The focus of the fourth unit in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Curriculum is on healthy eating and exercise. Class members examine healthy habits data from the YRBD Youth Online Tool, learn about the importance of a healthy diet and...

The United States—specifically John F. Kennedy—played a large role during the Cuban Missile Crisis. A history resource poses questions that encourage critical thinking as well as in-depth analysis of images from the time period.

A speaker, a message, an audience. After analyzing these elements in Queen Elizabeth's speech to the troops at Tilbury, groups analyze how other speakers use an awareness of events, and their audience to craft their arguments....

On June 26, 1963 President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech close to the Berlin Wall at the Rudolph Wilde Platz. On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan Delivered his famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down...

Learners analyze this letter of complaint to the city council by answering nine short-answer questions. They examine author's purpose, word choice, claims, rhetorical questions, and general observations. There is a focus on constructive...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Here's a poster that highlights the skills needed for the close reading of primary source documents when gathering evidence to support historical claims.

Students write a poetic analysis on a poem by Carl Sandburg. They take their previous knowledge of poetic devices and apply them to a piece of writing that displays their knowledge on a specific poem. They explain what they know about a...

To appreciate the oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, scholars examine the rhetorical devices and influences that make the speech so famous. They examine background information, conduct a close reading of the...

Beware political rhetoric! Connotation is everything! Groups select a presidential candidate and investigate how the candidate's position has changed on a specific issue. After analyzing the situation, the group determines whether they...

How did women use President Wilson's ideals and rhetoric in their bid for suffrage? To answer this essential question, class groups analyze primary written documents and visual images.

How does style contribute to the power and persuasiveness of a speech? With the question in mind, scholars continue reading "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton." They complete a Rhetorical Impact Tracking Tool to guide them in their...

What do Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Amanda Gordon have in common? They all believe in the power of words—the power of words to create change. After analyzing the rhetorical strategies in several poems and speeches,...

Young scholars examine and evaluate the Treaty of Versailles. They read and discuss primary source documents, explore various websites, develop a list of postwar goals for France, Germany, and the U.S., and evaluate whether the treaty...

Did the Declaration of Independence really intend to grant liberty for all? Get your class thinking about historical perspective with documents relaying the experiences of women, white men, and African-Americans during the Revolutionary...

How can teachers ensure their pupils are well prepared for the AP® English exam? The reference material is a good place to start! Educators read seven essays detailing best practices for teaching scholars to read critically and write...

The New York Times' Learning Network provides great lessons! This one uses articles from the paper to help readers understand homonyms like mail (verb and noun). It also includes an exercise in reading informational text. Links to the...

In today's political rhetoric, many forget the pivotal role the Republican Party played in the causes of the Civil War. The party's formation was the final straw for Southerners who saw the enslavement of people of African descent a...

Current immigration issues and the rhetoric surrounding the controversies come into focus with a lesson that uses Richard Blanco's anthem, "The U.S. of Us," written after the August 2019 attack in El Paso, Texas, to open a discussion of...

In 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opened in Washington, DC to much praise and some criticism. Part of a series of response questions from the AP® English Language and Composition exam, writers consider what factors...

Political ads as primary source documents? But of course. Viewers analyze the strategies involved in the Republican Party's 1984 advertisement in support of Ronald Reagan's reelection. 

An inaugural address represents the first moments of a new beginning. Using John F. Kennedy's speech as a model for guided practice, groups examine the ingredients of an inaugural address. Individuals then repeat the analysis...

Considering The Scarlet Pimpernel as part of your curriculum? Check out this overview that provides a brief summary of the plot of Baroness Orczy's novel and a discussion of some of the issues presented by her tale of the french...

Powerful orators make their messages compelling with a combination of factors. Learn how to be an inspirational speaker with a reading assessment activity that presents a list of persuasive speaking techniques, as well as two...