Students discuss symbolism in art, examine various images of compassion in Buddhist tradition, analyzing components of the concept, and then produce their own images of compassion through art.

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...

Prepare class members for a discussion of Sonia Levitin's dystopian novel The Cure, by leading them on a guided imagery exercise designed to encourage visualization of written descriptions.

To prepare for a Quickwrite on the question, "How do different points of view create cultural conflicts?" class groups draw examples of religious, cultural, and political conflicts from Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible to use...

Read the story Gingerbread Baby and use these various activities to connect to grammar, art, and point of view. In one activity, learners create character masks. They practice writing verbs on the back of the masks to tell what each...

Pupils create a lesson to present to the rest of the class about current laws, including expressing killing the president as a joke. Students research past events and current laws. Pupils present to the class using mult-media, oral...

What is autumn like in Shanghai? How much rain falls during September in Sydney? Is Moscow cold in October? Take a virtual trip around the world with a research assignment on autumn in different countries. After learners answer questions...

Students discuss the decision after World War II of Japan's to follow a policy of pacifism. After reading an article, they identify the ways Japan is strengthening its military. They watch a video to discover how their Constitution was...

Students listen to the story "No Blue Food" in this lesson. They then discuss Allegra, the main character, and her hesitation to try new foods. They participate in a matching game in which they match cards to determine a fruit topping...

Learners create radio play scripts. In this "War of the Worlds" lesson, students write new scenes to be added to the radio play and then perform the scenes for their classmates.

Students celebrate diversity. In this multicultural appreciation lesson plan, students celebrate diversity by sampling food from different cultures, learning a few words in Spanish and identifying the seven different continents.

Eleventh graders examine the political demands put on one of four groups living in America during WWII. Each class member is asked to research and write a paper describing the homefront experience for women, Hispanics, African-Americans,...

Explore Japanese society and national identity. Class members share ideas about the Japanese economy and then investigate a series of resources, including an article, a film, a lecture, and a poem, to learn about Japan's Bubble Economy...

Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...

Encourage effective internet research and e-mail correspondence as scholars investigate a US capital city they've never visited to find pertinent and relevant information. They begin by picking a city, then visit that city's chamber of...

If you have extra class time after a test or assignment, provide your class with this set of equations. There are 34 equations listed, and they are tough! For example, learners must solve 5280=F. in a M. This equation stands for feet in...

Groups research participatory democracies and compare the role and rights of citizens in ancient history with those in recent U.S. history. Guided by a series of questions, individuals compose a persuasive essay in which they discuss the...

Would you rather be right, or would you rather be kind? A novel unit based on R.J. Palacio's Wonder focuses on the need to be kind to others and to accept their differences. As learners read the book, they discuss the themes of...

Turn your passive readers into active readers with an engaging lesson on reading informational text. Focused on compare and contrast structured essays, the activity prompts elementary learners to jot down questions and think-aloud...

High schoolers investigate the concepts of area and perimeter. The activity uses a legend to create a context for the proposed word problem. They use the skill of estimation in order to create an ox skin that is found in the story. 

Writing can become one-dimensional if authors don't involve all their senses. First, scholars observe a strange object which, ideally, they can touch and even smell. Without using certain words (you can create a list or have the class...

Introduce the concept of myths to your class. Using the link to "Myths Around the World," read a story aloud and have learners list characteristics of a myth. Readers then choose their own myths from the site and work in groups to answer...

The artistic choices Art Spiegelman made in his graphic novel, Maus, are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare classic comic book forms with Spiegelman’s panels and frames. Directed to specific pages and guided by a...

Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...