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Website
Other

Embrace the Future: Resilient Kids

For Students 3rd - 8th
Advice about strengthening your ability to bounce back from adversity. Learn key skills, such as problem solving, making friends, and positive thinking, that will help you stay happy, healthy, and productive.
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Article
California State University

California State Univ.: Happiness, Hope, and Optimism

For Students 9th - 10th
California State University offers this student research paper that explains the emotions of hope, happiness, and optimism. Shows how these emotions are similiar and different and how biology affects feelings.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Hollywood During the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
One can trace the cynicism and despair at the beginning of the Great Depression to a more optimistic point of view by the end of the New Deal by looking at the movies produced by Hollywood. Read about the subject matter of the movies...
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Adults Can Learn From Kids

For Students 9th - 10th
Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs childish thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity, and especially optimism. Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as...
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Article
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Progressive Era

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the first two decades of the twentieth century, when Texans shared the optimism and confidence that permeated American society in the time period called the Progressive Era.
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Article
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Helen Keller

For Students 9th - 10th
Encyclopedia Britannica provides a biography of Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968 CE), noted for her numerous literary accomplishments despite her severe handicaps.