Students write their thoughts about political cartoons, photographs, and articles in their journal and then discuss them in class.

Journal writing can be a fun way to bring history to life. Upper graders read a series of journals from the time of the westward expansion, specifically the pioneer journey along the Oregon Trail. They compose an ongoing journal from the...

Learners will share ideas about class mobility. They create a timeline that chronicles milestones in their own lives, and synthesize their learning by writing personal essays about their class status and aspirations for the future.

Teams select a society to investigate and create a chart comparing and contrasting the status of girls in that society with their own. They then craft and illustrate a personal narrative written from the point of view of a girl living in...

Students create an online "community journal". In this communities instructional activity, students use a writing template to send e-mail to various people to learn more about their community. The journal is passed from person to person.

Academics take turns as actors in an engaging poetry cafe. Elementary learners work in small groups to create original poems or stories addressing community issues and read their work in front of a live audience. Scholars also reflect...

Students investigate the life of Martha Wayles Jefferson. In this American history lesson, students examine excerpts of the journals kept by Thomas Jefferson's wife. Students infer what life at Monticello may have been like....

Students examine the published diaries of Anne Frank, or Zlata Filipovic, to gain an appreciation for journal writing, a form of autobiographical writing in which the writer records personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences. They...

Pull quotes from a text and craft responses to the quotes you chose. First, read a  short excerpt from Mary Claire Wilfert's oral history. Then, read the contemporary poem "Robert's Cove," pulling quotes and writing responses as...

The second lesson in a historical fiction series encourages pupils to develop a character profile of a colonial person using research acquired in the previous unit. Learners prepare their historical fiction narrative by responding to a...

Inspire your class to write about role models and personal heroes with this resource from The Learning Network. Class members read a New York Times article excerpt about basketball star Jeremy Lin and how he inspired the author. After...

Conduct a classroom conversation about communication using this resource as a jumping-off point. For this The Learning Network activity, learners read an excerpt from The New York Times opinion piece, "The Flight From Conversation," and...

A great resource for informational texts as well as writing topics, the New York Times website provides writing prompts about various news articles through The Learning Network. This particular worksheet provides a very short...

Students connect with an immigration unit through research, journal writing, digital photography, and a movie production using iMovie. By acting out the immigrant's experience, students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of...

When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...

Students use online race updates of the Iditarod race and musher information to create a journal that one of the racers might have kept while participating in the race between Anchorage and Nome.

A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...

Sixth graders read and discuss the book, The Diary of A Young Girl, by Anne Frank, analyzing the autobiographical writing style of journal writing. They write their personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences of their own daily...

Students read primary source journals from the Nebraska Western Trails Project. They work in groups to analyze the journal entries and complete a worksheet. Students then write an individual essay on the experience and consider what kind...

Sixth graders discover the importance of information sources by researching the United States History.  In this research gathering lesson, 6th graders examine a historical painting of George Washington and analyze what it means,...

Have your middle and high schoolers analyze instances of celebrities using racial slurs or making prejudiced comments in public. After reading an article, they consider the roots and effects of prejudice and bias. As a class, they...