Crafting Freedom
F.E.W. Harper: Uplifted from the Shadows
What is stereotyping, and how do we handle stereotyping in our daily interactions? Your young historians will not only have the opportunity to learn about the first African American woman to publish a short story–Frances Ellen...
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Radio Broadcasting Before Television
Students compare the radio to other forms of mass communication. In this Radio Broadcasting Before Television lesson, students learn the different types of radio shows in the 1920s and 30s. Students write and perform radio scripts...
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Great American Families
Fifth graders wrote essays, interviewed family members, took photos of their activities, and tape recorded narration to accompany the photos.
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Twelfth Night: Thrusting Greatness Upon the Television (Series of 4)
High schoolers incorporate language from Twelfth Night into their own skits. In this Hamlet lesson, students use a handout to assist them as they dub over the skits created earlier with specific language from Twelfth Night.
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Chinese Dialect Exercise
Students are exposed to the obstacles in communication created by the presence of dialects, and made aware of the usefulness of a common writing system available to speakers of all dialect forms.
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Actions Speak Louder than Words
Students examine and discuss how volume, stress, pacing, and pronunciation help deliver an effective oral presentation. They listen to a speech by Nolan Ryan, identifying why he is a good speaker, then practice reading their own short...
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Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speeches
Students brainstorm and agree on a topic that is interesting to both the speaker and the audience and research it with both tradition and non-traditional sources. They write and outline the body of the speech and translate the speech...
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Herbert Hoover: Iowa Farm Boy an World Humanitarian
Students research Herbert Hoover's life and how he became known as a "Great Humanitarian." Students use images and historic places in their research.
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Rockin' Chair, Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden
Students examine the life and music of Louis Armstrong, the first great jazz musician. The musical techniques of call and response is listened to and then copied in musical conversations in this lesson.
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Now's the Time, Charlie Parker Now's the Time, Eddie Jefferson
Students delve into the music of bebop style jazz and the life and talents of some of the great musicians. The styles of Charlie Parker and James Moody are compared and contrasted in this lesson.
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Valentine's Day hearts
Students use Valentine's Day to use figurative language in English. This is a great lesson for ESL students (who may not have much experience with this holiday), to engage in social conversation with their peers.
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Judaism
Students brainstorm what they know about Judaism, participate in question and answer session about Judaism and its relation to World War II with guest speaker of Jewish faith, and write journal responses about their feelings on...
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The Making of a Coat
Students read the story A New Coat For Anna and discuss their knowledge on how to make a coat. In this reading and coat making lesson plan, students discuss coat making and listen to a speaker that spins thread to make coats.
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Quotes by Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire
In Enlightenment quotations study guide worksheet, learners read quotations and identify the speakers as Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Peter the Great, Copernicus, Louis XIV, Galileo, Harvey, Kepler , Frederick the Great, or...
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Slang Ain't the Thang!
Students examine how a speaker uses words and images to express a message. They read a speech written by Sojourner Truth and discuss the purpose and audience, and identify the speaker's tools used in a speech by George W. Bush.
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Chinese Dialect Lesson
Fourth graders are exposed to the obstacles to communication created by the presence of dialects. Students become aware of the usefulness of a common writing system available to speakers of all dialect forms.
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Traverse City Trouble Makers
Students investigate how to become advocates in an authentic environmental issue, in this case the invasion of the zebra mussel invasion of the Great Lakes. They complete graphic organizers during Internet research, while reading...
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Teaching Justice: Schooling and the Four Waves of U.S. Immigration
U.S. immigration is the focus of a unit on social justice. Over the course of a school year, young historians read a variety of texts to learn about four waves of immigration that have occurred over time in the U.S. An emphasis on...
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Math News
Young writers design and publish a newsletter with articles that demonstrate knowledge of mathematical concepts. They explain mathematical procedures and basic operations in a news article format. Next, they compile several articles to...
TED-Ed
From Aaliyah to Jay-Z: Captured Moments in Hip-hop History
To take "the definitive portrait of that person in that moment" is the quest of photographer and hip-hop historian Jonathan Mannion. In this short video, Mannion details his dedication to his art and the process he goes through to catch...
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Impromptu Speech
Focus on presentation techniques with this instructional activity, which prompts middle schoolers give an impromptu speech. They practice public speaking by giving a short unprepared speech. Some preparations are made to include an...
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"The Lottery"
Designed to open a unit on the suspense/horror genre, this plan hooks readers with an activity that mirrors the action of Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" (without the grisly ending). Use either the twenty-minute 1969 film or...
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The Teacher from the Black Lagoon
Read and analyze the book, The Teacher From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler with your class. They will compare/contrast the two Mrs. Greens with a Venn diagram, design a new book cover, create a paper mache mask, and complete a story...
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Human Origins: The Prehistoric Human Race
When it comes to the origin of the human species young scholars are full of misconceptions. Clear up the hominid confusion with this evolutionary activity focused on assisting students in understanding prehistoric man and his family...