What do consumers need to know about overfishing before buying fish? Scholars consider the question as they prepare for their performance task, which is to create a consumer guide for people about purchasing fish responsibly. After...

What is your idea of paradise? Middle and high schoolers share their visions of paradise on earth in this lesson, in which they view a video segment about Shangri-La. Your high schoolers can discuss and then write about their ideas in a...

Students engage an older adult in one-to-one contact. They develop communication skills that can be used in future interactions. They complete a handout and interview one older adult. They examine what society needs to do to help...

Young scholars investigate the importance of community service by creating their own project ideas.  In this volunteering lesson, students research stories of Peace Corps Volunteers and how they were able to have a positive effect...

"Can the connotation of a word or phrase create bias or prejudice?" The activities in this SMART Board lesson are directed toward this question, which will be sure to incite lots of opinions and ideas. The SMART Board file guides them...

Turn the act of following directions into a fun and engaging game! Especially designed for students with cognitive or intellectual disabilities, this lesson plan uses a game format as a natural reinforcer. Write a set of directions onto...

Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...

How do rhetorical devices advance an author's point of view? Scholars consider this question as they continue exploring Machiavelli's The Prince. They work in small groups, annotating the text for evidence of rhetoric before engaging in...

How does the setting impact other elements within a play? Using a helpful resource, scholars explore the question by completing a Quick Write after reading Act 5.1 of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Additionally, they engage in a whole-class...

Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks ... many inspirational women have paved the way for future generations, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton is no exception. Scholars continue reading and analyzing "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton."...

Who? Where? Why? Scholars answer these questions to help identify the gist of Inside Out & Back Again. First, they add text evidence to their research folders. They then begin looking at a performance task in which they write their...

Creative projects are a great way to engage your class and can be a fun way to assess mastery! Learners create brochures and postcards that might have been created by and for travelers to ancient Mayan cities. They read and discuss the...

Middle and high schoolers look at historical photos and written materials, and they develop questions which they use to interview an elder in their community. Learners are divided into groups and given sets of historical family photos...

Develop an online newspaper covering the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The class publishes their newspaper on the school's Web site and analyze both primary and secondary sources.

Identify the author's organizational pattern for expressing ideas. After reading an article on the California Gold Rush, middle schoolers determine the author's purpose for writing a passage of informational text. A full list of...

Students write a descriptive letter about life in ancient Mesopotamia. Through video streaming, students discover the history of Mesopotamia. They assume the role of a scribe and compose a three paragraph essay using main ideas and...

Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...

Students discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization instructional activity, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. Students then describe a family member...

Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...

Persuasion, when used effectively, is a powerful and effective tool. In groups, young writers develop a persuasive letter about something that they would like their parents to allow them to do. Then, independently, they use proper...

Bring U.S. history to your language arts class with this lesson. Middle schoolers complete an interview for an oral history project, and discuss the importance of oral histories - and how they embellish written accounts. They write...

Stella Louella’s Runaway Book launches a study of point of view and storytelling. After reading the tale, class members retell the story from the point of view of another character. The scripted plan, developed by a teacher candidate,...

Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...

Examine stories with a moral in a character development instructional activity. The class reads a short story written by Benjamin Franklin in which he pays too much for a toy whistle. Individuals then make text-to-self connections and...