What part does media play in creating, defining, and perpetuating popular culture? High schoolers chart their encounters with fads, trends, and icons and reflect on the media's influence on popular culture.

Give young scholars a chance to practice making inferences after reading the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. They confirm whether or not their conclusions are true, have a class discussion, and then independently complete an...

Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...

The class gets to practice being a mathematician in ancient Greece, performing geometric application problems in the way of Eratosthenes. After following the steps of the great mathematicians, they then compare the (surprisingly...

Whether it's an election year or not, a unit on voting patterns and political campaigns will awaken the civic pride in your high school citizens. Divided into six parts, the curriculum covers various facets of an election, including...

Gain an understanding of the complex topic of immigration with a collection of resources. Class members engage in a series of activities designed to give them insight into the factors that influence immigration policies and the effects...

A lesson centers itself around the topic of family roles. A whole-class discussion uses puppets and posters to go in-depth into the following character traits; caring, responsibility, respect, and cooperation. The discussion closes with...

Student examine friendships. In this writing instructional activity, students write about viewpoints of friendship. Students view pictures of friendship and write about the viewpoint of each picture.

Students discuss how cultural values and societal beliefs influence perspectives in literature. They identify and articulate how their own culture and society affects their actions and beliefs.

Sixth graders create a poster using one-point visual perspective. After exploring several examples of one-point perspective, 6th graders create a drawing around the theme of school community. Posters are illustrated and installed...

Students identify different viewpoints in society. They describe the characteristics of some of the individuals involved in the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. They listen to a historical narrative and identify issues of...

Eighth graders imagine they are getting ready to "take off." They may imagine themselves in any type of aircraft or spaceship. They may then sketch themselves as passengers anticipating this moment.

Second in a series of five lessons, this lesson encourages preteens to consider cities as urban ecosystems. First, they keep a food diary for a few days. They visit the Natrional Agricultural Statistics Service website for current data...

How do your learners react in conflicts with authority figures? Help them begin Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club with an activity about different conflicts that kids can run into with their parents. Each scenario prompts learners to rank...

Students discuss what types of things are included on a map. They compare and contrast maps of China with a map they create and practice using different types of maps. They write analysis of their classmates maps.

There may be elements of this lesson that are useful for a unit on Islamic influence in Spain; however, there is little alignment between the learning objectives and the final product --a ten page report. For example, some of the...

The Cay has been criticized by groups such as the Council on Interracial Books for Children because of the way race is portrayed. Explore the argument against the book while taking the author's perspective into account. Class members...

Students investigate Kindergarten and the different activities that are found there. They are introduced to the classroom and procedures with the help of a puppet show. Then students color in a worksheet that focuses around the...

Students explore Bebop in America by listening to music and answering questions.

Students explore the Jazz Era in America not only by answering questions but listening to music as well.

Eleventh graders explore Jazz in America. They examine greats in Jazz, such as Duke Ellington. They are also to discuss the cultural implications of the music itself.

Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are...

Considering using Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry for book circles or whole-class study? First time teachers, and those who have used the text before, will find some interesting tidbits in this overview.

Class groups examine fairy tales from a feminist and a Marxist perspective, identifying how these tales present gender roles and class/power systems. The groups then script and perform their own tale that uses one of these lenses.