National Endowment for the Humanities
The Impact of a Poem's Line Breaks: Enjambment and Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"
Students analyze the Gwendolyn Brooks use of enjambment in her poem "We Real Cool." In this poetry analysis activity, students define common poetic devices and the examples of enjambment in the poem. Students discuss the poem and write...
Curated OER
Border Legends, Myth, & Folklore
Students examine the narrative forms and tales unique to the U.S.-Mexico border. They discuss the possible sociological meanings of these stories, and then write their own versions to demonstrate that they explain the forms.
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A New Look at Romeo and Juliet
Students explore life and language development in the Elizabethan Age. In this English instructional activity students complete web-quests and other activities surrounding Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
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Cloud in the Classroom
Students describe the relationship between animals and humans. For this biology lesson, students research about the history of horses in America. They present a mock news broadcast about their research.
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The Thrill of Big-Wave Surfing
Students discover how to summarize content knowledge from varied resources in creating a presentation. They learn about the relationships between human beings and their environment as they reflect upon the challenges of big-wave surfing.
Curated OER
Picture This: Photography in Adult Basic Education
Students use photos to generate opinions and feelings for them to write about. They use the photos to find something they are interested in and help them write.
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How Do Conflicts Escalate?
Students examine, evaluate and understand the concept of conflict, conflict escalation and colflict resolution through a variety of creative interactions.
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Alternative Assessments for Novel Units
Students can be assessed on novel units using alternative/performance assessments.
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Huck Finn Chapter Questions
Learners answer chapter questions to evaluate the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
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Make it Snow
Sixth graders investigate snow using pieces of literature, experimentation, and studying images by Wilson Bentley. They view snow from its artistic, geometric and literary expressions.
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: 100 Years Later
Eleventh graders examine the impact of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. In this American History lesson, 11th graders analyze various sources. Students create a cartoon representing the impact of this fire on the United States...
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The Life of Buddha, relating his life to our own in modern times
Students do a variety of activities to become familiar with Buddha's life and relate it to their own.
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Beauty Is Skin Deep
Students reflect upon the the experiences of superficial comments based upon physical appearance. The expectations of others is discussed in class. Also the influences of media is stressed and its expectations are demonstrated as either...
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To Walt Whitman
Students examine the poem To Walt Whitman by Angela de Hoyos. They divide into groups. Each group creates a poem written from one of two perspectives: to Walt Whitman or to de Hoyos from Whitman.
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The Great Gatsby
Eleventh graders investigate the concept of the American Dream. They use the novel "The Great Gatsby" as an example from literature. Students brainstorm in order to define the American Dream.
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A Literature of Democracy
Eleventh graders analyze how American literature shows a lot of different genres. In groups, 11th graders create a short report about the passage they have chosen.
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Dwellings Around the Globe
Students explore dwellings around the globe and conduct collaborative research on cliff dwellings, igloos, longhouses, and yurts. They then explore how different dwellings reflect environmental and cultural conditions, and they create a...
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Chairs, Corduroys, Cottages, and Cars: Exploring the Diversity of Design
Students create and present a theme-based exhibition. In this design lesson, students categorize objects to reflect a specific design theme and create their own theme-based collections. Students research a museum collection to discover...
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Data Processing
Students explore the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in a variety of businesses and organizations. They present proposals, representing different businesses and organizations, that support how GIS technology could...
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Hank Williams: Still Singing After All These Years
High schoolers research the life and music of Hank Williams. They take a quiz on country music, watch a video about Hank Williams, research Williams' song lyrics, create a poster and write a bio poem about his life and work.
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Islamic Art
Pupils examine the various forms of Islamic Art. Using the art, they identify the basic elements and research its history and style of calligraphy. They create a piece of art based on information they collected and demonstrate...
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American Influences on Eugenics in Nazi Germany
High schoolers examine the Eugenics movement in America. They discover the Nazi's belief in racial purity and how it relates to Eugenics. They also analyze how science has been influential in creating public policy.
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Building Relationships in a High School Classroom
Students explore building new friendships during the first week of school. They participate in a variety of getting to know each other activities. Students work cooperatively and develop collegial relationships with their classmates.
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Extreme Work Makeover
Students revise paragraphs for effective word choice. In this effective word choice instructional activity, students analyze a paragraph for purpose, audience, development, and conventions. Students identify commonly overused...