Curated OER
Irish-Americans: Work and Song
Students research the experience of Irish immigrants who helped build the railroad systems of the United States. They analyze primary source documents, take notes, and create an artistic piece.
Curated OER
Apartheid and Segregation
Students view a television program that depicts the history South African Apartheid and the United States' system of segregation. They discuss how laws were used to uphold these institutions and compare and contrast racism and...
Curated OER
High Rollaway Heroes
Students work collaboratively with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to preserve a local historical and environmentally fragile site. They conduct a survey of the plant and animal life at the site, and create an informational...
Curated OER
Earth's Weather
Seventh graders learn how solar radiation, latitude, and other factors affect weather. They break into six groups and are assigned a topic to research and to present their findings orally.
Curated OER
Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507
Seventh graders analyze various maps. For this Geography lesson, 7th graders create a large map as a whole class. Students write a letter to Mr. Waldseemuller.
Curated OER
The "Coal LIfecycle" Scrapbook
Students discover how coal is formed. In this science lesson, students create a scrapbook on the life cycle of coal and show how coal is formed by showing pictures of each stage.
The Write Place
Literacy Education Online: Avoiding Gender Bias in Pronouns
Essay that focuses on how to shift writing from biased language to non-gender specific writing. Five examples are given from various publications to show how to become unbiased in writing.
Media Smarts
The Media Awareness Network: Bias
Slant, or bias, can be found in virtually every news outlet. Use this online lesson plan to help students understand how word choices and other factors can intentionally or unintentionally affect the audience's understanding.
Other
Jerz's Literacy Weblog: Gender Neutral Language
This very readable piece uses charts, examples and brief discussions to explain ways to create gender-neutral writing and speech.
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Using Appropriate Language
Knowing the right language for your particular audience is a necessary skill for all writers. No one wants to offend their audience or appear as though they don't know their content. Learn these rules of thumb to become more familiar...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Boundless Communications: Understanding Bias in Language
This lesson focuses on bias in language such as gender and cultural bias and how to avoid them in public speaking. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.2.e
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina Writing Center Handouts: Gender Inclusive Language
This handout helps students understand both the need for gender-sensitive language in their writing, and ways to change their writing to make sure that it is gender-sensitive or gender-neutral.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Avoiding Sexist Language by Using Gender Fair Pronouns
Contains plans for two lessons that teach students how to avoid gender stereotyping while using pronouns. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment...
Other
O.w.l.: Avoiding Sexist Language
Article that looks at and suggests ways to avoid sexist language in writing. The premise of the article is that language must not unnecessarily identify gender.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Boundless Communications: Variations in Language
This lesson focuses on the use of variation in language when preparing a speech including directness, subjectivity and objectivity, abstraction, and accurate, reliable, unbiased, credible, and current sources.
University of Toronto (Canada)
University of Toronto: Unbiased Language
Resource acknowledges the changes in social awareness and how language is influenced by it. It presents suggestions as to how to avoid bias in writing. Some of the changes in terminology can have subtle differences in meaning. W.9-10.1d...
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: English Language Arts: Grade 8: The Tell Tale Heart
Eighth graders explore the role of the narrator and point of view in a text. Students will understand how the narrative voice of a text can blur the line between fact and fiction and how a story truth is often different from but relates...
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries: Information and Its Counterfeits
Distinguishing information from propaganda, biased reporting and misinformation is an important skill. This short article defines each of these, and provides examples of each.
Other
Media Activist's Kit for Fairness in Reporting
This site offers the whole package about bias in reporting: what it is, how to identify the source, how to complain about it and be heard, and what to do if all else fails. The site offers an extensive reading list along with detailed...
Media Smarts
Media Awareness Network: What's in a Word? Lesson Plan
Help 5th through 7th graders explore the power of words and their capacity to influence our thinking with this lesson from the Media Awareness Network. An easy-to-print .pdf version is linked from the top of the page.
McGraw Hill
Glencoe: Recognizing Propaganda: Loaded Language
Lesson plan designed for consumer health class, that is also useful for media literacy. Contains a link to an ad for an abdominal strengthening machine that provides the basis of the lesson. SL.9-10.2 eval & integrate sources
Other
Learning for Justice
A website aimed at teachers, parents, and students on ways to combat hateful words and actions. Teaching kids about tolerance is part of many curriculum units across many grades; this site has separate sections tailored to grade specific...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: The Brain: Teaching Modules
A collection of 32 video learning modules on everything to do with the brain.