creative property. Scholars watch an animated tale then take part in a grand conversation detailing the video's main idea, details,...
NPR
Lesson Plan: Trolls—Just Like You and Me?
Not all trolls hide under bridges; some of them hide behind computer screens! Learners explore the causes and effects of people leaving mean comments online. After learning vocabulary, watching and discussing a video, and responding to...
Media Smarts
Forensic Science Crimes Dramas
How do TV shows present criminology—is it realistic? High schoolers research crime dramas and participate in class discussion about topics such as who exists as the target audience and the values the shows communicate. They also research...
Facebook
What Is Verification?
One of the most important skills news consumers and social media users must develop is the ability to determine the veracity of stories they read or view. Here's an interactive lesson plan that teaches high schoolers how to verify news...
Curated Video
Safety Mode
Teach your YouTube users how to protect themselves from offensive content with a mini instructional activity on Safety Mode. The teacher presents information about Safety Mode, and then demonstrates how it can be turned on and off....
University of Chicago
Comparing Modern and Ancient Ideas of Ethnicity and Identity
Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...
Common Sense Media
Cyberbullying: Crossing the Line
Teach pupils to identify different forms of cyberbullying, including harassment, deception, “flaming,” and threats to safety, as well as how to handle a situation in which cyberbullying might be involved.
Curated OER
Cyberbullying:What is It? What Can We Do About It?
Students examine the prevalence of cyberbullying. In this character education lesson, students read articles about cyberbullying and its implications. Students respond to discussion questions.
Curated OER
Poetry Through Digital Storytelling
Bring digital storytelling to your language arts class! To begin, learners select their own topic, such as a poem that reflects a life experience they had or a historical figure who interests them. Then they work to create a storyboard...