How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...

Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...

Learners address 14 questions that include naming all pairs of opposite and supplementary angles for sets of intersecting lines and then, finding the measure of the unknown angle. They determine the measure of the angle that is...

If you teach AP English language and composition and are looking for a way to address the differences between written and spoken arguments, consider this instructional activity. Over the course of three days, class members research...

Is your essay coherent? Does it make sense? Is it formatted correctly? Does it adhere to standard English conventions? This helpful and informative slide-show walks learners step by step through the editing and proofreading process. Each...

Set this slideshow up at as an independent work station, or to provide your theater arts class with a look at the many manifestations of modern literary drama. Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Arthur Miller are the focus of the...

Teenagers get the real information about marijuana use based on the history of tobacco legislation and research. As they read an educational passage about marijuana laws, science, and changing attitudes, they address their preconceptions...

Learners read and analyze William Faulkner's novel, 'As I Lay Dying.' They define Faulkner's place in American literary history, describe Faulkner's "South" in the context of the historical South and examine the Bundren family through...

A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...

Combine art and literature to teach greater themes and symbolic meaning. Using the plan outlined in this resource, expose your class to the story "Zebra" by Chaim Potok, conduct discussions about social issues and nicknames, and ask...

Young scholars research the social context of Elizabethan England for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". They identify cultural influences on the play focusing on the theme of revenge and then analyze and compare film interpretations of the play.

Write short stories in which events are presented in logical order, point of view is clear, theme and characters are developed. Middle schoolers also work on sensory language, concrete language and/or dialogue. They establish their...

How does word choice affect the reading of a text? Compare two headlines that were written about the same event. Is one biased? Discuss how word choice often reveals the author's feelings about a topic. Then look at different techniques...

Upper graders read the book Holes as a class or by themselves. In groups, they identify symbols and discuss how they are connected  among the many plots in the story. They create a timeline in which they sequence the main...

Fifth graders explore electrical concepts and host a guest speaker. This lesson sets up guidelines for students to follow when they have a guest speaker. Students are primed to become actively involved in a lecture or discussion, while...

Students explore parabolas.  In this algebra and technology lesson, students construct the equation of a specific parabola, then take digital photos of real-life representations of these parabolas.  Students create a podcast...

Illuminated physics stars show what they know about light by taking this exam. They match several related vocabulary terms to descriptions and answer multiple choice questions about the characteristics of light, magnification, and...

Ernest Hemingway is one of America's great writers. After reading one (or several) of his short stories, visit this list of 24 questions relating to at least 10 of his short stories. Some of the questions are basic recall questions, and...

Tenth graders explore mathematics by participating in hands-on daily activities. Learners identify a list of different shapes and classify them by shape, size, sides and vertices. They utilize tangrams and geometric pieces to gain...

Practice the concept of the future tense using this presentation. In this resource, learners explore the use of shall, will, and going to. This comprehensive exploration would be a useful tool in a middle school classroom.

Prepare your soon-to-be graduates to take the Writing Proficiency Examination given at Cal Poly. These slides cover everything from the various types of questions to writing thesis statements. This is more like an overview than a...

Review context clues with your young readers using this helpful resource. Eight questions contain a missing word that pupils choose out of five options. The sentences provide ample context clues, making the choice more about test-taking...

Are we alone in the universe? This brief informational text on extraterrestrial theory has been split into seven sections to help scholars practice note taking. They read the statements, underlining key words. Then, using the graphic...

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this...