Main Memory Network
Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and Whitman's "Song of Myself"
Although the work Americans do has changed over time, the plight of the American worker has largely remained the same. Facilitate a class discussion aboutAmerican workers using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and...
Curated OER
Checkmate: What is the History of Chess?
Young scholars create a timeline. In this history of chess instructional activity, students use the Internet to examine the chess history timeline. Young scholars read books on the history of chess, answer questions and...
Curated OER
Live from Ancient Olympia!
Students study online resources to examine the ancient Olympic Games and athletes. They investigate the qualities of ancient Olympic athletes and role interviews with the athletes.
Judicial Branch of California
A “Commemorative” Bill of Rights
It's 1943, and Jewish people in Denmark are in hiding from the Nazis. What protection can the United States offer them? By examining the Constitution, specifically the Bill of Rights, scholars consider the protections afforded to those...
K12 Reader
Major Art Periods
After examining a brief article about the major art periods, readers use the provided graphic organizer to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the paragraph.
The New York Times
Perspective and Leonardo’s “Perspectograph”
Filippo Brunelleschi's invention of linear perspective during the Renaissance was further developed by his apprentice, a young artist named Leonardo da Vinci. Now modern artists can give da Vinci's famous perspectograph a try...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Preamble to the Constitution: A Close Reading Lesson
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...
Boston University
South African Short Stories: Apartheid, Civil Rights, and You
How are short stories from South Africa connected to issues of civil rights in the United States? A unit plan uses South African short stories to discuss issues such as apartheid, colonization, and civil rights. Questions and activities...
Classics for Kids
Composers Timeline
Take a quick tour through the last 350 years of music composition with an interactive timeline tool. As learners scroll through the years, they see which composers were born and working during the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern...
National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Queen's Printer for Ontario
Composers in Music History
What do Johann Sebastian Bach and Miles Davis have in common? Much more than class members might imagine. The comparison of these two famous composers is just one lesson in a unit that investigates many facets of the music industry...
Curated OER
Royal Proclamation on Education: King Chulalongkorn of Siam
How much did the King of Siam value education? Why did he believe haste was important? How do his views compare with modern views of education? These are the questions your class will answer after reading an excerpt from the "Royal...
Teach Engineering
Design a Flying Machine
Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...
Curated OER
The Tale of Genji
Did you know that the world's first novel was written by a woman? Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, was published in 1021. Class members research Eastern and Western cultures in the 10th and 11th centuries, view modern adaptations of...
Curated OER
Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music
Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...
Curated OER
Artists Teach Us to See the World through Visual Symbols
Tenth graders analyze a biographical piece of art by Raymond Saunders. They identify shapes, symbols, and lines that are used, and how the piece relates to the artist's life and modern society. They design and create an original piece of...
Curated OER
Modern & Contemporary
An informative study of the masters of modern and contemporary dance, including Ailey, Fokine, Balanchine, Baryshnikov, and Graham, this presentation offers high schoolers some key moments in the development of 20th century dance. Great...
Curated OER
The Story of English
Explore the history and scope of the English language with this presentation. With discussion points on the roots of English, its various forms around the world, and its status as a global language, this slide show would be a good...
Curated OER
The Ancient Olympic Games
Sixth graders complete a KWL chart about the Olympic Games. They watch a PowerPoint presentation about ancient Olympics. Each student completes a worksheet during the PowerPoint. Students write a summary of the information presented...
Curated OER
Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
High schoolers explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
Curated OER
Men of Steel
Students explore early 20th century steel making. In this U.S. history steel making lesson, students view and describe a postcard and a picture depicting exaggerated aspects of the steel industry. Students listen to a poem...
Curated OER
Chapter 12 Writing: the ABCs of Language
Providing a thorough presentation on the art of written language (and not just English), this slideshow will open your students' eyes to the sociological and linguistic issues surrounding writing systems, both modern and historical. The...
ProCon
Drug Use in Sports
The ancient Greeks used performance enhancing drugs, such as opium juice, when they participated in the original Olympic Games. Pupils research a website with debate topics to decide if athletes' use of such drugs in modern sports is...