Curated OER
Beowulf: Songs of Ancient Heroes
Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...
Curated OER
Seeing/Reading Photographs Lesson Plan: An Interactive History Discussion
Students analyze and read historic photographs. In this historic photographs lesson, students explore history and writing by looking at photographs. Students discuss the photographs and produce a written record of the historical photograph.
Curated OER
Literary Analysis of The Minister's Black Veil
After reading The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a homework assignment your class will complete a literary analysis. Learners will analyze important element of the story and take notes to help support their essays....
Curated OER
Launching an Inquiry into Endangered Animals
Students create questions they want answered while they show what they comprehend about endangered and extinct species. They categorize photos of living things onto a contunum with the main points for use as a formative assessment.
Curated OER
Rewriting Shakespeare
Have your learners play around with Shakespeare's language. In this plan, small groups examine and rearrange soliloquies from Othello, noting how the language changes and morphs. All groups have a chance to change each soliloquy, making...
Curated OER
Introduction to Poetry Lesson Plan
Analyze poetry in a group setting. Middle and high schoolers read lyrics to a Tom Petty song and free write about the song's tone, setting, and speaker. They then complete the same activity in a group setting using seven poems. The...
Curated OER
Hermeneutics: Teaching Students Author's Purpose
Your developing literary critics discuss 'perspective' and discuss how the same occurence can be interpreted by two different people in two different ways. They read Ryszard Kapuscinski's untitled poem, infer meaning of the poem, and...
Curated OER
The Amazing Race -- Africa
Students conduct research and gather information regarding various cities in Africa. They discover what it would take to travel to and through Africa and plan a trip through various regions of the continent. They present their itinerary,...
Curated OER
Hoot: KWHL
How can we help endangered animals? Learn about which animals are endangered and what people can do to protect them with a lesson based on Carl Hiaasen's Hoot. After completing a KWHL chart to note what they already know and what they...
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Writing in Different Viewpoints
Students read and analyze the point of view of a selected classic short story. They take notes while reading the story, select a character, and rewrite the story from a different viewpoint.
Curated OER
Researching Another country's Holiday: Organizing and Recording Information
Prior to this lesson, 5th graders will have collected notes from several sources. Students extend their note taking to include at least one example each of summarizing and paraphrasing. They record bibliographic information for each...
PBS
The Big Picture-Economic Security in the Country and your Community
High schoolers explore economic security at the local and national level during the time period preceding the 2008 presidential election. They fill out surveys on their thoughts and concerns regarding the US economy, and watch a video...
Curated OER
Cracking Cassius
Students examine the argument between Cassius and Brutus to define the importance of friendship and study a Shakespearean play. In this Julius Caesar analysis instructional activity, students list qualities of a best friend and read...
Curated OER
For Richer or for Poorer
Learners read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
Curated OER
Biographies
Students read a biography and discuss what defines a biography. Students choose a biography of their own interest to read and write a report about one of the people in the biography. Reports are shared with classmates.
Curated OER
Twisting Versions of Little Red Riding Hood
Students read orally two versions of Little Red Riding Hood (Classic and Cajun) They compare and contrast the two Little Red Riding Hood versions. Students create a concept map to demonstrate the comparisons/contrasts. They could also...
Curated OER
A Nation Divided
Fifth graders participate in various activities related to the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson students understand the events and feelings of people during the Civil War by studying primary sources, journal writing, readings, viewing...
Curated OER
First Set of Essay Questions on The Hobbit
Students read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and choose two essays to write about the first six chapters. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read the first six chapters of the novel and use a worksheet to take notes as they...
Curated OER
Bacteria and their viruses
Students listen and take lecture notes. They quietly watch a video on the bacteria and their viruses while taking notes on the video. They make 2 color drawings on blank paper, one showing a lytic virus and one showing a lysogenic virus.
Curated OER
Perks and Perils
Learners research the life of the first family. In this U.S. Government lesson plan, students take a White House quiz, read an article about the first family and write in their journals about a typical day in their lives versus what a...
Curated OER
Elements of Fables
Students explore the attributes of fables. In this literature lesson, students read several fables and identify the moral lesson, characterization, and figurative language in each. Students then retell their favorite fables in their own...
Curated OER
Human Rights And Civil Rights
While he may not be as well known as civil rights activists such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, or Malcolm X, Ralph Bunche's contributions certainly made him a leader in the struggle for civil rights in the United States and...
Curated OER
Using Dialogue Journals in Support of Science Instruction
High schoolers build a dialog journal within their science class. They develop written responses to questions asked by the teacher in a journal notebook. Teachers have the responsibility to read and respond to student responses.
The New York Times
A Worker's Compensation
Middle schoolers read about the history of Labor Day in a newspaper article. They discuss difficulties American employees of the past had to face, learn about labor rallies, and conduct Internet research. Part of the intention of this...