Curated OER
Louisiana's Tragic Hero - "Evangeline"
"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...
Media Smarts
Defining Popular Culture
What part does media play in creating, defining, and perpetuating popular culture? High schoolers chart their encounters with fads, trends, and icons and reflect on the media's influence on popular culture.
Media Smarts
Looking at Food Advertising
Tony The Tiger, The HoneyComb Kid, The Nestle Quick Bunny. As part of a study of the methods advertisers use to sell foods and how this advertising effects their food choices, kids create their own spokescharacter and/or jingle for one...
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Louisiana Department of Education
Fahrenheit 451
In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and influence...
Louisiana Department of Education
The Metamorphosis
How can something be true even if it didn't happen? Invite your classes to investigate the truths found in the world of magical realism as they analyze short stories, poems, informational texts, video, and art from this genre.
Curated OER
So Foul and Fair a Play
Students watch various interpretations of Shakespeare's Macbeth in film. In groups, they examine the setting, characters, music and sequence. They compare and contrast the various films and discuss the differences. They write an essay on...
Curated OER
Background for The Outsiders: the 1960s
As background for a reading of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, groups rotate through four stations (video, music, website, information) to gather information on the 1960s. In addition, they interview family members about the 1960s and...
Smithsonian Institution
Watching Crystals Grow
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
Curated OER
Tree-mendous Game
Learners play a game where they classify the different characteristics of trees. In this tress lesson plan, students also use tree vocabulary and describe benefits of trees.
Curated OER
Race, Culture, And Identity in Daughter From Danang (Part 1)
Students examine cultural identity. They watch the PBS documentary, 'Daughter From Danang,' answer discussion questions, and write an essay regarding the characters ethnicities and stereotypes portrayed in the film.
Louisiana Department of Education
Out of the Dust
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
Curated OER
Baga Drum
Students examine a Baga Drum in order to explore the history of the Baga people of West Africa. In this art history lesson, students recognize figures used in Baga Drum design that represent aspects of Baga culture. They also design and...
Curated OER
Only If by Enya
In this song lesson instructional activity, students learn about the song Only If by Enya. They learn about the song background, as well as the grammar and vocabulary of the song.
Curated OER
The Blues . Writing . Biographies/Profiles . The Soul of a Man
This lesson, focused on profile writing and its unique characteristics, considers the profiles developed in the film The Soul of a Man while also asking students to consider other profiles they are familiar with and to write some of...
Curated OER
US Geography, The Blues
This lesson enables teachers to use blues styles and performers to think about various geographical regions of the United States. By studying different blues styles from the Mississippi Delta, Texas, and the Piedmont region of the...
Curated OER
Whites, Blacks and the Blues
This lesson plan enables students to explore and measure the distance between blacks and whites in the past and present United States. By thinking about the intersections of whites, blacks, and others around the blues, students will...
Curated OER
Flipping For Math
Seventh graders create a video of different formats to deliver a presentation of a math concept such as square roots, decimals, fractions, and more. In this math presentation lesson plan, 7th graders can plan a rap video, story,...
Curated OER
Under Pressure
Students investigate the implications of blood pressure. They use film canisters and balloons to build models that help them explain how blood pressure works.
Curated OER
Creative Voices of Harlem
Students explore the Harlem Renaissance. For this American history lesson, students examine a poem by Langston Hughes and identify the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance. Students research and report on a famous Harlem artist.
Curated OER
Crossroads Blues
The crossroads, and the decisions made and entities met there, are a common theme in literature, pushing readers to examine the choices and encounters that shape life experience. The theme has also been explored in blues music, most...
Curated OER
Overture to 'William Tell' by Gioacchino Rossini
Young scholars create an awareness of how music creates a setting in a story or legend. They identify the instrumentation, dynamics and tempo used to create various settings for a musical story. They perform rhythmic patterns from...
Curated OER
Folk Traditions in the Blues
Click here to download a PDF of this lesson. (2.8 MB) Overview This lesson will enable teachers to use the blues to explore selected topics in African American folklore. Students will learn about some of the African American cultural...
Curated OER
I'm British But... 2
Students view the documentary "I'm British But..." and examine the variety of ways in which people identify themselves in Britain today. In pairs they identify what is important to the lives of the young Asian people in the film, and...