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Oral Arguments Online
High schoolers conduct a mock oral argument based on the briefs provided and further research as assigned by the instructor. They write an opinion for the case outlining why one legal argument prevailed over the other based on their own...
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Advertising sales
Learners examine how advertising is an important community service; explaining that both businesses and customers benefit and that designing and selling ads requires professional knowledge and personal preparation.
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Character Analysis Chart
This versatile graphic organizer could be used alongside any novel, poem, play, or story through which your class in studying character. Class members can get characters straight or describe particular characters in more detail with this...
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Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet
Students investigate how sound influences meaning in poetry by listening to sonnets. They write an analysis after listening to and reading sonnets.
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Practical Criticism
As an introduction to literary criticism, class members recreate I.A. Richards' close reading experiment. Individuals select a poem, paraphrase the story, focus on the imagery used, consider what the imagery adds to the tale, and...
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Got Character?
Students create an advertisement promoting good behavior. This character-development lesson plan from Boys Town High School involves students studying the history of the Got Milk?advertising campaign. After a discussion of marketing...
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Project Peace Process
Students collaboratively write a peace plan as they role play citizens of foreign countries. In this current events lesson, students take on the role of Israelis or Palestinians, research background information and current political...
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Cartoons for the Classroom: Vanishing Newspapers
What is happening to our newspapers? In the context of the current trends of media and the ever-declining print news industry, this handout includes two political cartoons for pupils to analyze, both created by artists working for...
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Grammar Workshop: Pronoun Case: I or Me?
Once and for all, discern when to use the pronoun "I" and when to use "me." Clear definitions and examples are given for each category of possessive, subjective, and objective pronouns. In easy-to-understand language, the most helpful...
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Investigating Our Past: Where Did Humans Come From?
Investigate the theories of human evolution. In this research based instructional activity, learners research and discuss how geographic isolation, interbreeding, generalization, and specialization are factors in the history of humans....
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Primary and Secondary Sources - 7th
A link to a beautiful Animoto presentation is included, giving examples of primary sources that a student might want to contact when doing research. Using the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah as a sample topic, middle schoolers view a slide...
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Rules of Thumb for Diction
What is the difference between accept and except? Affect and effect? Brilliantly advise your class with the advice in these slides. Definitions of commonly misused words from A-Z help clarify meaning and usage.
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Worksheet 7: Print Advertising
Use this versatile, cross-curricular graphic organizer to demonstrate the power of words in advertising. Scholars analyze print advertisements, identifying parts of the ad that stand out. This could include color, celebrity endorsement,...
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The Stuff of Stories: Using Museums to Inspire Student Writing
Middle schoolers write descriptions, narratives, and dialogues based on objects of art and time periods in a museum. They base several writing assignments on art objects and paintings, including a literal description and an emotional...
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A Year in Review: The Memoir
If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...
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Passive Voice Exercises
Strengthen understanding of grammar and syntax with this task. First, grammarians identify the active and passive voices, then they rewrite individual sentences to be in the active voice before manipulating an entire paragraph. Great...
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Unlikely Diary keepers Using Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Put your class in the shoes of someone - or something - else with this lesson, which encourages writers to keep a diary from the perspective of a living creature or an abstraction. Use Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm and the Six Trait...
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Writing Fables
Students write their own fables. For this writing fables lesson, students use handheld computers to write a fable. The class designs a spreadsheet to organize common elements of fables. Students also edit each others' work.
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Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Concluding the Novel
As I Lay Dying is a beautiful book and a wonderful vehicle for understanding, interpreting, and comparing themes. The class reads and analyzes the novel, discusses possible interpretations, and characterizations. They compare the themes...
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Taming of the Shrew: Updated, Translated, and Performed
Make The Taming of the Shrew modern and relevant with this outline. Small groups can choose from a list of suggested scenes and update with modern language and settings before acting them out. Great questions refine writing and...
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Children's Media and Censorship
High schoolers form opinions about children and television censorship after analyzing literature. They complete a journal writing activity to identify the topic and make a list of inappropriate television shows for children. Next, they...
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Picture Perfect Poetry
Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this instructional activity to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 2: Religion and the Argument for American Independence
Young scholars examine how religion affected arguments justifying American independence. They read and analyze primary source documents, and write an essay analyzing how Americans used religious arguments to justify revolution against a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 1: The First Great Awakening
High schoolers examine the First Great Awakening and how it affected religious belief in colonial America. They read and analyze primary source documents, explore various websites, and write a five-paragraph essay examining the beliefs...