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...

Teenagers love to take risks to test their personal boundaries, but many risks are too dangerous to try. The set of exercises in this packet teach your class about the ways they can stay safe and protect themselves while still having fun.

Shark! Scholars read about sharks in Facts about Sharks by Susanna Batchelor. They then pretend they are shark scientists and choose a shark they want to study. Learners research their sharks and record information in graphic organizers...

The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...

Genetic modification is a hot topic in the science and political world. A complete unit gives learners an opportunity to research genetic modification, play an interactive genetic engineering simulation, and interact with the information...

While many young scholars are familiar with the Holocaust, they may not understand the specific history that led to the unprecedented atrocity. The first lesson in the unit helps teachers gauge their pupils' background knowledge. A...

Fix the Articles of Confederation or develop a new constitution? That was the question facing the Founding Fathers. Several of those in favor of a new constitution published a series of essays, collected in the Federalist...

The Path to Women's Suffrage unit focuses on how Western Expansion was instrumental in gaining women the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment. Young historians analyze maps, examine primary source documents, and create a...

Learn how to correctly analyze and score a written performance task. Example work shows annotated think alouds for grading. Teachers also have access to graphic organizers for helping writers succeed,

The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...

What's the difference between being a phony and being a conformist? At what point does conforming to alleviate loneliness lead to insincerity? These are the questions at the heart of this unit plan that uses The Catcher in the Rye...

The Scarlet Letter is the anchor text in a four-week unit that examines Hawthorne's novel through the lens of the intolerances found in a supposed civilized society. In addition to their reading, class members watch clips from...

Tone is a tough topic to teach to teenagers. But never, fear, help is here in the form of a unit plan that takes advantage of their interest in music to set the stage for a series of activities that lead them to understand how setting,...

In this Crime and Deviance worksheet, students read and answer questions, including applying theories to current events and writing a response to an essay question.

Students complete worksheets and roleplay feudal simulations as they are immersed in the daily life of the Middle Ages. They study geography of Europe and the origins of European tribes. They outline and write a biographical essay and...

Using Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, guide your class in the process of identifying unknown terms using context clues and formulating text-based answers. The lesson plan includes a useful worksheet incorporating scaffolding questions on an...

Creating an environment where learners feel both educated and empowered challenges any teacher when discussing a sometimes bleak topic. A respectful resource provides them with the details and permits them to make a plan of action....

Cesar Chavez, the United Farmworker's Movement, and the struggle for Chicano Civil Rights are the focus of a Day of Service and Learning curriculum guide that asks participants to investigate the conditions, events, and...

The American Dream is a goal that many pursue, but is it truly attainable for all people? An in-depth lesson explores the plight of migrants in twentieth-century America. The resource includes a video and author biographies and...

The origins, goals, and struggles of the women's movement are the focus of a five-day series of lessons about the accomplishments of the movement and the continuing struggle for women's rights.

Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.

Terror, mystery, excitement. American writers of the 19th century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson, used these elements to create morally ambiguous tales that challenged the prevailing belief in...

Students engage in a unit of literature study in order to focus upon the historical context of the holocaust. They read the literature in either whole works or partially depending on the teacher and answer the questions to measure...

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will learn how to adjust your thesis so it accurately reflects the main idea of your essay. You will learn how to breathe life into a dead introduction...