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The Tale of Genji
Did you know that the world's first novel was written by a woman? Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, was published in 1021. Class members research Eastern and Western cultures in the 10th and 11th centuries, view modern adaptations of...
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What Were They Thinking Then, What Are We Thinking Now?
Choosing an issue from a play or novel, researchers find two primary sources from different time periods to compare how people's views have changed. Many questions are listed to guide young writers. In the end, learners produce a...
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Family Responsibility and Commitment
Students discuss the meaning of family and how they can community love and affection. Using an analysis of the work of Picasso, students define who is in their family. They discuss the various ways family members express their affection...
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Looking At Illuminated Manuscripts: Exploring an Illuminated Manuscript Page
Students investigate illuminated manuscript pages from the Medieval period. In this illuminated manuscript lesson, students examine 13th century pages and compare them to modern printed works. They describe the details of an illuminated...
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Fairy Tales, Past and Present
Students examine the different elements of a fairy tale. They discover why setting, characters, problems and solutions are important in a fairy tale. They recreate the fairy tale in modern times and create a storybook to accompany their...
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His Story/Her Story/Your Story
Students read a variety of biographies to gain insight on the experiences of an African-American's life. Individually, they try to determine the time period it was written and compare the event with ones that occured in their own lives....
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The English Sonnet: Michael Drayton
Students discover literature by conducting a free writing experiment. In this sonnet activity, students read the sonnet "The Parting" and compare it to modern-day songs about breaking up. Students listen to pop music in class and...
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A Sample of What?
Students are introduced to the connection between women and the textile industry. Using primary source documents, they complete a handout on how gender roles have changed over the years. They examine a sampler which is connected to the...
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Rap as a Modern Poetic Form
Students write and listen to rap songs. They discover how common themes in rap are indicative of the problems, as well as the empowerments, that can be seen in our urban cultures today. They discover how rap is actually an evolution of...
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Robert Henri, the Harlem Renaissance and You
Students examine the artwork of Robert Henri. Using his pieces, they compare and contrast it to the works during the Harlem Renaissance. They create a HyperStudio project showing the Ashcan School of Art with music accompanying the...
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Digital Dada
Young scholars explore the concept of photomontage the juxtaposition of photo images and fragments of images to create new images and meanings. To research Hannah Hoch and the Dadists who created them. To incorporate digital technology...
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Portrait of the Artist - Georgia O'Keeffe
Students study the work of Georgia O'Keefe. They use a digital camera or scanned images from a regular camera and the PhotoShop application to create a landscape of their own which reflects the important shapes or objects in their...
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How Quickly Disease Spreads
Students demonstrate how quickly disease spreads and the importance of protective measures with communicable diseases. They examine past epidemics such as the Bubonic Plague and make predictions about future epidemics.They compare and...
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Separation Anxiety
Students examine the instances in history in which groups of people were segregated by race or ethnicity. After reading an article, they discover how apartheid impacted people's attempt to an education. Using the internet, they research...
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Paper Making
Sixth graders examine and discuss the history of paper making. They create pieces of paper from raw materials, then decorate their papers to use as journal entries or scrapbook designs.
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The Mayflower Compact
Twelfth graders discover the ideas of our government by reading the Mayflower Compact. In this U.S. Government lesson plan, 12th graders identify the main ideas of the Mayflower Compact, how it came to be and who was affected the most...
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OK in Oklahoma? All-Black Communities
Students read to discover the African-American migration to Oklahoma following the Civil War and the eventual settlements of thirty-two all-black towns. To present their findings, students will write position papers and participate in...
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Colonial Geography: To and From Canada
Students identify the major geographic features of colonial New England. They explain the essential parts to a map and interpret journals to plot a journey. They discover the connection between geography and life.
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Try Tessellation
Most middle schoolers probably feel that quilting is at best an activity left to their grandmothers. This lesson uses the Zome modeling system to get them to realize how shapes in quilting are really tessellations and repeating patterns....
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Water, Water Everywhere?
Students discover the relationship between water availability and population growth. They change variables in a computer model using a worksheet to guide their hypotheses and conclusions. In small groups they choose a country undergoing...
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Understanding History Through Oracle Bone Study
Students study the Chinese characters and oracle bone inscriptions in order to understand the relevance of language to the reflection of cultural values. They examine the appearance of an oracle bone and the use of oracle bones in...
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Ancient Cultures - Roman
Students examine the Ancient Roman culture focusing on how they decorated their homes. As a class, they watch a PowerPoint presentation and complete an outline. Individually, they draw their own sketch of a Roman chair using...
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Getting Down and Dirty: An Exploration of the 1930's
Students complete an exploration of the 1930s. Using artwork and primary source documents, they compare, contrast and identify cause and effect relationships in the events of the decade. They discover how the events then affect people...
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What is Cultural Evolution?
Students comprehend what is meant by Cultural Evolution and that it primarily applies at Human Evolution, but that there are examples in higher mammals such as a killer whales, dolphins and great apes of particular groups by exploring...