Imagine 28 instructional strategies, appropriate for all subject areas and all grade levels. Directed Reading-Thinking Activities (DRTA), Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) activities, KWL charts, comparison matrixes, classification...

To conclude a study of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in a Socratic seminar discussion of Martinez's novel.

Tweens and teens learn coping skills to help manage strong emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness with a lesson that asks them to generate a list of self-calming strategies they use and to consider the suggestions in a short video and...

Introduce your freshmen to analogies with this packet of prompts that also includes strategies for solving these critical thinking puzzles.

Learning how to deliver good literacy instruction is key to becoming a successful teacher. This resource isn't so much a lesson as it is a guide to leading children in an interactive read-aloud session to increase fluency, comprehension,...

What makes a good question? Middle schoolers explore the use of questioning through QAR, the question answer response strategy, while reading Where the Red Fern Grows. They learn about the four types of questions: right there, think...

Good readers question text as they read. The Question Answer Relationships Strategy (QAR) used in this resource with The House on Mango Street, provides readers with a concrete approach for questioning Sandra Cisneros' text and...

"Fundamentals," the first lesson in a series of eight, introduces the basic concepts and strategies covered in a series of resources designed to teach high schoolers critical thinking skills. The worksheets and activities in this first...

As part of a reading of Elie Wiesel's Night class members engage in a directed reading/thinking activity that includes crafting predictions, verifying these predictions, and interpreting portions of the text.

Young journalists use four strategies from an "Am I Being Fair?" tip sheet to check for and counter personal biases about a topic. Scholars apply the strategies to an article about the best pizza as guided practice. Participants then...

Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.

Readers of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth craft and answer "Right There," "Think and Search," "On Your Own," and "Author and You" questions.

Young journalists use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution) strategy to evaluate historical and contemporary examples of bias in the news. The class then uses the provided discussion questions to...

Life can be stressful. Class members fill out T-charts identifying stressors associated with school, parents, friends, and life then list coping strategies that can help with each category.

Promote critical thinking and literary analysis with a short activity. Readers of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart respond to a series of questions modeled on Bloom's Taxonomy.    

A four corners pre-reading activity introduces class members to the major themes in Victor Martinez's award winning novel, Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida.

For many high schoolers, what they want to be when they grow up can be very intimidating. Here's an activity that gets them thinking about their interests and how they might connect these interests to future jobs. After watching a short...

Here's a new twist in the egg drop competition. Using only six inches of tape, four straws, and 2 pieces of newspaper, teams build a structure that keeps an egg from breaking when dropped. What's different about this project is that the...

Readers of The Wednesday Wars respond to model "Right There," "Think and Search," "On My Own," and "Author and You" (QAR) questions before crafting their own for class discussion.

Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...

Criticism of news and entertainment journalism is at an all-time high. Help 21st-century learners develop the media literacy skills they need to become critical consumers with a three-lesson guide the looks at persuasive techniques used...

Looking for lesson plans that address social and emotional learning competencies? Here's help in the form of a 166-page packet that includes lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school learners. Seven detailed plans are provided...

Here is a fantastic, comprehensive resource on the roles and powers assigned to the president of the United States. It includes several critical thinking exercises and engaging activities, from cartoon analysis and the opportunity to...

It's important to spice up your lessons. An online article discusses teaching strategies for AP® Calculus. In-class activities include matching games, placemats, multiple choice questions, scripted discussion, involuntary discussion,...