Curated OER
Trey and Dave go to Africa: Music
Trey from Phish and Dave from the Dave Mathews Band took a trip to Africa to explore music, culture, and history. Your class watches this episode from VH1's Music Studio to understand how African culture and music have influenced modern...
Student Achievement Partners
Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston's "Farewell to Manzanar"
Passages from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar provide the context for a study of the historical themes of experiencing war, resilience during war, and understanding the lasting trauma of war. Appendices include extension...
Curated OER
Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
Need a musical lesson for your drama or performing arts class? VH1 has put together a really neat lesson, in which learners use biographical information about Alicia Keys to write and perform a one-act musical related to her life. This...
Curated OER
Inside the Mind of the Unreliable Narrator
Create interdisciplinary connections and promote high-level inferences by studying unreliable narrators.
Curated OER
The Blues, B.B. King, Muddy Waters
B.B. King and Muddy Waters are two of the most famous blues performers of all time. In this music lesson, middle schoolers study the early careers and lasting musical contributions of both artists, each of whom carried the blues on to...
Facing History and Ourselves
Preparing Students for Difficult Converstaitons
Many of the issues facing 21st Century learners are challenging and even discussing these issues can be a challenge. So how do teachers prepare learners for these difficult conversations? How do instructors create a safe classroom where...
Curated OER
Drawing Lesson Improves Communication Skills
Students work in pairs to improve their communication skills through a drawing activity. They draw a figure on their papers and describe to each other what was drawn.
Visa
A Plan for the Future: Making a Budget
From fixed and variable expenses to gross income and net pay, break down the key terms of budgeting with your young adults and help them develop their own plans for spending and saving.
California Education Partners
Letter From Birmingham Jail
To demonstrate their ability to comprehend complex text, ninth graders are asked to craft an essay in which they use evidence drawn from "Letter From Birmingham Jail" to analyze how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses rhetorical devices...
California Education Partners
Hope Despair Memory
Elie Wiesel's "Hope, Despair and Memory" provides ninth graders an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to analyze complex text. Individuals craft an essay that draws evidence from the text of the speech to show how Wiesel develops...
Smithsonian Institution
The Music of the Mardi Gras Indians
The traditions, costumes, and the music of the Mardi Gras Indians, African-Americans and those with African American or Native American Heritage are the focus of a unit that introduces class members to a little-known group that...
Academy of American Poets
We Sing America
Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...
US Holocaust Museum
Educational Modules Based on Audio Podcasts
Imagine hearing someone claim an event like the Holocaust never happened. Pupils use audio podcasts and reading passages to dive into the lives of those impacted by the Holocaust of World War II. Using the information they gather, class...
Curated OER
Maps and Legends by Micheal Chabon
Students read an essay to improve language skills and understanding of American culture for ESL teachers. In this American culture lesson plan, students read the essay 'Maps and Legends' by Michael Chabon and complete various activities...
Curated OER
Breaking News English - No Hip-hop Fashion for Basketball Players
In this ESL/ELL reading comprehension worksheet, students read or listen to an article entitled, "No Hip-hop Fashion for Basketball Players." They participate in both pre-reading and post-reading activities which include fill-in the...
Curated OER
Animal Diaries
Students read Diary of a Worm by Foreen Cronin. In this journal writing lesson, students research an animal and write a diary by their animal. Students apply the research they've completed in their writings. Students share their diaries....
Curated OER
Can You Find a Solution?
Learners explore the topic of public conservation. In this Florida panthers lesson, students read a scenario about the endangered panther and collaborate to plan a way to protect the panther population. Learners also participate in a...
Curated OER
Copyright, Sampling and Mashing
Learners examine copyright laws in regard to sharing, sampling and mashing music. After listening to pieces of music, they create their own music sample by combining musical elements and expression. Students visit a specified website...
Curated OER
Mass Manipulation
Young scholars make a chart of the media's manipulation techniques and examples of them while watching and listening to a video tape of past news events.
Curated OER
Seeing Both Sides of an Issue
Young scholars examine global issues from different perspectives. In this communication skills lesson, students participate in a classroom activity that requires them to take stances on issues and then consider the support of other...
Curated OER
Industrial Revolution & Climate Change
Students examine the Industrial Revolution and write an essay about the problems it brought to cities. They also examine the environmental impact of the Industrial Revolution. They take a quiz to test for comprehension.
Curated OER
Concepts of Beauty Put Into Words
Studying haiku poetry with your English class? Delving into Japanese history with your world history class? Here is an authentic and creative way to explore Japanese culture more deeply. Pupils will compare and contrast two tea caddies...
Poets.org
Ghosts and Spirits
Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...
Curated OER
Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago - Chicago Blues
Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...