Curated OER
Cultural Comparisons Interview
Students interview a family member and give an oral report. In this oral history lesson, students create interview questions relevant to an American historical period. Students interview a family member and present an oral report to the...
Curated OER
Discovering Your Family
Students research their family dynamics and create a project for the lesson. In this family dynamics lesson, students discuss the importance of family and create a family tree. Students prepare essays on four of their family stories and...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Honoring our Ancestors Through Community Celebration
Oral storytelling has been an important part of every culture. The time-honored practice uses stories as a conduit for a culture's values and customs from one generation to the next. Keep the tradition going with a family interview...
Teacher's Guide
Friendship Cinquain
Invite your class to share their appreciation of one another through the work of a Valentine's Day cinquain poem. Scholars use their knowledge of their classmates to describe them through adjectives, action verbs, and a complete sentence.
Curated OER
Skill Building for Educational and Vocational Advancement
Over ten weeks, 8th graders refine their visions of future careers, develop skills needed to write resumes and business letters, and learn to make a strong impression at interviews. Three specific activities are included, but mostly the...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Infectious Diseases Classroom Activity
Here is a different approach: emerging epidemiologists first go home to interview family on the topic of infectious disease. Then they come to class and view a video and PowerPoint that explore how climate change may increase the...
Council for Economic Education
Satisfaction Please! (Part 2)
Simply understanding consumer rights may not help people solve their problems. Understanding who to turn to becomes key in many different scenarios. Teach the value of various organizations that fight for consumer rights through...
Curated OER
Home Ties
Learners explore the reasons people choose to migrate including political, economic and familial motivations. They interview family members and compare their ancestors own reasons for migration to those of African American urban migrants.
Curated OER
Who To Interview?
High schoolers engage in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of an interview and how it should be conducted. They practice using interview questions with family members and then take the technique to a specific person needed to...
Curated OER
Oral History: Interviewing Elders
Sixth graders examine oral history traditions. They interview family members about their childhoods and compare them to their own. Students use the collected information to make posters, letters, essays, or poems about their research.
Curated OER
Family Heritage
Young scholars research their family heritage by interviewing family members. Using their responses, they record them in an organized fashion and develop a presentation. Using the Internet, they locate an artistic representation of their...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Spotlight Cards
Not all heroes wear capes—or cleats. Class members identify unsung heroes in their schools or towns for interviews, then create trading cards. A celebration including presentations or trading of cards completes their investigation of...
National WWII Museum
“My Dear Little Boys…” Interpreting a letter home from the war
Letters have long been prized by historians as primary sources for what they reveal not only about events but also about the emotional responses of the writers to these events. "My Dear Little Boys," a letter written by Leonard Isacks on...
Curated OER
I Search My Family Project
Students research their family's heritage. They follow a guide, document their family's history and put it together in report form.
Curated OER
Don't Flick Your Bic!
Students research the ban on lighters in the airport and how it is being enforced. Individually, they create and conduct a survey on family members who smoke about this issue. Using the internet, they discover what airports are doing to...
Curated OER
Family Customs Past and Present: Exploring Cultural Rituals
Students examine cultural traditions. In this cultural studies lesson, students conduct interviews and research online digital tools that allow them to discover their family's cultural traditions. Students prepare presentations using...
Curated OER
Coming to America
Students discover their families' reasons for coming to America. They view the video "Molly's Pilgrim" and discuss the story. They interview family members as to why they came to America.
Curated OER
Greetings!
Students investigate the ways in which people greet each other. They read a book about greetings, participate in a role-playing game about greetings, interview family members about greeting styles and report their observations to the class.
Smithsonian Institution
Black Diamond
Score a home run with this packet of information on the very first player of the Negro League to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame — cultural groundbreaker and sports legend Satchel Paige. These worksheets include a...
Teaching Tolerance
Voting in Your Town
A socially important resource focuses on voter turnout and roadblocks to voting. Scholars review resources on voting stats, watch a documentary, and participate in group discussion regarding voting in their local communities. Academics...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Tuesday 9/11/01" by Lucille Clifton
A photograph and a poem remind young people of the events of November 11, 2001. After examining Andrea Booher's photograph taken on September 13, 2001, and reading Lucille Clifton's poem "Tuesday 9/11/01", scholars compare their...
DocsTeach
Exploring America's Diversity: Gertrud Danneberg (Beginner)
Everyone is an immigrant in their own way. Young scholars read historic documents to understand one woman's journey from Germany to the United States. The activity uses a mixture of text, discussion, and written prompts to help...
Smithsonian Institution
Young People Shake Up Elections (History Proves It) Educator Guide
Vote, it's your civic duty! The resource provides several videos about voting in the United States. Scholars watch a series of topics ranging from youth participation to civic action. The educator's guide provides teachers with...
Curated OER
April Fool's Day
Young scholars research how April Fool's Day began. They identify and discuss various theories, interview family members, write original myths about the first April Fool's Day and design a wild goose chase for another class.