Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...

Dear Nancy, how do you analyze a letter? Love, Trez. Dear Trez, you use a Letter Analysis Worksheet. Love, Nancy. This richly detailed worksheet provides multiple questions that lead researchers step-by-step through the process of...

Does your conflict management style keep you cool and persuasive, even under pressure? Young behaviorists practice analyzing conflicts and using conflict management skills during lesson five in a 15-part series. The resource contains...

How do you read a frame? How do you read a shot? Here's a resource that shows viewers how to read films. As part of the study, class members examine the camera angles, lighting, movement, and cinematic point of view in Mr. Smith Goes to...

When in the course of a course on historic American events, it becomes necessary for learners to examine, with decent respect, the Declaration of Independence, it becomes evident that there are six separate and equal parts of that...

A close examination of John Gast's painting "American Progress" launches a study of the concept of Manifest Destiny used to justify United States' policy of westward expansion. Young historians read statements from persons with different...

Women and children played key roles during the Civil War, even if their voices are often lost in history. By studying letters and personal testimony from them, budding historians get a glimpse into the day-to-day life of civilians during...

High schoolers analyze a character of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to catch a glimpse of a family and the changes they, and the Old South, undergo. The use of time as it relates to the structure of the plot is covered in this...

What are the job requirements for the office of president of the United States? What attributes should a candidate possess? Are the qualities needed to govern the same as those needed to win? What can an analysis of the...

Beginning with an exercise of favoritism to engage learners, progressing through image and primary source analysis of the Nineteenth Amendment and the Seneca Falls Declaration, and culminating in a look at a political cartoon called...

Students research visual arts by creating an art project for their homes. In this art analysis lesson, students identify the work of Keith Haring by researching the Internet and examining images. Students utilize tempera paints, poster...

The articles and images in the June 1964 edition of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Newsletter detail the events in St. Augustine that were instrumental in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The stirring...

Young scholars examine their own intelligence to find areas of strength after studying the multiple intelligences.  In this diverse learning styles instructional activity, students analyze how the school environment fosters or fails...

Here's a great resource for your curriculum library. The 240-page packet, organized into units by topics, includes sample lesson plans, links to primary and secondary source documents, worksheets, activities, and sample assessments.

Uncover the answer to a specific clue in a portrait of George Washington with a spyglass in an Internet-based interactive. Learners read a clue to an item hidden in a portrait of the First President of the United States in the last years...

Much has been made of the differences between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. But was there any common ground between them? Class members reconsider what they think they know about these two civil rights leaders with...

Research famous figures from history through the primary sources they created! Explore how these types of documents can enrich our study of the past with your middle and high school learners. They create picture books to illustrate...

Students examine the United States at the turn of the century. Using primary source documents, they interpret them within a specific historical context. Using this information, they write a poem with metaphors and a specific meter They...

Learners analyze Japanese tanka poetry. In this Japanese poetry lesson, students identify analyze the structure of tanka poetry. Learners complete the activities at the given links for the lesson and compose two tanka poems.

Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...

Students analyze geographic maps. In this map analysis instructional activity, students analyze the symbols in geographic maps and the impact of cultural, historical, and political concepts. Students compare and contrast maps in various...

Eleventh graders explore the role of women in 1800's America. In this women's history lesson, 11th graders examine excerpts of "An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism with Reference to the Duty of American Females," and "Letters to...

Students look at Twain, the humorist - considered America's favorite storyteller and the funniest man in the world at the time. Students stretch the truth about a personal experience, and consider how delivery affects impact.

Students examine pop culture of the 1980s.  In this historical time period lesson, students view a Smurfs cartoon from the 1980s and discuss its similarities and differences to cartoons today.  Students work in groups to...