Schoolwires
12th Grade Expository Reading and Writing Research Project
The beauty in this resource is the lengthy list of highly charged, controversial-issue research topics. Categories include issues of race, politics, law, environment, education, athletics, gender, and technology. After selecting a topic,...
Curated OER
Reading Club: Sex Ed
If you teach health, sociology, ethics, or a class that addresses controversial issues, this resource related to schools' sex education programs may be useful. The New York Times' Learning Network provides a lengthy article on a unique...
Curated OER
The 8th Amendment: The Death Penalty
Students take a closer look at the death penalty. In this U.S. government lesson, students watch a Discovery video about capital punishment in the United States and then compose letters to the editors of newspapers about their stance on...
Ed Change
Facilitating the Difficult Dialogue: Role Plays
Students share stories and role play about a time when they participated in, or facilitated, a discussion on racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, or another form of oppression that took an unexpected turn and caused conflict that was...
Ed Change
Who Said It? A Re-Perception Quiz
In this controversial issues instructional activity, learners read 15 famous quotations on controversial topics and identify who said each of them.
Curated OER
The Rosetta Stone
Students examine the controversy surrounding the Rosetta Stone. For this Rosetta Stone lesson, students read an article about the stone and then follow the steps in the lesson to look at 2 sides of the controversy about it. The article...
Curated OER
Venn Diagram
In this Venn diagram worksheet, students use a blank graphic organizer to list the differing characteristics of two issues in the outer circles. Students list the shared characteristics in the middle area.
Curated OER
Agree or Disagree?
In this language arts worksheet, students practice oral speaking by agreeing or disagreeing with a controversial sentence. Students read the sentence on each card in front of the group and tell how they feel about the statement made. The...
Curated OER
Agreeing And Disagreeing
In this language arts learning exercise, students practice oral language skills. Students work in pairs and agree or disagree with 16 controversial issues. There is a word bank of phrases to use for the degree of agreement or...
Curated OER
What's the Issue?
In this writing worksheet, students learn to write letters to a newspaper and give opinions about important issues. Students follow the steps on this page to identify a controversial issue and write a letter about it.
Curated OER
Seeing Both Sides of an Issue
Young scholars practice the skill of seeing an issue from different points of view.
Curated OER
Issues Poll
Students chart out what an opinion poll is and its effects on issues in society. They view an authentic poll to compare/contrast. In addition, they type out a word association key to help assemble a poll and then take a survey on...