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The Debates
Students examine the history and purposes of debate, and analyze the different debate formats. They rate the candidates' presentations in the debates, and apply debate strategies to their own debates.
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Nontraditional Job Opportunities
As your learners prepare to enter the workforce, address some common stereotypes that may be limiting their professional goals. The class brainstorms gender-stereotyped careers, exploring where those ideas originate. They complete a job...
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Local Motives
Investigate current local elections across the United States with this New York Times reading lesson. Using informational text, middle and high schoolers research local elections and create their own news reports about what they...
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Journalism: Potential Bias
Students investigate a current event involving the United States from different journalistic viewpoints. They compare a Western newspaper with one from the Middle East and submit written evaluations noting agreements and disagreements in...
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Historical Witness - social Messaging
Students examine and develop artwork that shows women's roles during different eras. In this women's role lesson, students look at artwork that shows women at work during the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. They design a mixed...
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Using Primary Sources to Discover Reconstruction
Fifth graders discover how reconstruction had an impact on racial issues in the United States. In this Reconstruction lesson, 5th graders are introduced to primary vs. secondary resources and then rotate through stations to view...
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Interactive Duty
Young scholars consider the role of multimedia news features. They analyze the New York Times coverage of the president's State of the Union address.
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Depicting Women and Class in a Global Society
Students analyze the evolution of women's work from the 19th century to present day and create artwork depicting women. In this women's roles instructional activity, students compare and contrast the use of space and color in the two...
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Slanted Sentences
Students examine biased words in news articles, suggest synonyms, then rewrite the sentences to demonstrate how word choice can alter meaning.
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Current Events Research
Students monitor current events using on-line and traditional resources. They explore issues such as what trends they see developing in specific news issues over time and how different news stories might be interrelated.
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Cleveland may gamble on gambling
Learners write a news feature or editorial discussing the debate of whether gambling should be legalized in Cleveland. Students research and debate about the issue. Learners interview community members to hear views.
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The Tibet Question
Students participate in a simulation, where they interview members of the Tibetan groups, the Chinese and US government officials, representatives of human rights organizations and Chinese scholars. Each student will be assigned to one...
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Gender Role Development
Students look in newspapers and magazines and discuss gender role development and stereotypes. In this gender lesson plan, students bring in their favorite objects that have no gender stereotype linked to it.
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The Lion and the Mouse
Students write a story. In this critical thinking and writing instructional activity, students read a fable, answer the provided thinking skills questions, and write their own fable.
National First Ladies' Library
Michigan vs. Ohio State: A Serious Rivalry!
Middle schoolers discuss and research the pros and cons of school rivalries. In particular, they study the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. Through their research, they think about how media accounts of college football games can be shaped...
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Students explore the components of racismas they read through Horton Foote's, "To Kill a Mockingbird." The trial of the main character reveals instances of justice in the face of prejudice and forms the focus of the instructional activity.
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Citizens and the Media / Lesson : 3 Compare and Contrast Daily Newspapers for fact, opinion and bias
Students compare and contrast a variety of daily newspapers in order to detect bias. They critically analyze the role the media plays in responsibly reporting government activities.
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Spanish-American War
Students view a video called Battling Beyond the Borders about the Spanish-American War. They discuss the role of newspapers in the war and then analyze political cartoons of the time, writing explanatory sentences about them.
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Reporting in Letters
Learners investigate the cultures and politics of different countries and write radio letters to listeners in those countries modeled after Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America."
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Charting the Course
Ninth graders explore the meaning of the term philanthropy. In this Social Studies instructional activity, 9th graders research examples of people that represent good citizens. Students create a skit that demonstrates a...
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Suspect Sources at the Republican Debate
Young scholars explore and analyze statements made during a televised presidential debate. In groups, they research and test the validity of the statements made by the presidential contenders. Students examine sources and draw...
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Empowered Barbie
Students access prior knowledge of vocabulary on feminism and psychoanalytic theory, and gender schema. In this Empowered Barbie lesson, students recreate a Barbie doll. Students write a reflection on how they changed...
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Cultures
Students examine and analyze photographs of other cultures. They answer discussion questions, identify bias and point of view in the images, conduct research on another photo, and compare and contrast two cultural images.