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What If It Happened To Me? A Look At The Disabled in Society
Students examine what it would be like to be disabled. They read literature with characters who have disabilities and discuss how society treats people with disabilities. They write an essay explaining why they are "normal."
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A Faith of Their Own
Students examine various topics related to womens' roles in Syria's Islamic revival. After reading and discussing an article on the subject, they participate in a fishbowl discussion and write an essay about traditions in their own lives.
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Mixing Metaphors with Politics
Students discuss different literary devices and use them to write summaries of New York Times articles dealing with international news. They reflect on the effectiveness and appropriateness of sports metaphors in the political arena.
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Values Clarification
Students examine their values and what is important to them. They define value, list what is important to them, prioritize the list of values, write a sentence for each value on the list, create a diagram of their number one value, and...
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What Does This Have To Do With Me?
Learners examine how to make a difference in their community. In this philanthropy lesson, students discuss if one person can make a difference, brainstorm a list of actions individuals can take to make a difference and write an essay...
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Every Picture Tells a Story
Students examine the ways in which a work of art represents the culture or lifestyle of people living in a state. They analyze the back of the Iowa quarter and discuss how art reflects the time period in which it was created.
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Four Foot Feat
Young scholars examine cultural customs and practices in family histories. In this family history lesson, students read the poetry in 'All the Colors of the Race' to analyze the family history. Young scholars complete guided reading...
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Fantasy Creature
Students, in groups, create three-dimensional sculptures from found objects. They paint their sculptures and write essays that reflect on the collaborative creative project.
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Non-Violence Means "Doing Nothing"
Students reflect on violence and non-violence. In this World History lesson, students read an article by Gandhi then write an essay as to whether they agree or disagree with his thoughts. Students then share all their ideas...
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Globalization 101
Students reflect on how religion has played a major role in globalization. For this lesson, students visit multiple internet sites, then participate in a class discussion on the various ideas on globalization that they learned in...
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Timeline
Students develop a timeline that depicts geologic development and the history of life. They write an interpretive analysis essay that discusses and reflects on their observations.
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The Incident of September 11th
Sixth graders identify and write in their journals in order to activate prior knowledge on the events that surround September 11th. Students, with a partner, read various essays, articles and personal experiences of September 11....
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Peer Pressure
Eleventh graders analyze the social impact media plays in relation to peer pressure. In this peer pressure lesson, 11th graders listen to Afroman's "Lets All Get Drunk" and read the lyrics. Students write about the song and view a party...
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Kolam: A Living Art of South Asia
Middle schoolers will read the short story "Meenakshi's Magic Hands" by Santhini Govindan and view a slide show of photo images interspersed with the text to learn of the art form of Kolam. Students read and reflect upon a nonfiction...
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Truth, Trash and Treasure
Students examine how people can make a difference in the world. They read and analyze excerpts from a novel, discuss song lyrics, clean up a local park, and write an essay.
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Shifting Gears
In this activity, students will write a personal narrative that is designed to help them reflect on the nature and meaning of change in their lives.
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Juliius Caesar
Students discuss suggestive language and the use of symbols and foreshadowing in Shakespeare's plays. In this Julius Caesar lesson, students discuss the idea that men control their own fates. Students examine the words of...
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Critic's Choice
Third graders read three to five genres and choose one as a favorite. They write an essay persuading the class to read the genre. This lesson serves as a nice introduction to different styles of literature.
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Novel Analysis
Students read the novel, Lord of the Flies, then write an essay analyzing the novel. They analyze, in small groups, characters, plot, setting, style, symbolism, theme, critical responses, and historical influences
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You Should Not Have Believed Me: Hamlet
Young scholars discuss the sanity of Hamlet and Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Students analyze an image from the play to address the sanity of the two characters. Then young scholars read the text to determine whether the characters'...
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Multimedia Urban Stories: "This is who I am"
Young scholars create a photo essay. In this lesson encouraging self-expression, students view and reflect upon photo essays. Then, they go out into the community and create their own photo essay complete with captions. Young scholars...
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Beauty Is Skin Deep
Students reflect upon the the experiences of superficial comments based upon physical appearance. The expectations of others is discussed in class. Also the influences of media is stressed and its expectations are demonstrated as either...
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My Spanish Christmas
Tenth graders research Spanish Christmas customs on the interent and role play in their writing their findings in an essay. They teacher provides a list of web addresses for the students to locate information on and from that their...
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The Power of Nonviolent Struggle
Young scholars identify how Mohandas Gandhi developed a nonviolent crusade for justice. For this nonviolent protest lesson, students watch segments of a documentary about Gandhi's reaction to imperialism in India. Young scholars write...