Students create an original Cinquain (five-line poem) and choreograph movement to their poem, performing movement for class and video. This lesson addresses standards in the arts and requires a video recorder.

Students discuss Huck Finn's decision about whether or not to turn Jim in to the authorities. In this language arts instructional activity, students are reading Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. After reading chapter 31, students discuss...

Pupils practice differentiating between categories of art and entertainment. They also practice telling the difference between character themes and universal themes. They find a text to relate to themselves and write about it.

Pupils discover artist Georges Seurat and his technique of Pointillism and create Pointillist examples using Q-Tips and watercolors in this exciting multi-level art lesson. This lesson can be adapted for various grade levels and abilities.

Students sketch a design based on "The Night Chanter." In this art design lesson, students listen to the Native American prayer, "The Night Chanter" and illustrate their personal vision of the chant. Students critique the sketches and...

Students use rubrics to grade murals in their city. In this mural design instructional activity, students learn about the design of murals and explore their city to find murals. Students grade the murals based on design and...

Students investigate different parts of speech by creating digital skits. In this digital education lesson, students collaborate in groups to research the Internet for clips and music that represent the different parts of speech....

Students practice skills to determine the relationship of words. In groups of two, classmates complete a chart to match vocabulary words into specific groups such as synonyms, antonyms, or familial relationship. To reinforce word...

Learners explore shading different levels of tone and value using Painter 7 or Painter Classic. Students blur a selected, scanned image twice and draw the blurriest image using shades of gray and black. They draw the other blurred image...

Students create a sketch on a single literary passage and compare their work.

Students study how artists tell stories using visual images by identifying and comparing elements of narrative (setting, characters, and plot) in a painting and a Greek vase.

Students create clay mosaic relief murals as analysis of Abstract Expressionism. In this clay art instructional activity, students analyze the abstract expressionist art of Rudy Autio and create their own clay mural using fire clay and...

Students research the history of trade in porcelain wares from Asia and the quest to re-create true hard-paste porcelain in Europe. They analyze the effects of production and consumption of luxury goods on French society in this period.

The urbanization and consumerism of modern China is the hot topic up for critical analysis. Kids view a series of photographs that specifically describe Chinese modernization, urbanization, consumerism, and waste. They discuss each...

Free speech, privacy, and cyberbullying are the focus of a series of activities that prompt class members to engage in discussions about these interrelated topics. They view a segment from PBS’s series on bullying, read...

Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...

Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...

As high schoolers seek to grow more and more independent, they must constantly make choices. Some options are healthy and some not so much. To begin the discussion, class members are asked to identify five safe and healthy (or...

Imagine seventh graders developing a school wide plan to promote respect in their school. That's the vision behind the second instructional activity in the R-E-S-P-E-C-T series. In preparation for designing a school-wide media campaign,...

SStudents view examples of O'Keef's work and watch a video about her life. They use colored pencil to create a 6" x 6" reproduction of a 2" x 2" square cut from a magazine picture, finding and using the most interesting shapes in the...

Mix up your writing lessons by having kids look at recent newspaper articles instead of their own work. They work in pairs and rewrite sports news articles using synonyms and antonyms for a set number of words. Then they share their work...

Barrio de Paz is the story of Nelsa Libertad Curbelo, a nun, who works with the gang youth of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The 17-minute documentary focuses on her explanations for the rise of gangs and for how gang culture reflects...

To underscore the importance of practicing good listening skills class members engage in a series of activities that model poor listening skills. In pairs and then as a whole group, class members enact different, more positive techniques...

Students participate in an interdisciplinary lesson to discuss improvements that would make them want to return to a previously poor neighborhood.  In this civics lesson, students work in a budget to make a plan to better their...