What does race have to do with COVID vaccine hesitancy? That is the question young scholars pursue in a video lesson that looks at the impacts of such things as the Tuskegee Experiment, the unauthorized use of Henrietta Lacks's cancer...

Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B" is featured in a lesson that asks pupils to first read a biography of Hughes and list things about his life they think are important. The class then reads the poem and compares what they learned...

Challenges to voting rights is not a new thing. Using President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 "The American Promise" speech on voting rights as a starting point, young historians research current voting rights laws and challenges.

Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...

Would a rose smell as sweet, as Juliet Capulet asserts, if called by any other name? The importance of names and the connection between names and identity are examined in a lesson plan that explores identity in the United States. After...

Encourage self-motivation with an activity that allows scholars to reflect on their challenges and set goals to better them. A script prompts pupils to listen to the Can-Do Coach inside them. An inspiring statement reminds...

With all due respect to Beatrice, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing speaks with both mirth and matter. With the help of this guide, readers will fall in love with the "skirmish of wit" between Beatrice and Benedick, the hysterical...

The big idea in this resource is that listening and hearing are not the same things. A lesson on active listening has class members generate a list of listening techniques that focus on the speaker, confirm what they say, and respond...

Don't put off this lesson! Using a self-survey, middle schoolers take a close look at why they procrastinate and identify some of the things they do to put off actions they know they should take. They then reflect on the consequences and...

If you could frame something important to you, what would it be, where would you hang it, and why would you choose this particular thing to frame? These questions launch a lesson designed to help class members get to know each other....

What three readily available things would you grab in case of an emergency? That's the question that launches a unit study of William Golding's The Lord of the Flies. After sharing their choices, class members read Golding's rationale...

The seventh lesson in the Lord of the Flies unit asks scholars to consider whether or not an individual can overcome the worst thing they have ever done. Groups read different articles related to the question, share their expertise in a...

With descriptive writing, the pleasure is in the details. Young writers learn how to add sensory details to a paragraph about themselves. They read a short paragraph and identify the sensory details used. After revising their draft...

The Navajo would disagree with Shakespeare that the naming of things is irrelevant. Navajo people have to earn their names. Middle schoolers learn about the cultural significance of Navajo names in a lesson that uses a video and reading...

Imagine being forced out of your home and walking over 1,000 miles with only the things you could carry. How would you survive? What would you eat? After reading about the Trail of Tears and Cherokee resilience, middle schoolers are...

Victor Laredo's painting "On the Beach" and Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem "Thanksgiving" allow young scholars to use their noticing skills. Class members identify elements of the painting the artist uses to create the feeling of...

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is, among other things, the study of a ruler's ambitions. Young scholars watch videos, read articles, and keep a Commonplace Book while studying the play. At the end of Act III, pupils stage the play that...

Scholars work together to compile a list of things good writers do to perfect their craft and write the ideas on a whiteboard. They then discuss the differences between passive and active sentences and use their knowledge to identify...

Scholars discuss a reading selection in Unbroken by writing to a partner about text selection. After completing the writing, learners revisit the use of active and passive sentences by reviewing a second Active and Passive Sentences...

Young readers take a look at the conditional and subjunctive moods authors use. The Conditional and Subjunctive Mood handout defines the types of moods and gives them examples and practice. They then work with partners to identify...

The presentation is the thing. Learners combine all their skills by creating a pitch for their films about the Little Rock Nine. They explain to classmates why they selected the images and songs using self-created prompt cards. The end...

Writers look at the End of Unit 2 Assessment: Best First Draft of an Informational Essay handout and use sticky notes to identify things in their work that need editing and revising. They reference their notes to finalize their...

What's the best thing on the menu? Scholars enter the room, complete a gallery walk of menus to choose a food to pretend to order, and then discuss how they made the decision. Next, they read The Omnivore's Dilemma and relate their...

Some things are complicated. Scholars continue to look at the model essay and rubric related to A Long Walk to Water. This time, they focus only on row three of the rubric because it is a more complicated portion. Writers think about the...