Curated OER
Flying Freudian Fun: A Look At Ethical Decision Making
There are not many more apt examples of ethics gone awry than William Golding's Lord of the Flies.. Ninth graders focus the ethics of decision making with the examples provided in the plot. They focus on the concept of the psyche and how...
Curated OER
Life and Death Decisions
Students defend contrasting perspectives concerning the purpose of medicine and the issues surrounding euthanasia.
Curated OER
Mini-Unit: Natural Resources
Students explore how their choices affect others. In this character development and ecology lesson, students debate choice-making issues. Students listen to The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and identify choices the characters made about tree...
Novelinks
The House of the Scorpion: Problematic Situations
What should Matt do? Readers of The House of the Scorpion are offered several possible actions Matt could take when he first sees the children outside the house. They rate the options and then meet in groups to discuss the reasons for...
Novelinks
Words By Heart: Anticipation Guide
The anticipation guide for Words by Heart is the first of a series of six, contains lesson plans for the activity as well as a handout to be completed individually, in pairs, or as a class. It sparks interest for the text and activates...
Curated OER
ESL Vocabulary Multiple Choice Worksheet
In this ESL vocabulary building learning exercise, students read 10 sentences that each have a missing word. For each question, students choose the best answer from 4 similar choices.
Carnegie Mellon University
Debate
Set your environmental studies class up to debate a current topic regarding your choice of six suggested statements about energy use in the United States. Teams read material that you have gathered and then form their arguments. The...
Curated OER
Black Power
Use this New York Times lesson plan to research contemporary leaders in the African-American community. After reading the article "Blacks Weigh the Impact of the Post-Jackson Years," middle and high schoolers discuss the varying...
Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: Problematic Situation
To prepare for a reading of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, kids must prioritize a list of items to take with them on a journey to Texas.
Curated OER
Theocracy, Then and Now
Learners search the Web for resources to use in preparing the project, make and defend judgments as to the authority and appropriateness of resources they include or exclude from their projects, and write clearly in the expository mode.
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Problematic Situation
What would you do if your sister ran off with a man whom you didn't trust? Explore a scenario based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Once kids work though the problem, they read the appropriate chapters from the book and write a...
Curated OER
The Call of the Wild: 4 Corners Activity
Readers of The Call of the Wild engage in a four- corners activity that fosters discussion and encourages readers to make connections between their lives and the text. Individuals respond to a series of discussion prompts and justify...
Curated OER
Semantic Feature Analysis Chart: The Outsiders
Cool! Do you ned a way to increase vocabulary development and study a story's characters? What a great idea. Use this semantic analysis chart to study new vocabulary and the characters that appear in The Outsiders. You could also use...
Novelinks
Treasure Island: Anticipation Guide
Captain Long John Silver himself would consider this anticipation guide a treasure. Full of rereading predictions for readers to consider, the anticipation guide makes the class excited to begin reading Robert Lois Stevenson's Treasure...
Curated OER
Let's Put You in a Louisiana University
Considering a college search project? After picking a possible career choice, and determining if that career needs a technical college or university education, individuals examine a wide variety of sources and select three schools that...
Curated OER
Candide: Problematic Situation
"Would a rational and well-regulated world include human suffering?" "If the plight of human suffering is the 'best of all possible worlds' do humans have freewill?" Class members develop their position on an issue raised by Candide,...
Curated OER
Convey Ideas in Writing
Use the platforms of the 2004 presidential candidates to bring persuasive writing to your class. Young voters identify the three issues most important to them in the election and research the issues and candidates' positions. They write...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: January 2015
Successful arguing is a learned skill. Pupils read four passages and craft a text-based argument about the return of extinct animals. The resources provides writers with specific guidelines on how to create a well-rounded essay and how...
Curated OER
ACLU
Is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) good for America? The informative website is a one-stop shop for ACLU debate resources. Scholars read about the topics surrounding the issue, including free speech, national security, and...
Curated OER
Saving the Titanic
Students research the Titanic using fiction, nonfiction, images, and Internet based resources. They determine if it is appropriate to raise and save the Titanic and its artifacts before planning and writing an opinion piece which defends...
Curated OER
Journalistic Scenarios
Students role play as the editor of the student newspaper and make decisions about printing stories. In this newspaper editor instructional activity, students read the given journalism scenarios and determine if they, as editor, would...
Curated OER
Classifying Defending Information about Main Idea
Students read and highlight important information gathered from text. In this reading strategies lesson, students define classify and then classify the important information they find. Students share and reflect on their answers.
Curated OER
Writing Process
Students read "The Great Kapok" and choose to agree or disagree with the main character's decision. They gather and organize details from multiple sources to defend their standpoints. They begin prewriting steps of process writing.
Curated OER
Friday Forum
Middle schoolers research a variety of controversial articles to gain knowledge. They form an opinion and defend their position with supporting data. They evaluate opposing arguments and present their viewpoint both verbally and in the...