A Middle school special ed class uses the acronym SPAM to learn the 4 parts of writing. They employ 4 different colors to help them visually distinguish each part of writing in a given prompt. This lesson is vague and uses a strong...

Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...

Discover the environmental and economic impact of global warming. After reading an article, emerging environmentalists identify how different countries are responding to the Kyoto Protocol. They research emission laws and write a news...

Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...

Can history be rewritten? Or, more precisely, is history documented accurately? High school juniors and seniors compare primary source material with secondary sources. For example, they compare President Roosevelt's December 29, 1940...

Enter the fantastical world of  "Dungeons and Dragons" and other role-playing games with this activity from The New York Times. Middle schoolers create the outline for a role-playing game based on their own community. Then,...

Pupils examine how they greet the holiday season and participate in a class discussion to explore the ongoing debate on how best to celebrate the holidays. They read and discuss an article, and write a personal essay.

Women were in the workplace long before Rosie the Riveter pushed up her sleeve. Learn about the working options available to women during the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, and the Great Depression with a instructional...

Students explore the concept of human rights by examining the arresting of prominent Chinese dissidents who are members of the China Democratic Party. They develop and defend their own Bill of Human Rights and write a reflective essay.

Students write about the relationship between comedy and personal pain in their journals. After reading an article, they examine the Humber College school of comedy. They brainstorm difficult events in their own lives and create...

Students examine affirmative action and study the diversity of their own classrooms and communities, then of a particular college or university. They write essays examining how colleges should increase the diversity of their student bodies.

Students identify flags by country, then research the symbolism and history of those flags in preparation for writing and delivering oral presentations. For homework, they write essays reflecting on the relationship between flags,...

Students consider different stories and story-telling techniques of animated and live-action filmmaking, write proposals for animated films, and storyboard individual scenes.

Students share opinions about athlete endorsements. They write articles that provide an economic profile of an athlete for submission to their school newspaper.

Students reflect on the lives of older people they know, then research and debate the key issues surrounding scientific experimentation in anti-aging. They write a short story that reflects their own philosophical beliefs on aging and...

Learners research and create a book highlighting significant events and trends throughout the world in the year 2002. Then, through creative writing, they respond to the events or trends themselves and how they affected our world.

Young scholars examine the number of women in the United States Senate. After reading an article, they discover Hillary Clinton's possible bid for the presidential nomination for the Democratic party. In groups, they research the lives...

Students research the players and events that have influenced U.S.-China relations since World War II, with specific emphasis on the two countries' relationships with Taiwan. They write a briefing paper, advising the president on the...

Young scholars become familiar with the workings of Windows 3.11 especially Program Manager, File Manager, and MS DOS Prompt. They open, develop, save, and copy a text file within the windows environment.

Learners consider the meanings of Christmas by reading an op-ed. As a class, they then create a sequel to the poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," in which "Mamma" tells a story about the history of Christmas.

Students discuss the type of information that they expect to read in news coverage of earthquakes. They explore the devastating aftermath of an earthquake in South and Southeast Asia and research and write their own articles describing...

Students link important individuals who shaped the news in 2002 by playing a variation of a game based on the idea that all people can be connected with 6 or less associations between them. They propose appropriate New Year's resolutions.

Students research and document lessons learned from this disaster, then compile and synthesize information. They write effectively for public education purposes and use visual communications tools

Students further their understanding of the United Nations inspections in Iraq. They develop flow charts to organize ideas for interactive scenarios about the inspections in which the choices made determine the outcome.