Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all just get along! Fortunately, the skills needed to build and maintain healthy relationships can be learned. Two activities help high schoolers build these skills. First, a class member reads a series...

It's all about perspective. Scholars view a note from the author in Eight Days. They determine the gist and discuss what they can learn about the author's background based on the note. They then complete a fishbowl activity in...

A couple PowerPoint presentations are used to stimulate discussion about the perspectives of different countries on the issue of energy consumption. Afterward, they play a game in which each team is assigned a country, considers its...

Scholars take another look at Japan's Fourteen-Part Message. They then take turns adding ideas to sentence starters to create ideas about the different perspectives of government. To finish, groups mix and mingle to share their sentences...

After a lecture about how the first industrial revolution triggered the path to climate change, your environmental studies class discusses what the impacts are. In a culminating activity, they get into groups and identify countries on a...

As part of a case study of U.S. immigration during the first part of the 20th century, class members examine a variety of primary sources that present multiple perspectives of the responses of those in favor of immigration and those...

Confederate soldiers saw the Civil War much differently than their Union counterparts. Scholars analyze the perspective of the Civil War from the viewpoint of various key figures in the fourth installment of an eight-part series. By...

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...

Explore the concepts of community and point of view with these activities complementing the children's book Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Following a class reading of the story, ask students to either draw a map of the...

"What's in a name?" Is it irrelevant, as Juliet suggests in Shakespeare's play, or is nomenclature deeply significant? Young scholars weigh in on the debate by examining the controversy over the NFL's Washington, D.C. Redskins. Groups...

After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.

Being able to see things from another's perspective is an important part of social awareness. A short activity permits scholars to practice perspective-taking, which in turn helps them develop empathy, appreciate diversity, and promote...

The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...

The only way that a heinous act of genocide can succeed is if citizens of surrounding groups and countries turn their backs on those suffering. A thorough language arts module addresses shared central ideas with three separate units,...

The perception of fairness in elections becomes more important with each passing election. Using data from a C-SPAN poll, budding historians consider the differences between how people perceive elections. The resource includes videos of...

Young scholars are asked to reflect on how personal experiences might influence points of view and perspectives. They read poems and biographies of the poets and then match the poem to the poet. To justify their matches, learners...

After class members brainstorm a list of current social and political issues, groups each select a different topic from the list to research. Teams create a portfolio of at least 10 examples of stories about their issue, stories that...

To conclude a unit on the concept of diversity in world literature, class members conduct a symposium on "African Literature in Global Perspectives." In order to earn a spot on the panel, individuals craft an original thesis that...

How would the story of the discovery of America be different if indigenous people told it through their eyes? Individuals compare the conventional account of this moment in history to an account given by one of the native peoples. After...

Two primary sources, a speech, and an article provide tweens and teens with different perspectives of the American Thanksgiving holiday. After analyzing Wamsutta James' suppressed speech and Jacqueline Keeler's article, class members use...

Spoken word poetry, more than almost any other form, reveals the historical and cultural perspective of the poet. High schoolers listen to various spoken word poems, select one to research in-depth, and then apply what they have learned...

Photos can challenge stereotypes. To gain an understanding of the big picture, groups examine a series of photographs and analyze how a photographer's choices can shape a viewer's reaction to an image. For the first set of photographs,...

Perspective changes everything. Scholars use a close reading guide while analyzing pages 38-47 in Unbroken. Readers learn that the governments of Japan and the United States had very different perspectives about the attack on Pearl...

Party time! Here's a resource that suggests celebrating diversity by organizing a school-wide event that features performers and speakers that represent the various cultures and traditions. The packet includes a list of suggested...