Curated OER
Movie Poster: Persuasive Text
Middle schoolers create movie posters based upon short stories they've recently read. In this persuasive writing lesson students analyze a poster that is intended to persuade people to want to see the movie and convince...
Macmillan Education
Christmas: #SadTree
Christmas trees can be as large and elaborate as the tree in Rockefeller Center, or as small and understated as Charlie Brown's tree in A Charlie Brown Christmas. But where did the tradition of Christmas trees come from? An engaging...
EngageNY
Planning the First Draft of the Character Confessional Narrative
Scholars read and analyze a model character confessional narrative to help guide their writing. Then, they plan the first draft of a character confessional based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
EngageNY
Discussing and Identifying Themes: What Makes a Good Children’s Book?
Working in small groups, scholars look closely at a children's book to evaluate narrative techniques. Next, they complete a Children's Book Scavenger Hunt worksheet to analyze the literary elements of their selected stories.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Theme Analysis in A Christmas Carol
Why does Charles Dickens have Ebenezer go from scrooge to light-hearted and generous? From "Bah, humbug!" to "God Bless Us, Every One!" After rereading Dickens' preface to A Christmas Carol, learners analyze quotations from the tale that...
Curated OER
Reading the Movies: Another Approach To Teaching Critical Thinking Skills And Writing
Students explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.
Curated OER
A Movie in Your Mind: Persuasive Text
Students listen to a broadcast of War of the Worlds and illustrate what they hear. For this persuasive text lesson students prepare for making a movie poster intended to persuade a director to make a film based on a short story.
Curated OER
Hoot, the Movie And Classroom Activities Too
Students complete various activities for the book and movie "Hoot." They read and analyze the novel, observe wildlife in their neighborhood, and compare/contrast Henry David Thoreau with a main character in the book.
Curated OER
Analyzing Unknown Words
Middle schoolers analyze affixes and how they affect word meaning. In this language arts lesson plan, students use charts to construct and deconstruct words to find meaning.
Curated OER
American Culture and the Movie
Students explore the effects of radio and motion pictures on the American culture. They analyze the development of moving pictures. Students construct a movie poster that promotes cultural homogenization and consumption. They discuss...
Curated OER
How To Read A Movie
Ninth graders respond to films they have seen using literary, dramatic, and cinematic terms. They reevaluate their role as a moviegoer. Students analyze their favorite film in order to discover what good films have in common.
Curated OER
Poetry Movies
Students research, analyze, and describe a poem using the Internet and a variety of technology applications in this Language Arts lesson for the High School classroom. Emphasis is placed on the creation of a Keynote or PowerPoint...
Curated OER
The Reel World
Students explore the ways in which the New York Times column 'Taking the Kids' analyzes whether or not current movies are appropriate for different ages of Students. They explore past articles from the column and create movie posters.
Curated OER
Is the Brady Bunch Biased
Students examine gender bias on television and in the movies. In this social science lesson, students watch various shows and when an instance of stereotypical behavior, or gender bias situation occurs, students think about the problem....
Curated OER
Literary Criticism
Students evaluate and debate whether movies, television shows, and other mass media cause violent behavior in students and whether books are the same as or different from these other media in their potential for causing violent behavior...
Curated OER
Nursery Rhyme Modernization
Students retell a nursery rhyme updating it and create a video. In this Movie Maker nursery rhyme lesson, students use technology to update a nursery rhyme. Students incorporate special effects, actions, and captured...
Curated OER
The Numbers Tell the Story
Students demonstrate how to gather and interpret statistical data. In this data analysis instructional activity, students search for statistics on the health effects of smoking and place the information into charts. Students create these...
Curated OER
Lab 2: Drag Racing
In this lesson, students, Analyze the relationship between velocity and acceleration * Calculate an object's average acceleration * Collect data and interpret it* Create and analyze a graph showing acceleration.Students also work in...
Historical Thinking Matters
Spanish-American War: 1 Day Lesson
After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.
Curated OER
Sense, Sensibility and Sentences: Examining and Writing Memorable Lines
Involve your readers in finding works of literary genius. Have each individual write down compelling sentences that they read or hear, whether in a newspaper, advertisement, book, movie, song, or any other place! Once each person has a...
Smithsonian Institution
Mobilizing Children
Scholars find out how the government used propaganda to mobilize children to help in the war effort. Lesson exercises include analyzing a quote from Franklin Roosevelt, viewing propaganda images and posters, and participating in a lively...
Curated OER
Billie Holiday's Song "Strange Fruit"
Pupils analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching...
Curated OER
Miscast and Seldom Seen
Consider how well high schoolers' favorite TV shows, movies and video games reflect the diversity of society. The lesson plan introduces your class to several media literacy concepts, such as how media conveys values and messages, as...
PBS
Women's History: Parading Through History
Want to teach your pupils about debate, effective speech techniques, propaganda, and the women's movement? The first in a sequential series of three, scholars analyze real propaganda images from the the historic women's movement, view a...