Facing History and Ourselves
Transcending Single Stories
The focus of the second lesson in the Standing Up for Democracy unit is on the power of assumptions based on a single experience or point of view. Class members begin by journaling about assumptions others make about their identity based...
Curated OER
Exploring the Personal Narrative
Students define the characteristics of a personal narrative, explain the difference between a 'memoir' and an 'autobiography', and create a reading journal in which they will log their reading activities. In this personal narrative...
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Students create a graphic timeline depicting who they are, where they've been and where they think they are going in their lives. They analyze and reflect upon the important events of their lives, and then use this as a starting point...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Safety and Managing Risk
Is it worth the risk? Class members examine a framework for assessing and managing risks and then apply the model to the provided scenarios. To conclude the session individuals apply the model to a personal situation and record their...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Writing Prompts for Middle School
Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Morals, Values, and Beliefs
What is integrity? What are the barriers that could keep a person from acting with integrity? How might these barriers be overcome? Class members tackle these questions as part of a course on Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive and...
Orange County Department of Education
Poppa's New Pants
Angela Shelf Medearis' Poppa's New Pants provides third graders with an opportunity to stitch together their own narrative filled with sensory details. After reading the story and noting the sensory and concrete details in the tale that...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Relationships and Sexuality
Developing close personal and romantic relationships requires its own set of skills. This session focuses on helping teens develop behaviors and strategies for dealing with romantic relationships, rather than on sharing personal...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Managing Change
Learning to embrace the opportunities and challenges change presents is the focus of the exercises and activities in this fifth session of a 10-lesson course on Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive and Spiritual (SPECS) health. The...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Learning about Learning
Encourage your sophomores to become life-long learners with the series of activities contained in this packet. Class members set goals, review personal targets, identify strategies to improve their study skills, and develop an action plan.
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Self Concept
Reflect on your identity, the past events that helped you form your personality, and your future aspirations with a lesson about self concept. Eighth graders examine their own traits and the ways they are unique from their peers before...
Teaching Tolerance
Poetry and Storytelling Café
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...
Curated OER
Narrative Journal Prompts
Need some possible writing topics for your class? Look no further, this resource consists of a list of 24 writing prompts. Perfect for journal writing or quick writes, all 24 prompts ask about pupils' personal experiences and thus elicit...
Curated OER
Using Aphorisms to Help Dealing with People
Here's a formal plan for what many effective teachers already do: Provide a week's worth of aphorisms and have learners choose one to write about in their journals each day. They reflect on the meaning of each aphorism and project how it...
Curated OER
My Life in Math Class
Students reflect on their past experiences in mathematics classes - both good and bad. They identify what methods, knowledge and strategies have been helpful to them and write about them in a journal to be shared with the current teacher.
Curated OER
Seedfolks Journal Entry Choices
Keep your class thinking about Seedfolks after they read each chapter by requiring them to keep a journal about the story. Hand out these journal entry prompts at the beginning of the story so that your learners know what to expect. For...
Curated OER
Character Traits - Who are We?
Sixth graders examine character traits. In this character education lesson, 6th graders set goals to strengthen particular personal character traits. Students watch their instructor model the character trait journaling strategy prior to...
Curated OER
Picture This: Bookmaking as a Visual Experience
Students examine artwork to view how artists use objects, symbols and elements of art to tell life stories. They create personal journals while learning the art of bookmaking using a variety of creative materials.
Curated OER
Personal or Social Tragedy? A Close Reading of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
Students complete close reading activities to analyze Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. For this literary analysis lesson, students analyze key quotations from Ethan Frome and respond to contemporary reviews of the text. Students use textual...
Curated OER
I Am . . .
Eighth graders read Eloise Greenfield's novella, 'Sister'. They write their personal responses quickly, foregoing concern about usage, spelling, and punctuation at this point. They write about their day, or may write about any...
Curated OER
Opening Eyes, Changing Minds. Talking About Personal Transformation And the Development of World Views
Students read one teen's story of personal growth through learning about racism and the criminal justice system to explore how individuals' world views are shaped and changed through experiences and education.
Smithsonian Institution
Mary Henry: Journal/Diary Writing
A great way to connect social studies with language arts, a resource on Mary Henry's historical diary reinforces the concepts of primary and secondary sources. It comes with an easy-to-understand lesson plan, as well as the reference...
Curated OER
Student Cancer Journals -- Personal Reflections and Research on Life and Death Issues
Concepts learned in the study of mitosisand biochemistry help when making life or death decisions. Compile a notebook or portfolio of work related to the project can make the research more organized and relevant.
Curated OER
Famous Person: Yushiko Uchida
Third, fourth, and fifth graders read the book The Bracelet by Yushiko Uchida and examine the events of Uchida's life. They participate in a guided discussion of Japanese culture, perform a reader's theater, listen to a guest speaker,...