Overcoming Obstacles
Getting Organized
If you've ever peeked inside a middle schooler's backpack, you know how valuable a lesson on organization can be. Help class members organize their binders, study habits, and schedules with a set of collaborative activities.
Bulgarian Creative Writing Competition
Creative Writing Workshop
Looking for suggestions on how to organize a creating writing workshop? For topic suggestions appropriate for various grade levels? Check out a resource packet, designed for English language arts instructors, that is packed with ideas...
American Psychological Association
A Silent National Crisis: Violence Against Teachers
School violence is becoming an epidemic in America. How can schools protect their teachers—and teach them how to protect their students? Read an important brochure about how violence affects teachers personally, emotionally, financially,...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for Handmaid's Tale
Great literature discussions are a consequence of carefully crafted questions, interpretative questions that permit more than one response, and responses supported by specific evidence from the text. The discussion questions in a guide...
New York State Education Department
US History and Government Examination: June 2010
Just how successful were the reform movements of the ninteenth and twentieth centuries? Using documents ranging from the writings of Mother Jones to the marriage vows of Lucy Stone, individuals consider the question in a scaffolded...
Curated OER
Changing the World: Social Entrepreneurs Part Two
High schoolers explore the work of social entrepreneurs. In this entrepreneurship lesson, students research a specific entrepreneur and create a presentation introducing him or her to the class. High schoolers design a seminar on social...
Curated OER
Chinese Calligraphy
Explore the beauty of Chinese Calligraphy. This well-developed instructional activity will take your class on a journey through the history of Calligraphy, engage them in technique and style, then challenge them by having them create new...
Curated OER
Chinese Folktales: An Illustrating Activity
In need of a really good lesson that incorporates literature, art, and cultural themes? After hearing a traditional Chinese folktale and discussing cultural themes and symbolism, learners create original illustrations for the story. This...
Curated OER
Everyone Can Benefit from Professional Development
These resources will point you in the direction of valuable professional development opportunities.
Curated OER
Liberty and Security in Contemporary China
Upper graders consider contemporary Chinese economics, political viewpoints, and government. This unit covers a span of several class periods or six days, and engages learners in a variety of skills based activities. They conduct...
Mr. Ambrose
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...
Curated OER
Blood Highways
Fifth graders read an informative paragraph about how blood travels through our bodies. Then, they fill in the missing letters for words that label things in the circulatory system. An answer key is provided on page two. An interesting,...
Curated OER
Frequent Assessments Guide Teaching: Part One
What assessment strategies work best for you? I use multiple checks for understanding to make sure my kids are building knowledge, not reinforcing mistakes.
University of Houston
Personal Narratives: Writing, Revising, and Publishing (WRAP)
Writing is a process, and lesson planning is, too! A personal narrative unit stresses the writing process to pupils, who first examine various stories and poems as a model of autobiographical writing and then write their own stories....
Curated OER
Creative Writing Workshop (Middle, Reading/Writing)
Bring this instructional activity into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own...
Curated OER
Beowulf
High schoolers complete literature analysis activities for Beowulf. They read lines from the poem and complete character analysis activities. In addition, they write and share a boast modeled on the text and then create heroes and...
Curated OER
Discovering Conic Sections in the Motion of Heavenly Bodies
Math scholars study conics and how they are used today. In this mathematical lesson, pupils construct and slice cones after viewing a demonstration.
Curated OER
The Number Line
Learners graph and order numbers using a number line. They also solve word problems using fractions and decimals and rewrite equations to solve problems correctly. Several example word problems are given.
Curated OER
The Founders’ Library: Thinking as a Founding Father
Students analyze the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In this U.S. government instructional activity, students examine books, movies, and music that influence them today and then investigate writings that influenced the framers...
Curated OER
A Cost-Effective Model of Teacher Development
As funding for staff-development days dwindles, Professional Learning Communities offer a no-cost alternative for professional development.
C.S. Lewis Foundation
Educator’s Guide to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe #2
This chapter-by-chapter guide to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, designed to be used in either a classroom or homeschool setting, contains vocabulary lists, discussion questions, and writing prompts.
Curated OER
Middle School General Music Unit Plans
Here's a collection of unit plans for middle school musicians. Topics include the mbira, opera, rhythm and culture, music in Africa, music in the movies, music theory and notation, blues and jazz, and the ocarina. Definitely worth a look.
Curated OER
Hardware Sort
High schoolers work in groups to sort and classify a variety of hardware materials commonly found in the store. Students discuss attributes and explain their reasoning for different classifications.
Curated OER
Footnoting Law Review Competition Papers
Preparing a paper for Law Review Competition? Here's everything you ever wanted to know about how to format footnotes and citations according to the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) Manual. Since all the information in the...