PBS
Broadcast News
Just because a story is on the news doesn't mean it's being presented fairly. Analyze news broadcasts with a instructional activity focused on evaluating television journalism. At home, kids watch a news show and note the stories...
The New York Times
Decision Point: Understanding the U.S.’s Dilemma Over North Korea
Simulate the Situation Room and analyze the US's relationship with North Korea. The plan starts off with a quick review and an examination of a online timeline that updates as the situation continues. Next, the class reads an article and...
Pardee Home Museum
Geography of Alaska
A unit on the 49th state covers a variety of topics from the geography of Alaska to Native American myths. Academics work to analyze information found in primary source materials including old newspaper articles and artifacts. Young...
ReadWriteThink
Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising
Commercial advertising—we can't get away from it, but do we realize just how often we are being advertised to? With this lesson plan, scholars analyze mass media to identify how its techniques influence our daily lives. Learners browse...
Curated OER
East Timor's Declaration of Independence?
Students examine the significance of the 8/30/99 vote in East Timor, which determined the territory's independence from Indonesian rule, by analyzing an NYT article to explain actions/reactions.
Curated OER
Family Interviews: The Grandparent/Elder Project
Students explore key concepts/facts in 20th Century history, develop interview questions, and produce master list of questions that can be used in project. Students then interview grandparent, great-grandparent, or other elder about...
Curated OER
Who Is Family? Analyzing Family Photos
Students examine families through photography. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine photographs of families and discuss the attributes of families. Students select family photographs to analyze in writing.
Curated OER
A Rewarding Endeavor
Students develop a survey to find out if people would return an envelope of money they found. Include options for giving it to the police, advertising for the one who lost it. Students place their research in a feature article that...
University of North Carolina
Abstracts
Some of the best information to include when writing a research paper doesn't come from books, magazine articles, or informational websites—it comes from dissertations. However, reading an entire dissertation is often a daunting task....
American Bar Association
What Is Separation of Powers?
Who has the power? Scholars investigate the creation of the three branches of government in the United States Constitution. They analyze just why the framers created the branches the way they did.
Curated OER
A Historical Career Search
Students analyze the use of language, including non-standard written and oral English. They write persuasive, descriptive, narrative and/or evaluative pieces in response to the story read and keep reflection journals. Finally, students...
Curated OER
A Positive Spin
Study word choice and connotation in advertising. Readers examine campaign ads, both negative and positive, from the 2006 mid-term election before discussing an article and analyze a campaign of any candidate they choose. Finally, they...
Curated OER
Untying the Knot
What are the current trends in divorce? What contributes to this? Examine celebrity relationship trends and how they relate to the general public with this discussion lesson. Middle schoolers analyze the results of a Census Bureau study...
Heritage Foundation
The Office of the Executive
An executive is not just a leader of a company; you can also use the term to describe the president of the United States. The ninth part of a 20-part unit teaches high schoolers about the importance of the executive branch and the...
Curated OER
Oh, Say, Can You See What the Star-Spangled Banner Means?
Young scholars research the historical inspiration for the lyrics of the "The Star Spangled Banner". They explore websites, read articles and analyze poetry in an examination of America's patriotic symbols and history.
Facing History and Ourselves
Verifying Breaking News
The attempts of journalists to verify the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown take center stage as individuals analyze three of the initial newspaper accounts of the story. The whole class discussion then focuses on the...
Curated OER
Speaking Out About Kosovo
Invite your class to reflect on the responsibility of newspapers to act as vehicles for citizens to voice their opinions. Using an article to gain factual info. about gov't strategies in dealing with current events in Kosovo, students...
Curated OER
The Vietnam War
Students acquire information about the Vietnam War Era from the internet, textbook and various sources. They transfer the information that they have acquired into a newspaper format. Students create editorials, cartoons, graphics and...
Curated OER
Let the Pictures Tell the Story: Presenting a Point of View
Ninth graders examine the process of writing a newspaper article that presents a point of view. They read various newspaper articles, analyze methods of persuasive writing, interpret and create editorial cartoons, and write an editorial.
Curated OER
Nutria And The Disappearing Marsh
Young analysts examine changes in the nutria population, vegetation density, and marsh area over time in the wetlands of Louisiana. They import data and use the TI-73 Explorer to graph and analyze the effects of nutria on marsh loss.
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Going to the Promised Land
To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...
Carolina K-12
Who the People? Representative Democracy in North Carolina and Congress
Our elected officials are supposed to represent us, but what does it mean when they aren't like us? Budding citizens explore the demographic makeup of the US Congress, the role of money in political elections, and the Citizens United...
The New York Times
Teaching the Vietnam War with Primary Sources from the New York Times
Use the New York Times database of primary sources to teach a unit on the Vietnam War. The resource consists of a variety of primary sources as well as a lesson plan showcasing how to teach a lesson using them. Pupils analyze the sources...
Curated OER
Tuning Out Telemarketers
Young scholars research laws for telemarketers in their state, examine whether there are effective laws in other states, explore concept of national telemarketing legislation, and write news features about telemarketers and impact they...