Santa Ana Unified School District
The Giver
Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials about...
Santa Ana Unified School District
Lord of the Flies Unit
How does a society influence and shape individuals? Class members ponder this essential question as they read Lord of the Flies, as well as primary source materials about the historical background of the novel. As a final assessment,...
Curated OER
Teen Driving: Skills, Responsibilities and Reactions
As an introduction to the skills required for and responsibilities of driving, pre-teens and teens engage in a series of activities, chart their response times, and analyze how variables effect these reaction times. Class groups use the...
Saskatchewan Elocution and Debate Association
Debate Games and Activities Guide
A must-have resource for classes that engage in debate, this packet contains 20 detailed plans for debate games and activities. Everything from how to select evidence to support a position, to structuring a debate on which candy bar is...
Incredible Art
Artist Research Scrapbook
Art students get a chance to investigate a favorite artist in this two-week activity that asks them to research the life, the style, and the society in which the artist lived, and then to create a scrapbook for their subject. To conclude...
Incredible Art
Historical Narrative Using Silhouettes
Connect art and history with a series of activities inspired by the work of contemporary artist, Kara Walker. After watching an Art 21 video about Walker and examining the images in a PowerPoint presentation, class members use...
Curated OER
Plagiarism Workshop
What do George Harrison, Vanilla Ice, and Steven Ambrose all have in common? The Warner Brothers’ films Batman Forever and The Devil’s Advocate? All are guilty of plagiarism. And if you are considering a research project and want to...
Curated OER
Apps for the ELA Classroom
A look at several effective programs you can use to enhance your curriculum.
Curated OER
"Their Eyes Were Watching God": Folk Speech and Figurative Language
Using or considering using Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God? Then this packet is a must for your curriculum library. The examination of how Hurston combines folklore and folk language to create the voice of her...
Curated OER
Speeding Up Grading with Online Resources
Use websites and apps to increase peer editing, digitize your papers, and automate the objective editing.
PBS
Journalism in War Time: What Does the Public Need to Know?
A viewing of the documentary War Feels Like War, launches an exploration of the importance of accurate and comprehensive war reporting. Groups investigate various news agencies and assess the factors that influence their stories. A...
Curated OER
A Quest for Author Importance
Class members discover information about an author through a WebQuest and a brochure project.
Curated OER
What's Really True? Discovering the Fact and Fiction of Autism
Youngsters investigate autism and autism spectrum disorders. They access a variety of websites which present information on ASD's, and assess how accurate the information they've read actually is. They work in groups and utilize...
Curated OER
Go for the Gold!
The options are vast with this Ancient Greece and Olympics research project! Using Scholastic online resources, historians have interactive and educational supports to guide them through researching and writing about the 2004 Olympics in...
Curated OER
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
Curated OER
Denial on Trial
What is the "Faurisson Affair”? What is “Holocaust Revisionism”? What does freedom of speech entail? Do revisionists have a right to voice their ideas? Such questions are at the heart of a richly detailed, thought provoking lesson...
Curated OER
Is That a Fact?
Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...
Curated OER
Diving into Iceland's Genetic Pool
Investigate ethical issues surrounding the Decode project in Iceland. Middle and high schoolers take the positions of the Icelandic government, scientific researchers, and citizens and defend or refute the Decode project in a Reykjavik...
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Scholars study a historical photograph to make predictions of what happened right after the picture was taken. They research a variety of different topics and use primary sources to answer questions about common food, fashion trends, and...
Curated OER
Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter
What would Edward R. Murrow think of today’s news broadcasts? Learners examine the work of the first public television newscaster and his commitment to researched, accurate reporting. The eight-day study concludes with investigators...
Curated OER
Assessing Research Materials
Teaching learners how to evaluate a research source is an important part of the research process. The fresh idea here is that groups first develop a list of reasons why resources should be evaluated, transform these reasons into...
Curated OER
Youth Obesity: Schools Fight Back
Kids fight obesity by comparing the USDA food intake suggestions to what they personally consume throughout the day. They watch a video, read texts, and explore related vocabulary which they use as they compose an oral presentation.
Curated OER
Works Cited Activity
Awesome! Teach your writers and researchers how to create a works cited page by giving them this activity. Their assignment is to create a proper works cited page that uses a list of different magazine articles, books, and poems. All of...
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
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...