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Activity
National Endowment for the Humanities

A Defense of the Electoral College

For Students 9th - 12th
Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Paraphrasing and Evaluating Sources: Pages 112–116 of The Big Thirst

For Teachers 7th Standards
Agriculture and water—it's a fine balance. So how exactly do industry and agriculture currently manage water? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading excerpts from Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst and adding notes to their...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Interactions: Launching the Unit

For Teachers 7th Standards
How much screen time is too much? Scholars explore the question as they consider whether the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) should increase its screen time recommendations. With group discussions, close readings, and a jigsaw...
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Study Guide
McGraw Hill

Study Guide for Frankenstein

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Help the class uncover the story of Frankenstein. Learners answer questions and complete activities to respond to the text Frankenstein as they read. Scholars learn new vocabulary, respond to personal and text-dependent questions,...
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Interactive
PBS

Why Should Women Vote? The Suffrage Question

For Students 6th - Higher Ed
An online interactive activity asks learners to analyze a group of documents related to the women's suffrage movement and then place the documents on a timeline. The results assess users understanding of the progression of the women's...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading Excerpt 2: Plantation Life

For Teachers 7th Standards
Time for a good old fashioned match game! Readers complete an initial, second, and third read of Plantation Life to gain a deep understanding. After close reading the text, scholars practice identifying paraphrasing by matching sentences...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: Excerpt 5 of “The Digital Revolution and the Adolescent Brain Evolution”

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members consider how technology affects social interactions as they continue reading an article about the digital revolution and adolescent brain development. Then, working in pairs, scholars answer text-dependent questions and...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: Excerpt 3 of “The Digital Revolution and the Adolescent Brain Evolution”

For Teachers 7th Standards
It's time to level up and discover how video games affect the brain. Pupils explore the topic as they continue reading excerpts from an article about adolescent brain development and the digital revolution. Scholars also participate in a...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: Excerpt 2 of “The Digital Revolution and the Adolescent Brain Evolution”

For Teachers 7th Standards
Help scholars comprehend a challenging text. Using the resource, pupils read excerpts from an article about the digital revolution and adolescent brain development. As they read, they answer text-dependent questions and complete a close...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Launching Lyddie

For Teachers 7th Standards
Pupils engage in a close reading of chapter one of Katherine Paterson's novel, Lyddie. After answering text-dependent questions based on their reading, they complete reader's notes about how the setting, characters, and plot interact.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading to Learn about Lyddie’s Character

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars work in pairs to analyze the characters, plot, and setting of Katherine Paterson's novel, Lyddie. Next, they apply what they learned about the characters' feelings and motivation to perform a mini reader's theater. 
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Lesson Plan
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Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Homelessness and Poverty

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Photos can capture a complete story in a single image. Class members closely examine a photo of a homeless camp and attempt to read the story told by the picture. They then read the caption for the photograph and compare their notes with...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka Tribe (“Loss of Culturally Vital Cattle Leaves Dinka Tribe Adrift in Refugee Camps” Excerpt 1)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka and Nuer Tribes

For Teachers 7th Standards
Building on a previous lesson plan, readers continue using context clues to learn new vocabulary. Additionally, they continue working on their Gathering Evidence graphic organizers, making connections between an informational text and A...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka and Nuer Tribes Until the Mid-1980s (“Sudanese Tribes Confront Modern War” Excerpt 1) (Version 1)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Readers consider comparisons between the Dinka and Nuer tribes in South Sudan, making connections between an informational article about Sudanese tribes and the novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They annotate the text to help...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Practicing Structures for Reading: Gathering and Using Evidence to Analyze Salva’s and Nya’s Points of View (Chapter 4)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members discuss the gist of chapter four of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park with a partner and share their responses with the class. Next, they complete graphic organizers to answer text-dependent questions based on a close...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Lost Boys of Sudan

For Teachers 7th Standards
Get deep! Teach scholars how to make connections between texts to deepen their understanding of a topic. Using the resource, pupils read and annotate a short informational text about Sudan's Civil War and refugee crisis. Next, they...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Inferring about Character: Analyzing and Discussing Points of View (Chapter 2)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Readers engage in discussion with partners to answer questions about A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Next, they complete exit tickets, writing about how the author creates different points of view for her characters.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Establishing Structures for Reading: Getting the Gist (Chapter 1)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members review expectations for successful discussions before reading chapter one of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They engage in a think-pair-share to discuss the gist of the text and add their thoughts to their Readers'...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading for Gist, Answering Text-Dependent Questions, and Determining Author’s Purpose: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
A Reading Closely: Guiding Questions handout leads readers to discover the gist of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. While reading, pupils look closely at the words in the text and discuss their meaning. They use dictionaries when needed to answer...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading for Gist and Answering Text-Dependent Questions: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Where do humans fall on the food chain? Scholars read about the Industrial Food Chain in The Omnivore’s Dilemma sections. They use word catchers to record unfamiliar words as they read and place sticky notes in the margins to annotate...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Speech

For Teachers 8th Standards
How did Martin Luther King, Jr. sway people with his speeches? Scholars carry out a close reading of the Montgomery Bus Boycott speech and use the Close Reading Guide to help them work through the powerful text. While reading, they...
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Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Defying British Rule: Women's Contributions to The American Revolution

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Primary and secondary sources are the focus of a lesson that showcases the important role women played during the American Revolution. Pairs review sources and discuss their findings. A close-reading of an informational text leads the...
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Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Pocahontas: The Truth vs. The Legend

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Young historians study primary and secondary source materials to try and separate the true story of Pocahontas from the myths, fictional tales, and conflicting accounts of her life.