Pick your poison: tobacco, alcohol, opiates, cocaine, or marijuana. An online exhibition launches a research project that asks groups to select one of the five drugs and gather information on how the use of the drug and the regulations...

Is your music appreciation class feeling a bit adagio this afternoon? Pick up the pace and get them feeling andante with a straightforward music theory activity. After defining several terms for musical dynamics and musical...

Using a variety of online resources, learners study life and society in California during the gold rush. They use a map to identify area where gold was located, explore pre-selected websites, describe mining practices, and create an...

Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical...

Imagine advertising for a product but not being paid to do so. Welcome to the world of Viral Messaging. Class members first view a T-Mobile flash mob video that went viral and has been seen by over 14 million viewers. After analyzing the...

Students identify and use the four types of brainstorming techniques used in essay prewriting. They select an appropriate attention getting statement to attract the essay reader. Students explore the purpose and methods of selecting...

After making predictions about Janell Cannon's story Verdi, middle schoolers read through the book and make a new list of descriptions, personality traits, etc. They select an animal and write a narrative story about the animal, paying...

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...

Young scholars examine pieces of art by African-American artists in the 20th Century. For each piece, they are shown slides of the artwork and others by the artist to identify the techniques used. In groups, they discuss and research...

September's "Banned Books Week" brings attention to the number of books that are challenged, censored, or banned each year. After watching a video about banned book week, reading articles about the history of book banning, and examining...

Learners read and compare two selections by two different authors with the theme man vs. nature. They complete a literary analysis paper comparing and contrasting the author's treatment of the topic with emphasis on setting, historical...

Advertisers target teenagers. Groups select three magazine advertisements for similar products, analyze the appeals used in each, create a poster that features the persuasive techniques used, and present their findings to the class. The...

Students identify and research significant people, causes, and primary documents of the U.S. Revolutionary War. They create a class Revolutionary War web using Inspiration computer software, write a journal depicting three days in the...

Students explore the issue of a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. They simulate the role of a Senator's aide, conduct Internet research, write and prepare an oral and a written response based on research,

Students identify quotation marks and demonstrate the uses of quotation marks. They rewrite sentences without quotation marks and discuss how the meanings can change without the use of quotation marks. In addition, they make their own...

Students participate in a class book club. After reading a selected book, they discuss what they like and dislike about the book and if they would recommend it to a friend with their partner. As a class they listen to the book "Click,...

Young scholars examine historical context. In this historical perspectives instructional activity, students read and discuss instructor-selected picture book biographies. Young scholars then complete graphic organizers based on the...

Sixth graders complete a long-term unit on ancient and early civilizations. They conduct Internet research, define key vocabulary terms, analyze maps, and create a PowerPoint presentation about a selected early civilization.

Students determine the story elements of typical mystery stories including characters and plot structure. They look at vocabulary that is common to mystery stories before reading and responding to mystery chapter books. Working in guided...

What's missing from most studies of the American Revolutionary War is information about the role African Americans played in the conflict. To correct this oversight, middle schoolers research groups like the Black Loyalists and ...

Eighth graders demonstrate the steps needed for a compare and contrast essay by writing a paper comparing and contrasting two selected pictures.

Learners conduct research for biographical information on a person they select. They write information on note cards and place the information appropriately on a graphic organizer.

Students read a short selection of a story individually or as a class. On their own, they create a story pyramid for the selection and write a one page summary. They use text from the story for their supporting details. To end the...

First graders listen to several poems containing shapes as well as selected concrete poems. They brainstorm a list of their favorite things and then come up with ten words that relate to the top five things chosen by the students. They...