ReadWriteThink
Scaffolding Methods for Research Paper Writing
Rome wasn't built in a day, but researchers can be with proper scaffolding. This writing unit has scholars write a research paper through scaffolding of various parts of the process. Learners begin with identifying a topic and crafting a...
DocsTeach
The Settlement of the American West
What do Abraham Lincoln and the Transcontinental Railroad have in common? Using a set of primary source documents, including pictures, maps, and treaties, class members link together the common themes of expansion into the American West....
American Battlefield Trust
Creating Civil War Multimedia
What was it like to live through the Civil War? Learners investigate the question by creating multimedia presentations. With a scaffolded approach that includes research, creating a biopic poem, storyboard, and then polished multimedia...
Center for History Education
Transforming the West: Did the Reality Match the Expectations for Kansas Homesteaders?
They expected good soil and hearty crops ... but they found buffalo chips and grasshopper plagues. Using an advertisement encouraging famers to go west, budding historians examine primary sources including letters, photographs, and...
Curated OER
Maus: A KWHL Approach
After reading the introduction to Maus I, class members use A KWHL approach to determine what they know, what they want to know, and where they can find information about World War II, the Holocaust, and other topics associated with Art...
College Board
2011 AP® Macroeconomics Free-Response Questions Form B
Exchange rates are dependent on a variety of factors. Scholars tease out these factors using a prompt from College Board. Another query examines the economic health of a country with barometers such as gross domestic product and wages. A...
Curated OER
Teaching Julius Caesar: A Differentiated Approach
While the themes of Julius Caesar may appeal to most readers, the act of reading the play can be a challenge. A unit plan related to the popular play by Shakespeare provides lesson plans and activities designed for differentiated...
EngageNY
Completing the Square (part 1)
Avoid the trap of memorizing steps when completing the square with a resources that provides a conceptual approach to completing the square. Learners that are able to recognize a perfect square trinomial are ready to complete the...
EngageNY
Ratios of Fractions and Their Unit Rates
Challenge the class to calculate unit rates using complex fractions. Pupils work through examples of finding unit rates using ratios of fractions. To complete the 11th lesson plan of 22, scholars review sample work and determine whether...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Scaffolding Complex Texts
Enhance a class read-aloud of the children's story Hi! Fly Guy with this reading comprehension lesson. Children first listen as the teacher reads the story, stopping along the way to discuss any unfamiliar vocabulary. The book...
College Board
2010 AP® Human Geography Free-Response Questions
Economics and demographics—how are they related? A set of questions from the College Board explore complex ideas such as how the location of raw goods drive the economics of where industries develop and what dynamics weaken or...
Curated OER
Scaffolding
Our job as teachers is to facilitate learning by providing a comfortable & efficient environment for learning to take place. To enable this we provide 'scaffolding' to support the learner. Without this the building, the learning...
Academy of American Poets
Noticing Poetry
Introduce scholars to the "I Notice" method, a different approach to studying poetry. Instructors first model the noticing method by identifying words and images that appeal on the sonic level, the ideational level, the sensory level,...
EngageNY
Fraction Equivalence, Ordering, and Operations
Need a unit to teach fractions to fourth graders? Look no further than this well-developed and thorough set of lessons that takes teachers through all steps of planning, implementing, and assessing their lessons. Divided into eight...
PBL Pathways
Total Cost to Produce the Turbo Blender
Class members blend their knowledge of functions and problem-solving skills to provide business advice to the Turbo Blender manufacturers. Through a project-based approach, learners examine marginal cost data to produce a function....
Curated OER
Find 1
Extend your class's ability to represent unit fractions on a number line with this challenging worksheet. Given two number lines, one labeled with zero and 1/4, the other with zero and 5/3, young scholars must accurately locate the...
Academy of American Poets
Thanksgiving with Richard Blanco's "América"
Traditions, like the times, are a-changin'. Middle schoolers conduct a close reading of Richard Blanco's poem "América" and consider how Blanco's family approached his suggestions for adopting a new approach to their Thanksgiving meal.
Curated OER
Sign of the Beaver: Book Club Discussion
Good question are the heart of great discussions. To prepare for a book club discussion, introduce young readers to the characteristics of good conversation-starting questions. Practice crafting questions for a text the class has...
Laying the Foundation
Box-and-Whisker Plots
Statistics is made approachable, and dare we say fun, in this activity on using box-and-whisker plots to analyze and compare data sets. Specific emphasis is placed on interpretations and explanations while graphing, and in using the...
National Park Service
Civil War to Civil Rights: From Pea Ridge to Central High
Explore how the Civil War impacted the Civil Rights Movement. Class members complete a series of projects for a unit that uses a layered curriculum approach to learning.
Literacy Design Collaborative
Betrayal in Literature—Barreiro
What do Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter" and the Book of Genesis have in common? Both are complex texts that model how authors can approach the same concept—betrayal—in very different ways.
Radford University
Throwing a Football
Use mathematics to help the football team. Pairs brainstorm how to approach finding a solution to a problem to help the quarterback complete more passes. By researching and collecting data, the teams derive an equation to represent the...
K20 LEARN
A Write At The Museum: Ekphrastic Poetry
Which came first—the painting or the poem? In this case, it is the painting. Scholars closely examine a work of art and then craft an ekphrastic poem in response. A carefully scaffolded nine-page plan leads young poets through the process.
Super Teacher Worksheets
Last Day of School
As summer quickly approaches, take a few minutes for young learners to reflect back on their favorite memories of the year. These three short response questions ask children to think about their academic and social achievements, while...