Annenberg Foundation
The Search for Identity
Discover how writers express identity in their writing. Learners explore how issues of identity surface in the literature of minority writers. Scholars watch a video, read and discuss biographies, conduct research, engage in creative...
Curated OER
How a Writer Conveys Descriptions With a Wallop Lesson 3 for Running (From River Town)
Students examine strategies an author uses to provide qualitative and quantitative aspects of life in China. They apply the strategies to their own writing.
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Students examine the experiences of a Peace Corps volunteer learning to speak Chinese. They read and discuss an essay written by the Peace Corps volunteer, analyze a map of China, and discuss the author's difficulties in learning the...
Curated OER
Confronting Two Challenges--One Physical, One Intellectual
Students examine the challenges of a new language and culture. In this cultural lesson, student read Running by Peter Hessler and discuss obstacles faced, including the language barrier. Students write an essay about a time they...
Curated OER
How Cultures Differ - Two Different Perspectives on the Same Even
Learners explore the effects of culture through the story Running by Peter Hessler. In this geography and cultural lesson, students act as newspaper reporters covering the story of the race. Learners write newspaper articles as reporters...
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Students read an autobiography of a peace corps volunteer studying Chinese. In this cultural acceptance lesson plan, students compare the dialects of Chinese with English dialects. Students discuss the differences in learning and...
Curated OER
Breaching the Gulf Between Cultures
Students explore the dynamics, the challenges, and the rewards of adjusting to a new culture through the reading of "Help! My Father is Coming" and "The Visit to Vijay's". In this social culture lesson, students carousel brainstorm about...
Curated OER
Coming to Terms With Cultural Differences
Students consider cultural differences. In this Peace Corps lesson plan, students read "Help, My Father is Coming," by Jim Toner and then write journal entries about the culture of Sri Lanka.
Curated OER
Encountering Very Different Ways of Life
Learners explore the concept of crossing cultures through reading the stories "Help! My Father is Coming!" and "The Visit to Vijay's." In this culture lesson, students predict what will happen next in the stories. Learners discuss the...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.10
Assess whether your class members can comprehend complex informational text with a series of drills based on selections from Emerson, Thoreau, and G.K. Chesterton. The exercises could also be used for group work or a full-class discussion.
National Constitution Center
Address America: Your Six-Word Stump Speech
Stump speeches are the focus of this exercise that combines politics and language arts. After learning about this type of speech, the class listens to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign stump speech and answers a series of questions that...
Curated OER
Let the Truth Be Known
Learners explore authenticity in written works and the responsibilities of the media. They read two Holocaust accounts, one that is factual and one that was fabricated. They further examine, the importance of authenticity in the media.
Curated OER
President Bush's Decision Points: Torture & the Rule of Law
Students explore terrorist interrogation issues. In this human rights lesson, students read articles and documents related to torture in terrorist investigations. Students respond to discussion questions regarding the articles. Students...
Curated OER
Confronting Two Challenges-One Physical, One Intellectual
Students examine how the author confronted the challenges of a new language and a new culture. They examine how the author's penchant for running featured in his adjustment to the culture of Fuling and in his learning of the Chinese...
Curated OER
How Cultures Differ-Two Different Perspectives on the Same Event
Young scholars examine the author's running race from two different cultural perspectives to see just how different the effects of culture can be. They practice thinking about an issue from different perspectives and create a script...
Curated OER
How a Writer Conveys Descriptions With a Wallop
Students identify strategies the author used to vividly convey qualitative and quantitative aspects of life in China, then use those strategies in writing of their own. They examine the author's writing style and techniques to learn some...
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Students consider the immensity of the the task the author undertook to learn Chinese. They examine the rigors involved in learning another language-particularly one as notoriously difficult as Chinese and compare aspects of Chinese...
Curated OER
On the Oregon Trail
Learners work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail. Working in groups, they write a scene for the movie that is historically accurate and based on the kinds of...
Curated OER
Coming to Terms With Cultural Differences
Students discover that it is possible to be challenged and "culture-shocked" by the norms of one's own culture when returning home from having been away and living in another culture. They examine and compare the customs of modern...
Curated OER
Breaching the Gulf Between Cultures
Learners study the dynamics, the challenges, and the rewards of adjusting to a new culture, as illustrated by the author's account of his father's coming to terms with Sri Lankan customs. They reach the enduring understanding, "It is...
Curated OER
Encountering Very Different Ways of Life
Students explore the concept of crossing cultures. They examine how Americans may be viewed by people in another culture and discover that that Peace Corps Volunteers are trained to cross cultures respectfully so that they are accepted...
Curated OER
Traits of Nonfiction
Here are some lesson ideas for teaching students about the traits of nonfiction text.
Curated OER
Preserving History
Learners discuss how writing is an important historical tool. They read writings from individuals and note how they have preserved history. They describe what those stories say about the communites they came from.
Curated OER
Using Effective, Amusing Writing As a Model
Learners use the author's writing as a model to achieve vivid description and engaging humor in compositions of their own. They examine the ways a writer can capture and hold a reader's attention and write a short personal narrative...