Tweens and teens learn coping skills to help manage strong emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness with a instructional activity that asks them to generate a list of self-calming strategies they use and to consider the suggestions in a...

As part of a Career Develop unit, eighth-graders reflect on their beliefs and values and consider how these beliefs might affect their relationships with friends and with colleagues when they join the workforce.

Henry IV, Part 1 is the focus of a teaching guide that introduces readers to an important time in British history. The guide provides historical background information, explores the play's many political and familial themes, and offers...

The author study gets an update in a research project designed for high schoolers. Scholars search for information about literary figures that connects them to their times, their works, their themes, and other writers. Researchers also...

What are the effects of one's life experiences? Class members view a slam poetry reading, a speech by President Obama, and read a short story by John Steinbeck about responding to tragedies. They summarize these events and then craft a...

Scholars examine a list of questions and sort them into corresponding groups based on similarities. A gallery walk allows peers to see how their peers sorted questions and leave notes. Costa's Level of Questions is the topic of a...

The poem "The Teller of Tales" by Gabriela Mistral is the subject of a thoughtful lesson that allows scholars to listen to or read the poem, then discuss its meaning. 

Historical events can be viewed from multiple perspectives. This simple truth is brought home in a instructional activity that examines primary source documents related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Doctrine of Discovery and...

Encultureate, assimilate, or eliminate? The 2021 discovery of a mass grave of over 200 children on the site of a former Canadian Indian Boarding school led to the creation of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. High schoolers...

Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. All were forced off their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States as part of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Young historians research the tribes' reactions to this removal and...

Sovereign nations or wards? High schoolers investigate the history of the Indian Reorganization Act and other legislation that impacted Native Americans. They also research different tribes' constitutions, compare them to the U.S....

Your land is my land! Young historians investigate the concept of Manifest Destiny used by the United States government to justify western expansion. Jigsaw groups read primary source documents to gain an understanding of the movement...

High schoolers draft a paragraph about their stance on the issue of school uniforms and share their work with a peer for editing. After watching a  parody video about peer editing and revising, class members generate a "Top 10 list"...

Fangs, capes, pale skin, and beady eyes! High schoolers investigate the tropes associated with vampires by examining excerpts from stories and films. They then create a timeline that reveals how the depictions of vampires have evolved...

Spoken word poetry, more than almost any other form, reveals the historical and cultural perspective of the poet. High schoolers listen to various spoken word poems, select one to research in-depth, and then apply what they have learned...

As part of a study of Spoken Word Poetry, class members watch a series of performance videos and note where poets get their ideas and the performance techniques used by the poets. Pupils then draft and share their poems.

High schoolers examine the four major types of speeches: informative, demonstrative, persuasive, and extemporaneous. Groups then select one type and craft and share a presentation highlighting this format's characteristics. Finally,...

A lesson features the work of O'Plérou Grebet, a graphic designer who created a collection of emojis to represent his life in West Africa. Scholars explore the history and purpose of emojis, then read and discuss an article about...

Young social scientists investigate recent legislative proposals for reparations for African Americans. They examine the rationale behind the proposals by viewing videos and reading related articles. To close the lesson, scholars craft a...

High school juniors and seniors investigate the representation of women in video games. They watch a video of researcher Anita Sarkeesian who describes the response to her research attempts, and read articles related to the topic. To...

Few have heard of Dolores Huerta and her part in organizing the California farm workers, establishing the United Farm Workers union and orchestrating the Delano Grape strike. High schoolers consider why this powerful woman has been...

Ouch! The final lesson plan in the 12-resource poetry unit models for young writers how poems can be used to voice hard truths.

Did you know that some languages have no word for art? The English language does and the narrator of this short video discusses the aesthetic dimension of religious art as it "visually communicates meaning beyond language." 

Hello? Hello? Scholars investigate the impact Alexander Graham Bell's telephone had on the American landscape. Using drawings, video clips, and primary sources, the mind of the inventor comes to light as pupils dream of new inventions to...