Lesson Plan
Speak Truth to Power

Dalai Lama: Free Expression and Religion

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How is religious freedom connected to the conflict between China and Tibet? After reading an online passage of background information, your learners will divide into groups and both read and view an interview with the Dalai Lama. They...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: The Snowy Day

For Parents K Standards
Scholars listen to a read-aloud of fiction and nonfiction books, The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, and Snow Is Falling, written by Franklyn Branley and illustrated by Holly Keller, then take part in four creative...
Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

Man in the Middle: Thomas Day and the Free Black Experience

For Teachers 5th Standards
How did free and enslaved blacks work to craft freedom for themselves and their families before the Civil War? Young historians read about the life of Thomas Day, a free black man who also owned slaves and had abolitionist ties in...
Lesson Plan
Bully Free Systems

Bully Free Lesson Plans—Fifth Grade

For Teachers 5th Standards
Two lessons take a look at bullying. Lesson one focuses on physical bullying. Scholars identify the bullying type's qualities, read short stories and answer comprehension questions. Lesson two offers advise on what to do as a bystander...
Lesson Plan
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UnboundEd Learning

Rosa Parks: The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 2nd Standards
Class members listen to a passage on Rosa Parks, examine images of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and respond to questions based on the text. They then craft a free-verse poem that recounts her achievements and reveals why she is considered...
Lesson Plan
1
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Smithsonian Institution

Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
Lesson Plan
Recorded Books

Teacher's Guide: The Pinballs

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are...
Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Unit 6: American Revolution

For Teachers 4th Standards
The American Revolution is the theme of a five-week unit that focuses on reading, grammar, morphology, and writing. Scholars read and respond to texts, practice spelling and word work, and write paragraphs. Assessments gauge comprehension.
Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

Poe’s “The Raven” – Unity of Effect

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
How do Poe's choices of imagery, rhythm and rhyme scheme, and structure help build the desired single effect of "The Raven"? After listening to a dramatic reading of the poem, class members consider whether Poe's choices do...
Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

Reading Nonfiction: Analyzing Joseph McCarthy's "Enemies from Within" Speech

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Looking for a instructional activity that teaches class members how to analyze nonfiction? Use Joseph McCarthy's famous "Enemies from Within" speech as a instructional text. Worksheet questions direct readers' attention to the many...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

If You're a Bird, I'm a Bird: Symbolism

For Teachers 8th - 9th Standards
Would a bluebird be as scary as a vulture? Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is the central text in a lesson about symbolism. After a close reading of the poem, learners consider what the raven might represent to the narrator. They then...
Unit Plan
1
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Umoja Student Development Corporation

Martin Luther King, Jr.: What Did He Do? Why Does It Matter?

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Young historians examine the work of Martin Luther King Jr. by reading and answering questions about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Albany Movement, the Birmingham and Chicago campaigns, and the Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike....
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 2

For Teachers 9th Standards
After viewing a clip from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in which major characters are introduced, and the violence between the Montagues and the Capulets is depicted, the class reads Act 1, Scene 1, lines 158-202. Groups then analyze the...
Activity
Novelinks

The Lightning Thief: Problematic Situation Strategy

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
In the novel, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Percy is faced with a major decision. After reading, chapter 19, discuss the decision-making process Percy took, what he decided to...
Activity
Administrative Office of the US Courts

Morse v. Frederick

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
If you stop a student from expressing views that advocate drug use, are you violating their right to free speech? Use the 2007 Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick to discuss a nuanced interpretation of the First Amendment....
Lesson Plan
iCivics

Step Five: All about Public Policy

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Public policy is important to understand because it affects everyone. The resource tells middle schoolers how the government uses policy to accomplish goals in the administration. It includes a reading, true or false worksheet, a...
Lesson Plan
1
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Smithsonian Institution

POWs

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars?  To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Media Smarts

You Be the Editor

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Look at different case studies to discuss the ethics of journalism. Twelve real-life events are written up and your learners get to be the editors. Encourage your class to think about the implications of publishing decisions. After each...
Lesson Plan
Common Sense Media

The Masque of the Red Death

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Poe goes high tech with a lesson that asks high schoolers to use the internet and various apps as they read and analyze "The Masque of the Red Death." In addition to responding to comprehension questions in Quizlet, they use Minecraft to...
Lesson Plan
Film English

Coca-Cola Ad

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Have your class members consider how their lifestyle choices may differ from those of their grandparents when they were younger. After brainstorming and discussing differences in lifestyle, pupils watch a Coca-Cola advertisement that...
Lesson Plan
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Museum of Tolerance

The Price of Personal Responsibility

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A reading of Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention," Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" launch a discussion about the price one is willing to pay to...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

The New Nation

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The conclusion of the American Revolution brought about a new conflict—choosing the stye of government for the newly formed United States. Using the views of both Federalists and Anti-Federalists, learners work in pairs and groups to...
Unit Plan
National Constitution Center

Fourth of July (Grades 3-5)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...
Lesson Plan
2
2
Baylor College

Microbes and Disease

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Discuss how diseases have impacted human history. Divide your class into groups and assign each group one of the following: tuberculosis, malaria, plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. They read up on, complete a concept map, and present...