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Worksheet
Curated OER

Cartoons for the Classroom: Social Commentary

For Students 9th - 12th
Expose your class to the genre of political cartoons less concerned with serious political issues. This political cartoon analysis handout features social commentary on the many entertainments of youth, ironically paired with their...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Understanding Social Commentary

For Teachers 6th - 12th
By learning how to identify and understand social commentary students can flex their critical thinking skills.
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Lesson Plan
University of Virginia

Analyzing Social Commentary in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn continues to be one of the most frequently banned books. The satire and social commentary present challenges when using the book as a core text. Direct readers' attention to how Twain uses plot,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Borrowed Inspiration: Writing Social Commentary

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students read poems with social themes. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against social ills....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry as Social Commentary

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners read poems with social commentaries. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out...
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Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Curriculum Guide to: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
An 18-page curriculum guide for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice consists of five lessons. The first plan asks readers to compare the manners, social behaviors, and class issues in Austen's novel to today's. Next, pupils examine a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Art as Social Commentary

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students view artworks that make a statement about social conditions. They discuss the artworks, write about them and present their ideas to the class. They create socially conscious art pieces of their own.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Performance Poetry as Social Commentary

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students explore poetry that examines social concerns. In this poetry lesson, students research poems and poets. Students present their findings to their classmates.
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Author Study: Kate Chopin

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
Four stories by Kate Chopin offer high schoolers an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the ways authors use various literary elements and movements to develop their themes and social commentaries. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Art as Social Commentary

For Teachers 10th - 12th
High schoolers engage in this thought-provoking instructional activity which has them view images from the past that depict the social condition. During the series of four lessons, pupils design a PowerPoint and a photo montage of images...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Makes the Writer Write

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Your 11th and 12th graders are ready to critique society! Channel that inclination by studying a novel that offers social criticism of other eras (book recommendations included). This resource presents a well-thought-out overview of such...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pinckney Benedict's "The Sutton Pie Safe" from Town Smokes

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Students read Pinckney Benedict's "The Sutton Pie Safe" to learn about family symbols and social commentary. For this close reading lesson, students read four journal prompts for the story and answer the listed questions for each section.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mightier than the Sword

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students complete a variety of activities as they use the Washington Post Newspaper in the study of editorial cartoons, cartoonists, social commentary and freedom of speech.
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Worksheet
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Prestwick House

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Sherman Alexie's coming-of-age social commentary is the focus of a review activity. Learners use clues from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to complete a crossword puzzle about the novel.
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Unit Plan
Academy of American Poets

Voice

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Four lessons make up a poetry unit that introduces high schoolers to spoken and written poetry. Class members also examine poems as social commentary and connect these poems to various novels and plays. A great way to incorporate poetry...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Documenting History: Photographs as Social Commentaries

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Learners examine photographs that make social statements. They examine content, symbolism, and their personal reactions to works of art that make expressive statements about social issues.
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Activity
Teaching Tolerance

Collage of Concerns

For Teachers K - 2nd
A picture can speak louder than words. An interesting lesson introduces the themes of social justice and diversity to young learners by having them create artwork. Scholars create collages from a variety of sources to showcase what...
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Activity
Teaching Tolerance

Spotlight on Change Agents

For Teachers 6th - 12th
A thought-provoking resource guides learners as they interview agents of social change and share their findings. Scholars select an individual, create questions, conduct the interview, and create a profile of the person they selected....
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Unit Plan
J. Paul Getty Trust

Picturing a Story: Photo Essay about a Community, Event or Issue

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Picture this. Class members follow in the footsteps of W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, and Lewis Hine by creating their own photo essay about a local event or issue.
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Lesson Plan
Little Stones

How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
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Lesson Plan
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Facing History and Ourselves

Public Art as a Form of Participation

For Teachers 6th - 12th
David Binnington's mural commemorating the 1936 Battle of Cable Street is the focus of a lesson that looks at public art as a form of civic participation. After reading background material about the mural, individuals analyze a segment...
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Activity
Digital Public Library of America

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the focus of a teaching guide that introduces readers to some of the many controversies surrounding the use of the novel in classrooms. The packet includes 15 primary source excerpts and...
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Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Classroom Activities for Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Three lessons based on "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales offer scholars an opportunity to examine literary satire, medieval attitudes towards women, and the form and function of a frame story.
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

"From Citizen, VI [On the Train the Woman Standing]," Claudia Rankine

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Claudia Rankine's poem "From Citizen, VI [On the Train the Woman Standing]," asks readers to consider direct and more subtle forms of prejudice. After discussing the format of the poem, its tone, and the emotions expressed, class members...

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