Unit Plan
New York City Department of Education

What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue: How Did Jazz Influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...
Lesson Plan
National Gallery of Canada

Mastering One-Point Perspective

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Cover one-point perspective through observation and practice. Class members examine several works of art that use one-point perspective, look at magazine images to find the vanishing points and horizon lines, and draw their own city...
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Hamlet Meets Chushingura: Traditions of the Revenge Tragedy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read texts, view film and video and conduct research in an analysis and comparison of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and the Kabuki piece "Chushingura". They focus their analysis on the theme of revenge.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Zebra" by Chaim Potok

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Combine art and literature to teach greater themes and symbolic meaning. Using the plan outlined in this resource, expose your class to the story "Zebra" by Chaim Potok, conduct discussions about social issues and nicknames, and ask...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover how Shakespeare's play interprets Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge, as reflected in the structure of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy, one of the most popular forms of drama of that era. Students perform certain...
Lesson Plan
San Francisco Symphony

By the Great Horn Spoon!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...
PPT
Curated OER

Modern American Theatre: Intro to Drama

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Set this slideshow up at as an independent work station, or to provide your theater arts class with a look at the many manifestations of modern literary drama. Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Arthur Miller are the focus of the...
Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" in Graphical Representation

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students analyze graphical forms of Eudora Welty and interpret the shorts stories in the representations. In this graphical representations lesson, students analyze the short story genre in comic strips. Students then create their own...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhythm and Art: Rhythm Collage

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a collage in response to musical rhythm. For this visual arts lesson plan, students will better understand the connection between visual arts and musical rhythm. Students will follow the teacher's model of letting the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Conspiracy after the Storm: Editing Dual Murder Plots in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'

For Teachers 12th - Higher Ed
Young scholars edit scenes from Shakespeare's The Tempest in documentary fashion and perform their edited scripts. In this play analysis lesson, students read through Act 2 and 3 and discuss how and why to cut lines in a play. Young...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Walking Down Main Street: The Changing Times of a Railroad Town

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students explore the historic district via a scavenger hunt. In this community history lesson, students complete a scavenger hunt using historic postcards and clues as guides. Students create a timeline demonstrating changes of the area...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Sculptor's Model

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students investigate visual arts by researching art on the Internet. In this expressionism lesson plan, students identify several famous artworks on-line based on self expression and discuss the techniques. Students examine steel...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sanctuary: Quail Island Banks

For Teachers 4th - 10th
Students explore visual arts by examining a diorama in class. In this geography lesson, students examine an island off the coast of New Zealand and identify the physical attributes of the land. Students answer study questions...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning the Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students take a virtual field trip to Memphis, Tennessee in their study of the blues, its characterisitics, founding fathers, and histororical influence on modern music. They compose blues lyrics that reflect present-day attitudes and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Outside...North of the 49th Parallel

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Young scholars explore and discuss images of Canadian landscape focusing on the work of the Group of Seven. The discuss different Canadian environments in a group of art works and complete a chart categorizing the depictions. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Defining American Culture Photographic Parallels

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students assess the diversity of the photographs taken by a Czech photographer, that illustrate how existed in 1920's Texas. Then students compare and contrast these photographs with more current photographs of Texans and evaluate in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pioneers On and Off the Prairie- Willa Cather and Mary Cassatt

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars examine the written work of Willa Cather and the impressionist art of Mary Cassatt. They describe parallels in the lives and work of both women and creat a Powerpoint presentation.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Maintaining a Research Notebook During the Research Process

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
Pupils discover how to keep all of their research work in a notebook. This lesson shows students how to stay organized during the research process, as well as providing pupils with a graphic organizer for their work.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mr. Lincoln's Hat

For Teachers K - 5th
Bring out the inner artist with this Abraham Lincoln instructional activity. Elementary students work on a home project creating a hat similar to Abraham Lincoln's hat. They will use geometry and measurement to create the scale of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Documentarians of an Era: A Study of the Paintings of Thomas Eakins and Gustave Caillebotte

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students produce an object analysis of 'The Champion Single Scull'. They begin with description, proceeding to deduction, and finally providing speculation by interpreting the outward evidence of culture. They use a clipboard and paper...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hands on Essays

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders relate the concept of individuality of geometric shapes to the individuality of topic sentences. They write and revise a persuasive argument essay using an established rubric.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Huichol Yarn Painting

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders study the Huichol Indians and the art of yarn painting. They create their own yarn paintings in the Huichol style.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Noh Theater

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students compare Noh drama to western drama and trace the influence of Japanese theater on modern western drama.  For this Noh drama lesson, students read the play Black Tomb (Kurozuko) defining the elements and conventions of Noh...