Finding common ground and building conversation can often prove a difficult task for many. Help learners build this important social skill using this resource, which includes a Venn diagram learning exercise and sentence prompts to help...

How is a poem similar to and different from a news article? Pupils use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two genres. Also, as part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars participate in small-group discussions based on poetry...

Everyone comes from somewhere. An interdisciplinary lesson on Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island includes discussion starter and writing prompts for the novel, as well as a graphic organizer to help learners begin their...

Teach learners how to communicate and collaborate in a discussion on a shared project with this rich activity. It asks participants to channel their unique imaginations to produce a fictional "groupworld", while adhering to proper...

Partner up! Scholars continue their fishbowl activity with one partner sitting inside the circle and one sitting outside the circle. Participants add to sentence starters to analyze the perspective of the Pearl Harbor Attack seen in the...

Listen up, it's time for a Fishbowl discussion! Scholars continue their discussions about water management in industry and agriculture. After hearing both sides of the debate, pupils complete graphic organizers, deciding which sector is...

Using video clips of young adults from around the world describing their cultures and how they can be misunderstood, learners compare their own cultural point of view to that of others through discussion and writing.

By participating in discussions using prompts and statements provided in the lesson plan, learners identify the concept of extremism and consider what causes violent acts of extremism in the modern world. 

As part of a study of crafting compelling arguments, class members tackle the problem presented in Lawrence Kohlberg's "The Heinz Dilemma." After discussing the dilemma with classmates, writers draft an essay with a claim, support...

Immigration to the US has been a topic of discussion for many years. Inform your class about discrimination against immigrants during the Gold Rush with a short reading passage. After reading, class members answer five questions related...

 The narrative works of Frederick Douglass engage learners in the topic of slavery. They will experience American history in a new way, a Douglass expresses his thoughts in his own words. Pupils then interpret this literary...

Get an idea of how your learners are feeling now that they are back in school with a quick activity. Kids complete 12 sentence starters in order to express their thoughts on the new year. Why is it fun? Why is it stressful? The final...

Time to pick a side! Building on the Fishbowl activity from the previous instructional activity, scholars choose a position about whether the American Academy of Pediatrics should raise its screen time recommendations. Using notes,...

Activate your pupils' thinking before reading chapter five of Ordinary People. Learners decide whether they agree or disagree with six statements and discuss their ideas in small groups. They then read chapter five and determine...

An informative list compiled with quotes, authors, and discussion questions, along with 20 out-of-the-box application ideas, make up the collection of lessons geared to spark dialogue and creative thinking about quotations. 

Start off analysis of a text with a activity that asks pupils to complete several tasks. Class members note down a couple of characters or people and their distinguishing traits, describe the most important event, summarize the text...

Good Night, Moon is a classic little ones absolutely love. It's a sweet book that can be used, as in this lesson plan, to start a conversation about the difference between night and day. After reading the story, the class brainstorms...

Has life changed for American women in the last century, or are there common themes between the lives of 21st century women and the struggle of suffragettes from the 1910s? Explore the ways media reflects the position of women...

Britain's decision not to bomb German death camps in World War II has provided many questions for historians, but with a primary source analysis lesson, high school students may be a step closer to finding out the truth. Learners read...

Class members explore possible career paths and consider their own passions and interests by researching job openings, career descriptions, and skills, as well as reading the success stories of experienced entrepreneurs.

Shed light onto the subject of happiness with a worksheet that focuses on how the emotion—much like other emotions—does not last forever. Scholars read brief passages and answer nine short-answer questions that examine their...

Your pupils may not know that school was not always required. Teach them a bit about the history of public education with a reading passage and related questions.

Can your pupils identify these five important civil rights figures? Given five short descriptions, learners must match each person to his or her civil rights achievements. 

As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the...