The motto for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry warns that one should never tickle a sleeping dragon, but learners will definitely be tickled by the activities in a packet of materials designed to accompany a reading of the...

Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials...

The film American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs introduces viewers to the differing philosophies of and strategies employed by 1960s civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the debate over...

Because of the Electoral College, it is possible to win the popular vote in a US Presidential election and still lose the election. After researching the pros and cons of the Electoral College, class members engage in a structured debate...

"It's alive!" Or is it? Scholars tackle the question of what it means to be human in a lesson that asks them to research the Turning Test and other devices that attempt to prove whether AI devices can pass as humans. After participants...

A read-aloud anthology explores the ancient greek civilization. Over four weeks, second graders explore Mount Olympus, Sparta, Athens, the olympic games, philosophers, and Alexander the Great. Scholars listen to and discuss a reading,...

How did the beginnings of genetic research influence the Nazi party? A thorough, engaging unit incorporates the work of Gregor Mendel, the study of inherited traits, and the use of racism and discrimination during the Holocaust.

Reclaim forgotten philosophers of the twentieth century. Feminist philosophers have shaped our current concepts of politics and gender, but they are seldom mentioned in the classroom. Change that omission with a lesson plan that includes...

Was the Southern states' decision to secede from the Union protected by the United States Constitution? Eighth graders discuss the constitutionality of the South's justification for secession, particularly the secession of South...

The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets...

Shocking! After viewing a short clip from the 1931 movie, Frankenstein and reviewing electricity references in Mary Shelley's novel, class members examine Luigi Galvani's and Alessandro Volta's observations on electricity and muscle...

The emotional and spiritual oppression of slavery in the African-American experience is the focus of this lesson. Middle schoolers analyze various texts by Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou related to freedom and oppression....

Take classes on an in-depth tour of the Declaration of Independence. An informative resource effectively scaffolds learning by providing warm-up and wrap-up activities. It also includes a variety of handouts for individuals to complete,...

What would Henry David Thoreau think of life in 21st-Century America? Pupils investigate the abolitionist using primary and secondary materials. They analyze what Thoreau would think of the changes to American lifestyles since the time...

Why did so many go along with Nazi policies during World War II? An investigatory unit includes four handouts, reading analyses, classroom discussion topics, and intriguing philosophical questions, helping learners understand the...

Students read and discuss Socrates's "Crito" and examine the arguments he made supporting his own death penalty. They consider the still-relevant debate between the rights of the individual and the rule of law.

A 20-page curriculum guide for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince includes five lessons and related worksheets. For background, class members research and create travel brochures for Florence, Italy, in 1500. Next, they analyze...

The second lesson in a series of fourteen, this plan takes the short story basics a step further. Learners complete a quiz about the story from the previous day, discuss the text, learn about Anton Chekhov, and work in groups to begin...

Candace Fleming's award winning Ben Franklin's Almanac is the anchor text for a classroom guide that provides teachers with a cache of pre, during, and post-reading activities.

"How come there's no ending?" After a close reading of Frank R. Stockton's tale "The Lady, or the Tiger?" in which scholars examine each of the main characters' conflicts and motivations, writers craft their own ending using textual...

Teach young scholars how to determine the theme of a story, an insight the author wants to share with readers, with a lesson that uses Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" as an anchor text. Learners examine the internal and external...

Pupils explore the meaning of the ancient Greek word aretê and the place of virtue in historical athletic competition and modern sports. They begin by reading an informational text on the goal of sports in education, and then...

After reading Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," class members compare the characteristics of Ichabod Crane and Brom Van Brunt. Next, they read an article about ghosts that supposedly haunt the campus of Oklahoma...

Just what did Ben Franklin read? By juxtaposing Ben Franklin’s reading material as a young man with an analysis of his developed ideas, learners gain the opportunity to see how the influences of his youthful reading played out. Roman,...