Curated OER
Trekking to Timbuktu: The Search for Timbuktu
Young scholars explore the factors that contributed to the decline of Timbuktu and the myths and misconceptions about the city. Students study the obstacles that made a journey to Timbuktu a difficult one as well as discover the first...
Curated OER
Trekking to Timbuktu: Trade in West Africa (Lesson 2)
Students examine the importance of trade in West Africa. Using a virtual time capsule, they travel back to ancient times and travel along with a caravan. They answer specific questions related to the journey and items they are trading....
Curated OER
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury: April Eighth, 1928: Narrating from an 'Ordered Place'?
Young scholars describe Faulkner's use of time to structure the plot of The Sound and the Fury. They discuss the differences between first and third person narration and its effects on the novel. Discussion of the overall meaning is...
Curated OER
Everything in its right place: An Introduction to Composition in Painting
High schoolers investigate the meaning of a composition in the realm of the visual arts. The elements of an image are taught in order for students to answer the guiding questions that are presented.
Curated OER
Following the Great Wall of China
Students explore the Great Wall of China. They participate in three activities to become familiar with the geography of China and Chinese names. Students explore the size of the wall by examining an interactive web site. They write a...
Curated OER
On the Road with Marco Polo: Crossing the Deserts of China
Students explore the geography of China. They describe the geography of the Taklimakan. Students discover the best route to travel from one end of the desert to the other. They investigate how some of the local inhabitants make a...
Curated OER
The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism
Learners research the Civil War and make connections between the war and the interpretation of the war in the novel The Red Badge of Courage to help them understand realism. In this Civil War recounting lesson, students complete several...
Curated OER
The 1828 Campaign of Andrew Jackson: Issues in the Election of 1828 and Beyond
Students research the campaign and election issues of Andrew Jackson. In this presidential election lesson, students research the campaign of 1828. Students then list the important issues. Students discuss the political advertisements in...
Curated OER
FDR and the Lend-Lease Act
Students analyze primary source documents and photographs to analyze the implications of the Lend-Lease Program. In this research lesson plan, students read and discuss letters and speeches related to the Lend-Lease Act, evaluate FDR's...
Curated OER
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción and the Spanish Mission in the New World
Students explore Spanish missions. In this research skills instructional activity, students research Internet and print sources regarding the architecture, purposes, and functionality of Spanish missions.
Curated OER
Martin Puryear's Ladder for Booker T. Washington
Students examine the art of Martin Puryear. In this visual arts lesson, students analyze the sculpture "Ladder for Booker T. Washington". Students consider how the sculpture reflects the life and contributions of Booker T. Washington....
Curated OER
George Orwell's Essay on his Life in Burma: "Shooting an Elephant"
Students read George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" as an analysis for the historical context. In this historical analysis instructional activity, students analyze the main points in the essay to identify its cultural and...
Curated OER
Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays
Students analyze the conventions used in Noh plays and write an introduction to a Noh play of their own. In this Noh play lesson, students identify the conventions of the Noh form and analyze the realizations the main character achieves....
Curated OER
Charolotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-paper" - the "New Woman"
Students analyze the life of American middle to upper-class women in the mid- to late-nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In this women's suffrage instructional activity, students visit the given links in the instructional...
Curated OER
Death in Poetry: A.E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" and Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"
Students analyze poems about death. For this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems from both Dylan Thomas and A.E. Housman and analyze them in groups for common poetic devices. Students present their analysis and complete a Venn...
Curated OER
Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination: "Leap, plashless"
Students analyze the poems of Emily Dickinson and write their own nature poem. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Dickinson poetry and analyze the use of imagery, sound, and metaphor. Students write their own nature poem using...
Curated OER
Fables and Trickster Tales Around the World
Students analyze fables and trickster tales from various cultural traditions. For this fable analysis lesson, students identify the elements of fables and trickster stories. Students read Aesop's fables and Ananse spider stories....
Curated OER
Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction
Students analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Students read and analyze...
Curated OER
Investigating Jack London's White Fang: Nature and Culture Detectives
Young scholars explore images of the Klondike and read Jack London's White Fang to become culture and nature detectives. For this novel analysis lesson, students analyze the setting of the novel and the ways London portrays...
Curated OER
The Phoenicians and the Beginnings of the Alphabet
Young scholars research the history of the alphabet and the Phoenician people. For this alphabet history lesson, students view images of Phoenician ships and discuss their trading abilities. Young scholars view various locations on a map...
Curated OER
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury: Benjy's Sense of Time and Narrative Voice
Students analyze narrative voice in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. In this novel analysis instructional activity, students analyze Faulkner's writing style and the narrative voice of Benjy. Students create a reading journal...
Curated OER
Lessons of the Indian Epics: The Ramayana
Students read a version of Ramayana and explore the elements of the epic hero cycle. In this Ramayana analysis lesson, students retell the basic narrative of the Ramayana and identify the main characters. Students identify elements of...
Curated OER
Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories
Students complete a history and research lesson plan about the Gold Rush using selections from Jack London. In this Gold rush research lesson plan, students research the Klondike/Alaska Gold Rush and use details from the history in their...
Curated OER
Personal or Social Tragedy? A Close Reading of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
Students complete close reading activities to analyze Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. In this literary analysis lesson, students analyze key quotations from Ethan Frome and respond to contemporary reviews of the text. Students use textual...