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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Greed is Good?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
From Mr. Merdle to Mr. Madoff? A viewing of the PBS adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Little Dorrit” launches an examination of greedy characters in literature and a study of greed, unfairness, and economic hardship today. The richly...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Mixing Metaphors across Current Events and Literature

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Expression, current events, and art can go hand-in-hand. After analyzing a multi-media piece entitled, Trade Canoe for Don Quixote, the class explores their own expressive process. They create collages that show a current event or issue...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

How Often Do You Interact with People of Another Race or Ethnicity?

For Students 7th - 12th
Is interacting with people from different backgrounds part of a well-rounded education? A big question awaits young readers as they explore two New York Times articles that discuss modern-day segregation, population statistics, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Political Asylum Talk Show

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners view videos, visit websites, and read about the nature and changes made to the idea of political asylum. Beginning with Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, they will explore policy change throughout the years. The lesson...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Skin Fruit: Propaganda of the Deed

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Art can express acts of injustice and move society to action. Upper graders analyze contemporary art relating to specific moments in history. They discuss propaganda, anarchy, sociology, and violence as activism. After researching and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Debating the Issues: Ralph Bunche and Civil Rights

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Synthesizing information from a PBS documentary Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey, its companion website, and several other resources (links to which are provided), high schoolers evaluate whether Bunche did all he could to advance the...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Eastern European Studies

For Students 6th - 10th
One worksheet, three projects. Learners explore Eastern Europe and mark Eastern European countries on a map. They then collect and record census data on thirteen different countries, and write a 3-5 page expository essay on one of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Working on the Slant

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Compare and contrast a major news story from various newspapers. How does the perspective change? Are certain things included in some of the stories and left out of others? Have pupils complete a graphic organizer to compare how...
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Organizer
Curated OER

Who Am I?

For Students 4th - 9th
Your budding journalists need to understand the five W's for writing a news story. They read a story, complete several graphic organizers to help them organize and write their article, and then use a self-assessment worksheet to edit and...
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Lesson Plan
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Media Smarts

Bias in News Sources

For Teachers 9th - 12th
As young consumers of media, it is important for high schoolers to explore concepts of bias and prejudice, and how they may be present in media. After discussing ideological messages that media can contain, individuals complete a warm-up...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Leader's Lifetime and Legacy

For Teachers 6th - 12th
In this instructional activity, learners consider their prior knowledge about Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and consider the immediate events surrounding his death. They then create timelines and write papers examining his political...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Setting Up Camp

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Draw on what learners know about conflict resolution and the situation in the Middle East to build understanding of the Camp David summit meeting beginning on July 11, 2000. They develop an understanding of the functions of summit...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Miscast and Seldom Seen

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Consider how well high schoolers' favorite TV shows, movies and video games reflect the diversity of society. The lesson introduces your class to several media literacy concepts, such as how media conveys values and messages, as well as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Debating Controversial Issues: Integrating Science and Current Events

For Teachers 9th - 12th
In order to give young scientists experience with critical thinking skills, introduce them to a current controversy and prepare them to debate. Choose a topic, such as genetically modified organisms, and assign groups to represent...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bank Loans Money to Start Businesses

For Teachers 4th - 6th
After locating Latin American countries on a world map, children read about how microbanks are loaning money to help start small businesses. Involving both current events and economics, the teacher introduces the article with a map...
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Lesson Plan
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Facebook

What Is Verification?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
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Performance
Radford University

Analyzing Data from Peer Survey

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
We all want to know what we're thinking. Scholars analyze and report data collected in a previous survey on peer attitudes toward current events. They calculate the mean, median, range, and standard deviation before creating histograms...
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Performance
Radford University

Peer Survey on Current Events

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Stay up to date on current events as well as how the class views the issues. A performance task has scholars select a current event of interest and design a class survey on the topic. They conduct the survey, analyze, and report the...
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Unit Plan
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Echoes & Reflections

Contemporary Antisemitism

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Despite the recognized atrocities of the Holocaust, anti-semitism continues. The 11th and final installment of the Teaching the Holocaust series explores the long-term effects of the Holocaust on modern anti-semitism, asking pupils to...
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Lesson Plan
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Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

From Ben’s Pen to Our Lives

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and...
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Website
News For Kids

News For Kids.net

For Students 3rd - 12th Standards
Media lovers read articles on a variety of current events with a website made especially for kids. The website is easy to navigate and includes sections about everything from science to sports.
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

Step One: We've Got Issues

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What is the most pressing issue in your community? The resource helps you and your middle schoolers begin the process of doing something about it! Learners compare and contrast two pressing issues in their local counties by reading two...
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

Step Six: Real World Policies

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Sometimes it takes real-world examples to get concepts to click. Use the resource to instruct middle schoolers on the relevancy of public policy in today's world. Exercises include a 5W + H graphic organizer, class discussion, and...