This story is bound to motivate your class. Learners read a story called Elena by Diane Stanley. The story is about a young woman who marries for love but is soon widowed during the Mexican Revolution. She takes her children to...

Draw back the curtain, add a spot of joy to your class, and let learners be lesson planed by a close reading exercise that models how to develop an interpretation based on evidence drawn from a text. Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue...

Here is a fitting question for middle schoolers to consider: Is there a relationship between grade point average and frequency of sending texts? Starting statisticians examine a scatter plot and discuss any patterns seen.

Students look at owl migration and its impact on the environment and the food chain after reading an article from The New York Times. Students then apply this information to and research different food chain situations for other species...

It is more important than ever that 21st-century learners develop the skills they need to become savvy consumers of media. Young learners locate and identify reliable sources of information with a helpful media lesson.

Students develop summarization strategies by asking themselves questions as they read. They devlop these strategies help them develop better comprehension. Students goals for reading is comprehension. They explore helpful...

What is a bully? Romeo and Juliet's Act 3 Scene 1 gives eighth and ninth graders the perfect opportunity to explore bullying. After doing some Internet research on bullying characteristics, groups reenact the scene to decide who is...

After completing a short self-assessment, partners use the provided questions and take turns acting as life coaches.

Many and many a year ago Edgar Allan Poe crafted the chilling tale of "Annabel Lee." The poem is the perfect vehicle to introduce Poe's concept of unity of effect, the idea that every element in a poem or story should help to develop a...

The beauty of this colorful presentation about Cornell notes is that it begins with a very powerful statistic: "Those who take organized notes and do something with them remember 90-100% of the material indefinitely!" Zounds! Now there's...

Young historians examine Lyndon Johnson's vision for a rich, powerful, and upward society as detailed in this excerpt from his famous "Great Society" speech presented at the University of Michigan in 1964.

Do the places you have lived influence what you write? Class members research the lives of writers and look for how places these writers have lived might have influenced their writings. 

Students practice asking themselves questions as they read to help increase comprehension. In a large group, they discuss the typical format of a story and create a list of possible questions to ask themselves. They individually read...

Very young learners study the ways that oral traditions play such a huge part in the culture of Native Americans. They see how Elders pass along stories to the younger generations. If possible, a tribal Elder comes into the class to...

Is it silly or sensible? That's a great question, and it's the question that will drive this entire lesson. Learners with special needs and visual impairments work together to analyze verbal information. The instructor makes a statement,...

Learners play a game in which they try to speak hypothetically. For this ESL questioning lesson, students play a card game in pairs in which they ask hypothetical questions and attempt to guess how the other student will answer.

What questions do historians ask when sourcing a document? Here's a poster that models these questions.

Here is a great worksheet that contains two short poems to compare and contrast. Children will read each poem out loud and then complete three comparative analysis questions which focus on rhyme, structure, and language. Note: The...

Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science lesson, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over time....

After researching the presidential election process, class members develop questions and interview voters about their choice of candidate and the issues that concern them.

How do you create a classroom environment where hot button topics may be discussed in a respectful manner? As part of a series of lessons that focus on immigration issues, class members examine the rules for civil discussion before...

Young historians research the rationales for fighting the Vietnam War, and the controversies surrounding it. They watch film clips, examine photographs, and read Lyndon B. Johnson's message to Congress to gather information for a...

Review concepts at the end of the day with a quick game of speedball! The activity starts with learners seated on top of their desks who must then, after responding correctly to a review question, pass the ball around the classroom as...

A fan of Ari's Crispin trilogy? Here is a packet that contains study guides for all three Crispin novels: The Cross of Lead, At the Edge of the World, and The End of Time.