Curated OER
Art, Commentary and Evidence: Analysis of "The White Man's Burden"
A cross-curricular lesson combines poetry and history for your middle and high schoolers. The class critically examines Kipling's poem, "White Man's Burden" as historical evidence of the Imperialist ideology popular during his time. The...
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Social Commentary
Expose your class to the genre of political cartoons less concerned with serious political issues. This political cartoon analysis handout features social commentary on the many entertainments of youth, ironically paired with their...
Indiana University
World Literature: “Wu Sung Fights the Tiger,” Anonymous - Commentary by Chin Sheng-t’an From Water Margin
Dive into classical Chinese literature with this packet. Provided first is a comprehensive summary and a half-page long historical context of Water Margin. As your class reads the section entitled "Wu Sung Fights the Tiger," pose the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Years
Who knew that the Egyptian, Julian, and Gregorian year were different lengths? Your mathematicians will! They will have to calculate the difference between the years in seconds and find the percent change. Using dimensional analysis,...
Curated OER
The Final Analysis: Cause and Effect, Fact and Opinion
Middle schoolers read and review informational texts, analyze cause and effect, and distinguish fact from opinion. They assess a "one-minute mystery" you read aloud for cause and effect relationships. Resource includes complete set of...
Curated OER
College Athletes
When more basketball players are taller than field hockey players at a school, is it safe to say that in general they are always taller? The activity takes data from two college teams and your learners will be able to answer questions...
Novelinks
The Graveyard Book: Concept Analysis
Neil Gaiman's award winning children's fantasy novel, The Graveyard Book, is the focus of a literary analysis overview. Those new to the novel can decide whether the book is appropriate for whole-class discussion or as a book circle...
Curated OER
Investigating the Harlem Renaissance
The work of Langston Hughes opens the door to research into the origin and legacy of the Harlem Renaissance and how the literature of the period can be viewed as a commentary on race relations in America. In addition, groups are assigned...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Red States/Blue States: Mapping the Presidential Election
Young historians investigate how voting patterns have changed by comparing the outcome of the 1960 election to the outcome of the recent election. A creative final assessment has participants making a news show wherein they provide...
Historical Thinking Matters
Spanish-American War: 5 Day Lesson
Nine historical documents, an interactive online notebook, and a fantastic opportunity for historical inquiry await your pupils in this 5-day lesson plan. Class members identify and discuss various causes for the Spanish-American War...
Curated OER
Graph It!
There is more than one way to represent data! Learners explore ways to represent data. They examine stacked graphs, histograms, and line plots. They conduct surveys and use stacked graphs, histograms, or line plots to chart the data they...
Illustrative Mathematics
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
What better way to engage children in a math instructional activity than by talking about ice cream? Using a pocket chart or piece of chart paper, the class works together creating a bar graph of the their favorite ice cream flavors....
Curated OER
Poetry Introduction: Reading Strategy and Response
Fifth graders analyze a poem. In this poetry analysis lesson students read a poem, analyze it, and write a response. They write about their own thoughts on the poem's meaning and any feelings they have about the poem.
Illustrative Mathematics
Data Transfer
A question to ask your class is, How fast is your Internet? That depends on the data transfer rate (DTR), which is the unit rate used in this activity. Math students will calculate how long it takes to download a music file and a video...
Curated OER
Basketball Bounces, Assessment Variation 1
This highly scaffolded, summative assessment tasks learners to choose the model that represents the height of a bouncing basketball given the data in graph and table form. Learners then use the model to answer questions about the...
Curated OER
Basketball Bounces, Assessment Variation 2
This un-scaffold summative assessment tasks learners to use the height of a bouncing basketball, given the data in graph and table form, to choose the model that is represented. Learners then use the model to answer questions about the...
Curated OER
Comparing Data
Eighth graders create a survey, gather data and describe the data using measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode) and spread (range, quartiles, and interquartile range). Students use these measures to interpret, compare and...
Green Hope High School
Close Readings from The Tempest + New World Readings
What was Shakespeare's intent? That is the question at the heart of a summer assignment designed for AP English Literature. Class members focus on five scenes from The Tempest and compare the interactions of Prospero, Caliban, and...
Historical Thinking Matters
Rosa Parks: 3 Day Lesson
How can evidence and perspective challenge even the most well-known of stories? Through primary and secondary source analysis, think-alouds, and discussion, young historians evaluate the historical narrative of Rosa Parks across multiple...
K12 Reader
"How Do I Love Thee?" Supporting Ideas
Show your class what poem the famous line "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" comes from. Class members read Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem and respond to one question with a short paragraph. The question asks learners to use...
The New York Times
Looking for Answers: Making Sense of the Boston Marathon Bombing
How should America respond to acts of domestic terrorism? What motivates or prompts a terrorist attack? After reading an opinion piece on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, your learners will critically analyze factors that could have...
Curated OER
Poetry as Social Commentary
Students read poems with social commentaries. For this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against social issues.
Curated OER
Borrowed Inspiration: Writing Social Commentary
Students read poems with social themes. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bike Race
A graph not only tells us who won the bike race, but also what happened during the race. Use this resource to help learners understand graphs. The commentary suggests waiting until the end of the year to introduce this topic, but why...