Ms. Effie's Lifesavers
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man in the Spotlight
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is the most frequently cited novel for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Open Response Question. Those new to using the book and and veterans as well will find the teaching strategies, the...
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English Literature: An Overview
Relate literary works and authors to the major themes of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 20th century. Working in groups, high schoolers will evaluate period philosophy, religion, and politics that influenced...
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Winter Wonderland: Internet Literature Project
Students, using the Internet, communicate with peers around the world about winter-themed books. They study authors, write book reviews, re-write endings, interview book characters, create scene dioramas, paint murals, and write...
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Nothing But the Truth
Students write a response to: As a teenager, have you ever told the truth about something important and adults didn't believe you? How did you feel? Describe and explain a specific time where you told the truth to adults and weren't...
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Literature Study of the Civil War Era
Learn more about the Civil War. Young scholars will choose a novel based on the Civil War to learn more about the viewpoints of that time period. They will then discuss the roles of the members of a Literature Circle and then participate...
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Lesson Plan 18: Art Project! Design Your Own Book Cover
Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...
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Eloquent Words
Logan’s Lament, a speech delivered by Mingo Chief Logan in 1774, provides pupils with an opportunity to not only study the historical events surrounding the battle between Native Americans and the Europeans for the West Virginia...
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Does Rick Warren Represent Diversity?
The topic of this lesson focuses on whether or not Obama was able to convincingly defend his choice of choosing Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. This is considered a controversial or hot topic because it...
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CO2 and You
Students study the scientific evidence about carbon dioxide emissions. They learn to calculate the amount of energy used by different appliances. They complete a worksheet which analyzes the amount of energy that their home uses.
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Gender, Sex, and Slavery
While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...
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A Question of Faith?
Should organized prayer be prohibited at high school sporting events? Students explore their own feelings about prayer in school-sponsored events, before discussing the recent Supreme Court decision banning public prayer at high school...
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Tell Us All: Tools for Integrating Math and Engineering
What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this lesson plan, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings...
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Do You Prefer Your Children's Book Characters Obedient or Contrary? Opinion Writing
With this New York Times "Learning Network" exercise, high schoolers read an article about the death of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are and then respond to several prompts that require them to shape their own opinions...
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Law and Life in Two Ancient Societies
Students work in groups and compare/contrast Mesopotamian Law to Hebrew Law. They chart their findings on a chart to show a natural progression to answering questions about values in these two societies.
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Hype!
Eight various activities have your learners looking at hype in the media. Advertisements for films, politics, music, and philanthropy all contribute to emotional appeals and marketing strategies trying to convince consumers to...
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The Sundance Kids
Students discuss independent filmmaking industry, focusing on the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. As a class, students develop a storyboard for their own independent film, then write movie reviews from the point of view of a film critic on...
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What to do between AP Exams and Semester Finals
Students write multiple choice and extended answer questions for their own semester exams
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Enemy Pie
Third graders pair up with a partner via an online classroom. They analyze half of the story "Enemy Pie" and communicate with their online peer to predict the outcome of the story.
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Current Issues/Lesson Plan 1: What Matters To You
Learners examine the process of the Canadian parliamentary system. They identify current events, read newspaper articles, and write letters to the Editor and Editorial section.
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Congratulations ! We've Appointed you to a Committee while you were out of the Room ! : Let the Deliberations begin !
Tenth graders, in groups, draft a bill that relates to a current problem or issue.
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Colonial North Carolina
Eighth graders are introduced to the conditions of North Carolina when it was still a colony. Using the internet, they research the political, religious and economic problems the colony faced and how they dealt with them. They also...
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Narrative Structure: Les Miserables
What is the initiating event? What is the protagonist's goal? What attempts are made to achieve this goal? What is the outcome? Model for your class how to map out the structure of any narrative. Readers then search for answers as the...
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Internet Investigations: Unsolved Mysteries
Students conduct Internet research to investigate the facts and fiction of various unsolved mysteries. They examine the facts and opinions of the mysteries, and create a Powerpoint slide show to present the theories and the group's...
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Effective Literary Analyses
Twelfth graders discuss a fictional text that they are given, they identify passages, which highlight the author's style, language naances and textual ambiguities. Pupils brainstorm possible topics for an analytical essay, they are...