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DR-TA Reading Strategy
Foster critical thinking skills by using the DR-TA Strategy with Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Class members read portions of the essay, stop and discuss what is happening, make predictions based on evidence from the text, and...
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Before, During, and After Strategies For The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 21-23
Create a personal website for Phoebe. Play a song dealing with non-conformity. Have class members write an advice letter to Holden. Here's a teacher resource meant to accompany The Catcher in the Rye that is chock-full of strategies. It...
Virginia Department of Education
Transformations
Geometry in life-sized dimensions! Using enlarged graph paper, pupils perform a series of transformations. By recording the initial and final placement of the images, they are able to analyze the patterns in the coordinates during a...
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What a Character!
Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines...
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Origin of the Modern Summer Games
Where did the Olympic Summer Games originate? The class takes a look at ancient origins of modern Olympic games. They research the Olympics and write a compare and contrast essay that describes how the Olympic Games have changed since...
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Following the Great Wall of China
Students conduct research on the history of the Great Wall of China. They explore websites, complete various interactive activities, read a history of the Great Wall, write an essay, and take an online quiz.
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Poetry of The Great War: 'From Darkness to Light'?
High schoolers examine World War I poetry for historical context, poetic devices, and participate in a class discussion. They write an analysis of the poetry's form and its content.
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Trekking to Timbuktu: A Center of Trade
Students conduct online research regarding the origins of the city of Timbuktu and discover why it became such an important place. Students write about the city's origins until it became a part of Mali.
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Will There Be Subsistence Farmers in the 21st Century?: Feeding the World
Students examine the topic of subsistence farming. They research the future of subsistence agriculture, identify the types and locations of subsistence agriculture, and write about subsistence farming in regards to developing nations and...
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Was There an Industrial Revolution? New Workplace, New Technology, New Consumers
Students examine the changes in the U.S. in the period of industrialization before the Civil War. They analyze census data, list/describe inventions and innovations, explore various websites, conduct a Factory Simulation activity, and...
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Trekking to Timbuktu: The Geography of Mali -Teacher Version
Middle schoolers investigate the geography of Mali. They locate Mali on a satellite map, explore various websites, describe the landscape and climate, label a map, and write an essay about the Niger Riger.
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The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the 'New Colossus' to America
Middle schoolers discuss meaning of symbols associated with Statue of Liberty, read and analyze Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "The New Colossus," and write persuasive letter to a nineteenth-century audience to gain support for bringing statue to...
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What Portraits Reveal
High schoolers examine how portraits can tell us more about people of the past than just what they looked like. They compare three portraits of U.S. Presidents, analyze portraits of Americans from the Revolutionary War, and write a...
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Jamestown Changes
Students examine how the Jamestown settlement changed the first few years after it was founded. They take a virtual field trip of Jamestown, read primary source documents, discuss census information, and write a summary of changes in...
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Holocaust and Resistance
Learners complete a unit of lessons that examine the Holocaust from the point of view of those who actively resisted the Nazis. They analyze a timeline, participate in a class debate, explore various websites, and write a letter.
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Genocides of the 20th Century
Ninth graders research the causes of the major genocides of the 20th century. They participate in a jigsaw activity and complete a concept map of different genocides, watch and discuss excerpts from the movies "Hotel Rwanda," "The...
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"Circles of Strength: What Do You Stand For?" ~ A Reflection of Us~
Middle schoolers determine how they are included in "Circles of Strength." In this character activity, middle schoolers reflect on how they are part of "Circles of Strength" in the "Circle of Life." They make an individual circle that...
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Take a Walk in Their Shoes: Great Leaders of Our Time
Research the characteristics of leaders who have used nonviolence to change society. The class then applies this information to their own community to find leaders with these same characteristics, creating a wall collage of pictures and...
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Picasso Portraits
Explore Pablo Picasso. For this art history and face drawing lesson plan, read a brief biography of Pablo Picasso. Draw a self portrait following guided instruction by the teacher. Paint a self-portrait and practice adding white...
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Pre-AP Strategies for French Language and Culture
Build vocabulary, fluency and confidence in your French speakers by having them participate in some of these engaging activities. Several suggestions are given, but you will have to design the actual instructional activity yourself.
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Our Computers, Ourselves: Imagining the Digital Lives of Authors and Characters
The guiding question for this lesson plan is "Do computers and their contents shape who we are?" Open with a selection of Apple's commercials to introduce stereotypes and people's relationships with their computers. Then, read the...
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Introduce Vocabulary: Make Way for Ducklings (McCloskey)
Use the Caldecott Award-winning book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it) to guide budding readers through vocabulary in context. Although the...
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"Your Son, Your Only One" - The Sacrifice of Isaac as a Motif in Holocaust Poetry
Class groups examine a series of poems that use Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac as a motif in Holocaust poetry. Included are questions, notes to the teacher, and bibliographical information on each poem. The activities could be...
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The Future
This teacher guide provides several ideas for how to structure a unit on the futur simple. Start by having your class read the short passage provided about Google. As they read, pupils should categorize verbs by type to highlight...