Students explore the linguistic backgrounds that have shaped the cultural perspectives of Canada and the United States. In this cultural comparison lesson, students create a class presentation that reflects the similarities and...

Students examine the cultural and historical context which a poem is written in or describes. In this poetry lesson, students listen to an online recording of Philip Larkin reading "The Whitsun Wedding." Students explore how the poem...

Students consider the portrayal of war in the news. In this lesson on Journalistic perspectives, students will work in groups to critically examine news articles written during war times throughout history.

Tenth graders  analyze the role of mentors, point of view, and prejudice using the texts of To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this literature analysis activity, 10th graders review Scout's...

Students write a character sketch on a television character who they feel is a stereotype.  In this propaganda/stereotype instructional activity, students discuss the definition of the terms and ways that the media uses both. ...

In this literature worksheet, students think critically about characterization, perspective, rhetoric, and the message of the novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell. Students also discuss why Orwell chose a fable as political commentary.

In this writing worksheet, students choose one of 6 fairy tales to rewrite. They change story elements such as the character, location, viewpoint, or problem to create a "fractured fairy tale".

Students examine the concept of beauty. They write about what they think is beautiful and compare their ideas to those of others.

Students identify and analyze portraits of Revolutionary-era women. Creating a concept web, they record the actions by women during the war to be made into a chart and timeline. They discuss the cultural and social expectations of women...

High schoolers work with the slave narrative as a resource for historical study and evaluate it as a work of literature; students then examine the narrative in the context of political controversy as an argument for abolition.

Tenth graders research one aspect of government. They teach their peers co-operatively about the key elements of Democracy in Canada at the Federal Level by giving group presentations.

Third graders explore The Banjo Lesson by Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Bath by Mary Cassatt, and Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold.

Pupils investigate the architecture found in cemeteries in order to separate different time periods of distinct design. The use of examples helps them to recognize the design in correlation to its time. The activity is delivered in a...

Students examine the continents and explore geographic components in the fifteen lessons of this unit. The location of the continents, the equator, the four major oceans, and the music, food, literature, dance, and drama from each of the...

Students write a folktale based on an African adinkra symbol. They research its meaning and relate it as the theme.

Pupils examine the ways in which people take care of artworks. After reading the information regarding the topic, students make connections to other subjects, and complete an assignment.

As part of a unit centered around a reading of Uglies, a 2005 young adult dystopian fiction novel by Scott Westerfield, Steven Cummings, and Devin K. Grayson, class members engage in an activity that asks groups to come to a...

Learners read and discuss a selection of news clippings, sermons, and narratives that depict the continued struggle for equality and mistreatment of African American citizens. They present a "60 Minutes"-style news program with the...

Help your class explore the question "Is it ever right to disobey a law?" With a strong base of knowledge about the Civil War, anti-slavery movement, and Underground Railroad, your class explores civil disobedience in Marshall, Michigan...

Why do readers need to know an author’s purpose? How do you figure out what that purpose is? Guide your pupils through a series of activities that show them how to identify various techniques and structures used in persuasive writing....

Eighth graders create a propaganda poster. In this US history instructional activity students research the various sides during the Mexican-American War. They present their poster and their position for or against the war.

If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...

Who would have thought to explore the concept of race through children's literature?  After reading Bell Hooks' picture book, Skin Again, and chapter sixteen of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members...

Readers of Tennessee Williams' award winning memory play, The Grass Menagerie, will be neither disappointed nor discouraged by this prereading strategy that asks learners to consider what they know about Williams and his play, what they...