Curated OER
Causes and Effects
Students investigate one family's volunteer tourism experience and the international volunteer organizations to create a community guide to helping those in need around the world.
Curated OER
Know The Code
Students explore how codes of conduct guide our daily lives. After learning about specific codes of conduct, students write articles exploring aspects of different codes and how they affect people in their community.
Curated OER
Get Surreal
Students analyze and write text for audio guides about particular pieces of art from the Surrealism movement.
Curated OER
When This World Was New
Second graders participate in a guided reading activity and read about and immigrant family. In this guided reading activity, 2nd graders answer questions that focus on their new homeland. Students write a response to literature.
Curated OER
Dealing with Differences
Students list at least ten things they have a hard time doing. After reading and discussing Be Good to Eddie Lee, Students, in cooperative groups, write at least six ways people can assist people with disabilities.
Curated OER
Talk About the Passion
Young scholars think critically about artistic freedom and evaluate the aims and effectiveness of censorship and education. They begin an investigation of the ongoing controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" by...
Curated OER
Legally Wed
Learners explore the controversial topic of same-sex marriages in a fishbowl discussion. They write balanced news articles based on interviews exploring people's opinions on laws that define marriage.
Curated OER
Calling Names
Students explore how language shapes debate by researching the names and tags both advocates and opponents use when discussing a topical issue. For homework, they create name collages and write prose poems.
Curated OER
Rudolfo Anaya
Students read and analyze the Rudolfo Anaya novel Bless Me, Ultima. They discuss passages from the book, watch a video, view and analyze a mural of Mexican American artwork, and write a journal response.
Curated OER
Irregularly Scheduled Programming
Students examine their favorite holidays and how they are celebrated. After reading an article, they discuss the length of television programming for the Super Bowl. In groups, they create their own television programming relating to...
Curated OER
Straight Talk On Tough Issues
Students engage in a lesson plan that is focused upon the concept of breast cancer and research is conducted using a variety of reference sources. They reflect upon how different people deal with the tragedy of cancer and then students...
Curated OER
Ninteenth Century Women: Struggle and Triumph
Students examine the role of women in US society during the 19th century and how this role evolved and changed in time. They then write a persuasive letter that domonstrates their comprehensin of the subject.
Curated OER
Barney Bear Gets Dressed
Students identify colors and use descriptive words to create a book about a bear. For this lesson on using descriptive language, students listen to a story and help the teacher explain what happened. Students then participate...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Understanding the Context of Modernist Poetry
Students examine the historical, social, and cultural context of modernist poetry. They explore websites, complete a chart, compare/contrast rural and urban life, watch a video of early New York, and complete a writing assessment...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Raisin in the Sun: Whose "American Dream"?
How does Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun factor into a discussion of the American dream? High schoolers define the American dream and recognize the historical setting of the play. Additionally, they identify...
Curated OER
State of Affairs
Students examine the various roles and duties of state government officials and offices to create an Informative Guide to Our State's Government. They explore the changing relationship between governor and lieutenant governor in New York.
Curated OER
Speaking in Tongues
Students examine their own family history of languages and investigate local and regional resources available to immerse themselves in a foreign language and culture. They write applications seeking an imaginary grant to fund their...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
High schoolers analyze modernist poetry and the role of speaker in example poems. Learners study modernist poems from the Romanticism and Victorian periods as well as Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Using a...
Curated OER
Alexis de Tocqueville’s America
Students analyze de Tocqueville's America. In this democratic history lesson, students use primary sources to determine what de Tocqueville found to be so unique in the America. Students analyze artifacts, maps and documents through...
Curated OER
Congress: The House of Representatives
This simple instructional activity could accompany a text (as it indicates a chapter and section), but could also be given as a guide to independent research. Basic concepts of Congress are prompted through matching and multiple choice....
Montclair Art Museum
Eric Carle: Animals and Friends
Celebrate Eric Carle’s beloved children’s books, especially those about animals. Teachers and readers alike engage in Carle’s books as they explore the art and color in each of his stories, and how these elements support comprehension.
Teaching Tolerance
Community Spotlight Cards
Not all heroes wear capes—or cleats. Class members identify unsung heroes in their schools or towns for interviews, then create trading cards. A celebration including presentations or trading of cards completes their investigation of...
Novelinks
Touching Spirit Bear: The Literary Mandala
Even someone with a dark side can make a good decision—and vice versa. Readers explore Cole's traits and decisions in Ben Mikaelson's Touching Spirit Bear and analyze his sunside and...
Novelinks
The Tempest: QAR
Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer...