National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms...
Prestwick House
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech
President Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech, delivered on June 12, 1987 before the Berlin Wall, provides class members with an opportunity to examine three key aspects of informational text: author bias, the use of facts and...
Curated OER
A New Candidate for Animal Farm
Students create an advertising campaign in which a candidate from Animal Farm will run for an upcoming election. In this follow-up activity to George Orwell's Animal Farm lesson, students explore propaganda, rhetoric, and satire as they...
Curated OER
Activism of Terrorism
Students research animal rights issues and controversies and determine whether they believe extreme tactics are justified. They practice debate and rhetoric skills by successfully arguing both sides of the issue.
Curated OER
Medieval African Kingdoms
Seventh graders examine the geography and political history of West Africa. They role-play as applicants to a company that transports customers to any historic time period. Working in teams, they create promotional products encouraging...
Close Up Foundation
Teach the Vote
Why is voting important? A social studies unit presents a non-partisan approach to the importance of voting, to voting laws and procedures, and to resources that voters need to become informed voters.
Curated OER
Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction
Students analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Students read and analyze...
C-SPAN
Presidential Candidate Research
Don't let the young citizens in your social studies class get all their election information from inflammatory commercials and arguing pundits. Use a lesson plan from C-SPAN to guide class members through an election season with a...
Curated OER
Freedom by the Fireside: The Legacy of FDR's "Four Freedoms" Speech
Middle schoolers read and analyze Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address. They listen to recordings of speeches by F.D.R., answer discussion questions, and participate in a debate.
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
A Mini lesson on Semicolons
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this...
City University of New York
Women's Suffrage and World War I
Democracy cannot exist where not everyone has equal rights. Discuss the state of democracy and women's suffrage during World War I with class discussions, debates, and primary source analysis, in order for class members to connect...
Museum of Tolerance
Disenfranchised People of the New Nation
Why are some immigrant groups in the United States embraced while others become disenfranchised? To answer this question, teams investigate why groups emigrated to the US, why some of these these peoples were...
Curated OER
Post- Modernism
Students participate in a lesson that investigates post-modernism in American literature. They conduct the lesson with the help of reading "America" by Ginsberg to create context. Then students define the genre and the culture that has...
Curated OER
The Fight for Bread and Roses
Students examine events leading up to the Lawrence Strike. They explore the differences in class relate to the strike. They also examine the gender differences related to the strike.
Curated OER
Education Reform
Students identify problems and potential improvements for U.S. public school education. They research and debate the pros and cons of the "No Child Left Behind Act".
Curated OER
How to Teach the Legacies of the 1960s
Learners consider which aspects of world around them have roots in 1960s, research and compare 1960s to today with regards to Civil and Women's Rights, Vietnam, counterculture, music, voting, and economic rights, and explore legacy of...
Curated OER
How Secure is Social Security?
Students explore the Social Security System including its history, benefits, funds, problems, and its future.
Curated OER
Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
Curated OER
Satire in Fiction
Twelfth graders identify satire in various fictional texts. In this language arts activity, 12th graders will learn to define satire, parody, and caricature. Students will identify different forms of satire in historical and...
Curated OER
Human Rights in the Philippines
Students examine the meaning of human rights under the United Nations system, in the U.S., and the Philippines. They conduct research, discuss the concepts in groups, and conduct a debate on the human rights situation post Marcos...
Curated OER
We the People. . .
Students explore the United States Constitution. In this government lesson, students write newspaper editorials that reflect their opinions about Amendments.
Curated OER
Patrick Henry: Voice of Liberty
Students watch a video on Patrick Henry, complete a vocabulary list and discuss the video following provided questions.
Curated OER
The Tudor's True Story
Students take effective notes from a video documentary, create an oral report about an assigned aspect of the video, and express an understanding of the King's six wives' lives.
Curated OER
Testing DNA and the Death Penalty
Students explore issues surrounding death penalty debate and participate in a values-clarification activity to help them form their opinions on this topic. They create a talk show to discuss issues involved with DNA testing and the death...