Curated OER
Pam Wu's Teaching Portfolio
Students explore the Chinese New Year through Scholastic News magazine. For this cultural awareness lesson, students use a thinking map to develop their critical thinking skills pertaining to the Chinese New Year. Students compose...
Curated OER
Alexander the Great
Students examine the accomplishments of Alexander the Great. In this ancient civilizations lesson, students research the life and leadership of Alexander the Great. Students then script and perform modern news conferences, talk shows, or...
Curated OER
Evaluating Reports
Learners critically evaluate texts aimed at a young news audience. Students discuss the strengths and weaknesses of certain text. Learners evaluate what effect the headlines and summaries have on young people.
Curated OER
Newsworthy Images
Students examine images from newspapers and create their own photos to tell a story. In this photojournalism lesson, students analyze a photograph using the elements and principles of art then create a photographic image that tells...
Curated OER
The U.S. in Afghanistan: Analyzing Political Cartoons
Students take a closer look at the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. In this global issues instructional activity, students analyze political cartoons related to the War on Terror. Students discuss their impressions of the war and then...
Curated OER
Water Wars
Students investigate the water wars taking place in East Africa. In this global issues instructional activity, students watch video clips and read selected articles about the water shortages in East Africa. Students estimate their own...
University of Pennsylvania
Decoding Propaganda: J’Accuse…! vs. J’Accuse…!
Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...
PBS
Analyzing Stop and Frisk Through Personal Stories and Infographics
How much can you learn about an important topic from a single image? High schoolers analyze an infographic that represents the number of stops performed during the Stop and Frisk police procedure. After building background information...
Curated OER
Massaging the Message: The Media Speaks
Students watch video of TV news clips centered on the House of Commons and then complete an information sheet.
Curated OER
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Third graders discuss the weather and how it changes during the different seasons. They listen to a read aloud of Judy Barrett's, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. They write and illustrate a news article about the weather that is found...
Curated OER
Photography: Beyond the Snapshot
Students explore news photography skills. In this photojournalism lesson, students examine photographs from newspapers and magazines and discuss the attributes of quality photographs. Students complete a webquest at the Kodak website and...
Curated OER
"Tree of Peace": Critical Thinking About Revolution to Global Conflict
Tenth graders explore the importance of peace in society. In this Global History lesson plan, 10th graders create a common vocabulary for the different elements that exist in a peaceful society. Students discover the...
Curated OER
Out of Your Comfort Zone
Students practice their interviewing skills. For this journalism skills lesson, students discover how to use open and closed questions when interviewing a subject. Students prepare for and experience a press conference with a school...
Curated OER
The New Kids on the Blog
Students consider the role of a critic by creating top ten lists for arts-related topics and participate in a simulated blog activity. They write newpaper articles to accompany their top ten lists and submit them for publication.
Curated OER
Science: Headline
Pupils are able to identify questions they need to answer to comprehend a specific news article. They are pushed to question how they know that their drinking water is safe.
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Introductions: Formulating Problem Statements
Describing a problem efficiently doesn't solve it, but a well-crafted argument can move readers to action. High schoolers focus on structuring problem statements by reading examples of strong essays and working in groups to create...
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
My Favorite Martian: Workshopping Warrants
Sometimes explaining an argument can lead to confusion and miscommunication. Narrow down the details in written arguments with a group activity in which learners pretend to be aliens from another planet, struggling to understand each...
Newseum
Propaganda Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Working in teams, pairs, or individually, scholars select one resource from a gallery of historical sources and consider which examples might be considered propaganda, the techniques used to persuade audiences, and evaluate how the...
Curated OER
Keep Spreading the News
Young scholars examine the significance of communication in an engineer's life. They develop a list of ways engineers communicate with others, and write a book, newspaper, or story about engineers' role in the environment.
Curated OER
Reading and Thinking About Evolution
Students are given a science reading assignment outside the text followed by a discussion on the content. The reading is augmented with a series of thought questions for students to consider prior to class discussion. They direst the...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Teaching the 9/11 Anniversary
Here is a lesson on terrorism and 9/11. While outdated, it could be easily revised for today's teens. It includes targeted vocabulary, a background information activity, critical thinking questions, and step-by-step procedures for...
Curated OER
From Whose Perspective?
Young scholars critically analyze news coverage of Palestinian-Israeli violence by comparing information from a variety of news sources. They compose expository essays reflecting on how to obtain accurate, unbiased, and credible...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Scientific Detectives
Middle schoolers examine the legitimacy of advertisers' claims about products using science and critical thinking. They view and discuss ads, read a case study, and conduct an experiment to demonstrate whether a product lives up to its...