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US Institute of Peace

Defining Conflict

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Before there can be peace, we have to understand conflict. Introduce the concept of conflict through a two-part activity that combines discussion, collaboration, and writing. The first in a 15-part series examines the multiple meanings...
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Lesson Plan
Ford's Theatre

How Perspective Shapes Understanding of History

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...
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Curated OER

Scene Writing: Literacy and Playwriting

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Drama is ever-present in our daily lives and eloquently depicted on stage. Middle schoolers practice writing scenes based on different prompts and frameworks, and then perform those creative scenes for their classmates. The activities...
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Lesson Plan
American Battlefield Trust

Jeremiah Handley

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Designed for middle school scholars, a instructional activity explores the life of Jeremiah Handley, a young man when the Civil War broke out. Pupils read Handley's personal story, accounts of battles, and view images to understand what...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching "A Week in the Woods"

For Teachers 4th - 7th
The book, A Week in the Woods is the focus of the very interesting language arts lesson presented here. After the book has been read, learners engage in study of certain parts of the book in order to gain a better understanding of how...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Expressing Your Views to the Letter

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan 11: Beginnings

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Every good novel needs a solid beginning! Setting the stage can have your budding authors stumped, so use this lesson to get them thinking. After examining the plot rollercoaster image (included) they consider the four places their story...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Michael Blum: National Identity at a Distance

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Immigration, refugees, and cultural change due to the movement of people around the globe is discussed. Learners examine the work of Michael Blum to gain an understanding of how national and cultural identities shift due to immigration....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's a Matter of Opinion

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Dissect the parts of an advertisement with your class. Middle schoolers discuss advertisements and locate the hook in them. Then, they create an advertisement for a business, in which they include the name of the business, an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Childhood Lost: Child Labor in the United States, 1830-1930

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Working in groups, middle and high schoolers describe and discuss photographs depicting working conditions experienced by child laborers in the 19th century. They then write a persuasive paragraph supporting an amendment to regulate the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Color as a Pre-Writing Tool

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
To better understand how to compose a clear and well-organized paper, learners read short passages, write summaries, and make colored graphic organizers. This is a fully developed three-day activity with suggested assessments.
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Unit Plan
Partners Against Hate

Building Community and Combating Hate

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Put a little love in your classroom! Help middle school scholars understand differences among people and build a sense of community within their school through 10 well-organized lessons. Each unique lesson incorporates writing,...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Editorials and Opinion Articles

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Reading the news is fun, and that's a fact! With the lesson plan, scholars differentiate between fact and opinion as they read editorial articles. They complete a worksheet to analyze the information before writing their own editorials...
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Lesson Plan
Global Oneness Project

Learning with Nature

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Think outside the box - and think about education beyond the classroom walls - with a resource that has your critical thinkers watching a video about a nursery in Scotland that lets youngsters roam wild in a forest. Viewers reflect on...
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Lesson Plan
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Smithsonian Institution

POWs

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars?  To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the voice of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Power of Autobiographical Writing

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the concept of injustice. In this nonviolent resistance instructional activity, students discuss how autobiographical writing may be used to promote justice. Students read an excerpt from Gandhi's autobiography and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How to Write A+ Essays!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This lesson plan, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a list of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sequencing

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Are you looking for a way to teach sequence of events in your narrative writing unit? Bring this instructional activity to your middle school class, as it prompts young writers to create a narrative sequence map of events that have...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

So Much Depends Upon...Sixteen-Word Imagery Poems Inspired by Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

For Teachers 6th - 7th
After reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (and possibly shedding a few tears), middle schoolers work on their own sixteen-word poems with a Six Trait writing activity. They focus on word choice in this activity to capture an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Snapshot" Exercises & Sensory Detail Word Bank

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
Read a sample of creative descriptive writing to your science class. Discuss how writing can be used to record and communicate observations that scientists make. Reading selections and thought-provoking questions are suggested. Also...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Observing Monsoon Weather Patterns with TRMM Data

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Follow a fabulous slide show on how monsoons form and how satellite technology is being used to observe the phenomena, explaining why they occur. Afterward, visit the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) website to access actual...
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Lesson Plan
Beyond Benign

Intended Occupants

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Here's a lesson plan you can really build on! Middle schoolers describe the occupants of an imaginary house during a character-building lesson plan. They create a cast of characters who share living space and provide details about their...
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Lesson Plan
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Overcoming Obstacles

Taking Tests

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In a lesson designed to prepare scholars for taking tests, they begin with a review of how to plan and review notes. They Identify ways to prepare for upcoming tests and strategies for studying and memorizing information. Class members...
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Lesson Plan
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities

Chapter 3 Teacher Guide and Student Log

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Following the procedures and routines established in the first of a series of 24 lessons that use as an anchor text, readers of Tony Johnston's Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio, form study teams, develop and verify predictions...