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Lesson Plan
Teaching Tolerance

Understanding Other Religious Beliefs

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Learn what it means to respect others in an engaging instructional activity on religious beliefs. An inclusive resource focuses on understanding other religious beliefs, the right to freedom of religion, and the U.S. history of religious...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching Tolerance

Social Media for Social Action

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Engage in activism, not slacktivism! Scholars discuss social media and the Internet as tools for social change. Next, they engage in a close reading strategy called Thinking Notes as they read an article about social media activism.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 2 Assessment: Writing the Analysis Essay, Part 1

For Teachers 7th Standards
1,2,3,4 score! Writers use the grading rubric to score the model essay. After comparing and discussing their scorings, the individuals begin the end-of-unit assessment.
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Lesson Plan
Judicial Branch of California

Planet Fourth Grade is Researching the U.S. Constitution

For Teachers 4th Standards
Using the Constitutional Convention as a model, learners create their own governments. Other activities to explore the American Constitution include creating posters to help explain the Bill of Rights. 
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Lesson Plan
Judicial Branch of California

Constitution Hall of Fame

For Teachers 5th Standards
Using a tableau activity, class members consider who they want to include in a Hall of Fame to honor the framer of the Constitution. Other activities include using a tableau to act out the various sections of the Constitution and related...
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Lesson Plan
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Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Legal Action: The Supreme Court

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A social justice lesson focuses on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans. The lesson begins with class members examining a photograph of...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms and the...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Emulating Emily Dickinson: Poetry Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers analyze mood and voice in Emily Dickinson's poem, "There's a Certain Slant of Light." After the analysis, students write a poem of their own emulating the Dickinson poem, and then write a one-page essay describing what...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Burying Addie's Voice

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners explore the use of voice and title in William Faulkner's, "As I Lay Dying". They identify and discuss the use of image, symbols and narrative voice in the story.
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

In Emily Dickinson's Own Words: Letters and Poems

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Analyze the depth and beauty of American Literature by reading Emily Dickinson's letters and poems. The class analyzes Dickinson's poetic style and discusses Thomas Wentworth Higginson's editorial relationship with Dickinson. They pay...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

The Music of African American History

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...
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Lesson Plan
Learning for Justice

Beauty is Skin Deep

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
If you are in need of a lesson on tolerance or the impact of media, this plan could be useful. The class begins with a brainstorming session in which they reflect on their own experiences with bias based on appearance. Next, they...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Concluding the Novel

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As I Lay Dying is a beautiful book and a wonderful vehicle for understanding, interpreting, and comparing themes. The class reads and analyzes the novel, discusses possible interpretations, and characterizations. They compare the themes...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Students complete poetry analysis activities. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students consider the use of imagery and sound devices in poetry. Students translate poetry into another art, read a diverse selection of...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Responding to Emily Dickinson: Poetic Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners explore Emily Dickinson's poem "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers." In this Dickinson poem instructional activity, high schoolers analyze the poem as proof of Dickinson' awareness of her reader. Learners analyze her style and...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Crossing the River

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners analyze the multiple voices in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this multiple voices lesson plan, students explore the use of symbolism with the narrative voices of the text. Learners write a detailed profile of one...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Family Voices In As I Lay Dying

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed Standards
Learners analyze William Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' and his use of multiple voices. In this William Faulkner lesson plan, learners analyze Faulkner's use of multiple voices in narration. Learners examine the Bundren family through the...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Images of Faulkner and the South

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners research one aspect of the life of Faulkner and the culture of the South.  In this As I Lay Dying instructional activity, learners explore a webpage on Faulkner and write a summary.  Learners analyze the images and consider the...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Shakespeare's Macbeth: Fear and the Motives of Evil

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers use an online search engine (or a printed concordance) to locate passages that highlight Macbeth's response to fear and his descent into evil. They analyze the motives of Macbeth's increasingly desperate and evil actions.
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Handout
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Poetic Devices [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is a nine-page PDF on poetic devices; it includes four sections: The Sounds of Words, The Meanings of Words, Arranging the Words, and The Images of Words. Each section includes the poetic devices that fit the topic complete with...
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Handout
Other

The University of Wales: Semiotics for Beginners

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Click on Denotation, Connotation, and Myth. A discourse in the use of "denotation" and "connotation" as they refer to semiotics and cultural myths.