National Endowment for the Humanities
Learning about Early Modern Era Empires
You are a diplomat during the Age of Empire: prepare a briefing about your country. Young scholars take on the challenge using a role-play exercise to examine various empires during the rise of global interconnectedness. Materials...
Overcoming Obstacles
Giving and Earning Respect
RESPECT! High schoolers learn what it means, how to earn it, who deserves it, and why in the first of five lessons in this section of the Overcoming Obstacles course. After brainstorming a list of people they think to deserve respect and...
Curated OER
Writing: Mentor Text Lesson & Microteaching
Mentor texts are a great way to demonstrate how to write with purpose. Pupils will be reintroduced to two well-known books and then asked to think about them from the writer's point of view. They will see that the author had to use basic...
Curated OER
Sound Blending Lesson Plan
Mr. Snowman wants to help emerging readers understand compound words, so he segments some familiar words to help them see that they are made of two distinct words. Learners repeat the words, both segmented and blended, and observe them...
K20 LEARN
Native American Education - Past, Present, and Future: Assimilation
To understand the history of Native American education, high schoolers examine the record of young scholars who attended the Carlisle Indian School from 1879-1918. They also examine sources that contain information about indigenous...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Man and Superman
Ordinary and extraordinary readers will find much to contemplate in a instructional activity on Crime and Punishment as they examine the dichotomies in Dostoevsky's novel. Scholars reflect on Raskolnikov's theory that extraordinary...
The New York Times
Teaching the Vietnam War with Primary Sources from the New York Times
Use the New York Times database of primary sources to teach a unit on the Vietnam War. The resource consists of a variety of primary sources as well as a lesson plan showcasing how to teach a lesson using them. Pupils analyze the...
EngageNY
Identical Triangles
Explore vocabulary and notation related to triangles and congruence. The fifth lesson in the 29-part series helps pupils build their knowledge of triangle relationships. Individuals identify corresponding parts of identical triangles and...
EngageNY
Collecting Rational Number Like Terms
Teach pupils to handle fractions fluently. The sixth installment in the series of 28 has class members apply the concepts learned in previous lessons to expressions with fractional coefficients. The fractions are both mixed numbers and...
K20 LEARN
The Million Dollar Question: Informative Writing
Introduce high school freshmen to the characteristics of informative writing with a 5-day lesson that distinguishes informative writing from other modes. Scholars learn how to search for and cite reliable resources, then research and...
K20 LEARN
The Conflict at the Washita River: The Indian Wars in Indian Territory
"Battle" or "Massacre"? Words matter, especially when labeling historical events. That's the big idea in a lesson about the 1868 conflict at the Washita River. After examining two images of the event, groups read and discuss articles...
K20 LEARN
If You're a Bird, I'm a Bird: Symbolism
Would a bluebird be as scary as a vulture? Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is the central text in a lesson plan about symbolism. After a close reading of the poem, learners consider what the raven might represent to the narrator. They then...
K20 LEARN
To Be or Not to Be? That’s a Career Question! College and Career Readiness
Tell your class members Que sera might be if they complete a survey of their interests, examine a list of careers that address these interests, research these careers, and develop an action plan that will help them...
EngageNY
Computing Actual Areas from a Scale Drawing
Square the scale factor when working with scaled drawings and area. The 19th lesson in a series of 22 introduces calculating actual areas from scale drawings. The lesson encourages pupils to use the square of the scale factor to find the...
EngageNY
Unit Rate as the Constant of Proportionality
What do unit rates and constants of proportionality have in common? The lesson plan addresses this question and introduces the concept of constant proportionality to the class. Individuals find that the unit rate and the constant of...
K20 LEARN
Bill of Rights: Do I Have a Right?
Aliens have taken over the United States! Citizens can only keep two rights laid out in the first 10 amendments of the Constitution and must figure out which ones are best. Young scholars research the importance of each amendment and key...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: “Dead Stars” by Ada Limón
Pay attention! A lesson featuring Ada Limon's poem "Dead Stars" is designed to help learners develop their noticing skills. Class members first study the constellation Orion's image and list what they notice and how the image makes them...
EngageNY
The Binomial Theorem
Sometimes, there is a better way. Scholars develop Pascal's triangle as a method to arrive at the coefficients of binomial expansions as an easier method to expand binomials. The learners connect the formula for binomial coefficients to...
EngageNY
Conditions for a Unique Triangle—Two Angles and a Given Side
Using patty paper, classes determine that only one triangle is possible when given two specific angle measures and a side length. As the 10th instructional activity in the series of 29, young math scholars add these criteria to those...
EngageNY
Generating Equivalent Expressions II
Discover how to apply the commutative and associative properties to generate equivalent expressions. The second lesson in the 28-part module asks pupils to rearrange an expression by grouping like terms. From there, they can combine...
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...
K20 LEARN
Hooking Your Reader
Hook your class into inquiry-based, hands-on learning with a activity on narrative leads. Pupils research different types of hooks and decide which one to use in their own writing. Carefully scaffolded to include all learners, the...
ReadWriteThink
Writing Free Verse in the "Voice" of Cesar Chavez
Introduce middle schoolers to free verse poetry with a lesson that has young poets read two free verse poems and list the common characteristics of the form. They then read a passage from Cesar Chavez's biography and a free verse poem...
ReadWriteThink
What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose
Introduce middle schoolers to the different strategies used when reading prose versus poetry. Groups use a Venn diagram and a poetry analysis handout to compare the characteristics of an informational text and a poem on the same...