Help your young writers produce high-quality topic and thesis statements that go beyond basic wording and really illustrate complex ideas and critical thinking skills. From however and compound sentence statements to using...

When you come across an unfamiliar word in a text, do you skip it and move on? Practice using context clues to identify words you don't know with a thorough set of language arts lessons. The resource reinforces close reading and critical...

Take a close look at the world around you with an activity that magnifies everyday objects. Five explorations examine items under intense magnification and pose a series of questions that encourage critical thinking and following...

"Clean the data!" "I did not know it was dirty." Introduce your class to the process of cleaning data so that it can analyze it. Groups work through a guide that demonstrates the common ways to filter and sort data. Pairs then...

Caring, trustworthiness, and responsibility—these are only a few character traits in focus of a lesson based on stories from the Civil War era. Class members explore several influential lives while reading biographies that highlight...

The point of view in a story can dramatically change the story itself. Focus on finding the points of view in various reading passages with a language arts packet, which includes fiction and nonfiction text.

There is more than one way to approach a problem. Explore the habits of mind as they relate to the methods of approaching learning, and to how young writers can develop success once they learn to foster each skill.

A reading of Tanya Lee Stones' biography of Ella Fitzgerald lets middle schoolers get up close and personal with the First Lady of Jazz. Stone recounts details of Fitzgerald's life from her early days through her experiences as a teenage...

Five important tenets of any social studies class are available for young historians with a poster that defines history as an account of the past. It encourages learners to question reliability of an author's perspective, as well as...

Article II of the United States Constitution grants Presidents executive powers in areas of international conflict, domestic and foreign policy. Using examples drawn from Ronald Reagan's presidency, class members are asked to consider...

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. 

Help learners develop the ability to offer appropriate, meaningful compliments to others—an essential social skill. Here you'll find a quick photo cartoon illustrating a right and wrong way to give a compliment, as well as a brief...

As part of a study of post Civil War era, young historians investigate the changes in voting rights during the Reconstruction Era (1863-1876), the fraud involved in the Hayes-Tilden presidential election of 1876, and efforts by Pap...

Boost digital citizenship with an engaging infographic that promotes the importance of being a positive digital agent, self, and interactor.

Bloom's Taxonomy is a great way to address the many levels of comprehension. With explanations and examples of each level, you can create questions that focus on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

There are many links and resources on this site dealing with critical thinking. It includes everything from the characteristics of critical thinkers to the logic of critical thinking.

This resource presents strategies to help improve your critical thinking skills, this site provides useful information for applying these skills to your everyday life.

This critical thinking exercise and checklist is designed for teachers and students. A lesson plan can be developed here that illustrates decision-making skills and a teacher can use examples of common problems that get in the way when...

A tip sheet to help both students and adults learn how to test online content for validity.

This lesson focuses on the importance of organizing your speech including critically thinking about the contents of the speech, the components of the speech, the patterns of organization to fit the different types of speeches, and...

An article in which Jamie McKenzie states his belief that each district should create a Questioning Toolkit which contains several dozen kinds of questions and questioning tools. Portions of the Questioning Toolkit should be introduced...

This paper by Martin Nickels includes a section titled "The Uncertainty & Limits of Scientific Knowledge."

This site clearly explains the concept of Social Darwinism, then asks students to evaluate its implications in an example. Good lesson in critical thinking and philosophy.

If you are a teacher OR a student looking for a well-informed website on elements of the writing process, you are in luck! This site from the Capital Community College is very comprehensive and easy-to-navigate. From grammar basics to...