Curated OER
Prometheus Bound: Rebel with a Cause
If you are teaching Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, you can't afford to miss this source. An extensive list of ideas outlines numerous discussion topics, writing prompts, comprehension questions, oral presentations, and projects. Have class...
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie
Readers analyze an excerpt from Kate DiCamillo's novel Because of Winn-Dixie. They read silently, and then hear it read aloud. Definitions for underlined vocabulary words are in the margin, and other potentially difficult words are in...
Film English
Coca-Cola Ad
Have your class members consider how their lifestyle choices may differ from those of their grandparents when they were younger. After brainstorming and discussing differences in lifestyle, pupils watch a Coca-Cola advertisement that...
Film English
Saving Grace
Bring up the topic of world hunger in your class with two emotional videos. The short films are about a program for educating and feeding children around the world. Class members talk about poverty and pay close attention to the numbers...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Building Character: Holocaust Survivor Testimonies
Host a fishbowl discussion to help your class recognize and articulate the relationship between words and the character traits they describe. They analyze Holocaust survivor testimonies and apply the character traits they observe. No...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.9
As the saying goes: there are no new stories. Standard 9 for reading literature in the Common Core addresses this fact and requires that students be able to analyze how authors use the themes, stories, and characters of earlier works....
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Answering Text-Dependent Questions About Librarians and Organizations Around the World
This is a skills-based assessment that asks test takers to use textual evidence to determine the main idea of an excerpt from an informational text as well as respond to text-dependent questions. The assessment is the middle point...
EngageNY
Reading about Freaky Frogs: “The Amazon Horned Frog"
The Amazon Horned Frog is the focus of a activity designed to encourage readers to ask and answer questions. A frog-themed poem opens the door to a whole-group discussion. Following a read-aloud of an informational text, a three-page...
Road to Grammar
Language Expansion
Improve your pupils' language skills with these discussions and activities. There are four topics included here, and each is paired with discussion prompts (small group and whole class), student handouts, and teacher notes. After...
Virginia Department of Education
Determining Direct Variation
Once learners realize what direct variation is, they see it's just a type of linear function. The lesson poses a general question that leads to the creation of the y = kx formula. The resource includes discussion prompts and ideas for...
NPR
The Obama Years
Beginning with a quick writing prompt, young historians write about what they will remember most about President Obama's legacy. The activity opens up a larger discussion and exploration of his accomplishments, milestones, and the impact...
Curated OER
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...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The New Order for "Greater East Asia"
Sometimes the New Order becomes synonymous with its implications for European countries, but what about its consequences for East Asia? The final instructional activity in a four-part series teaches scholars about World War II. High...
Pulitzer Center
The Crisis in the Ivory Coast
Through reading a variety of news articles and other informational texts, learners discover the political turmoil and intense ethnic and religious tensions that envelop the Ivory Coast today. Class members research the historical...
Free Library of Philadelphia
Resources for Ghost Boys
Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ghost Boys, wanted to bring the historical legacy of Emmett Till and the current topic of racial prejudice into today's young readers' mindsets. Use a reading guide and set of discussion questions to...
Curated OER
Inspector Readers: The 002 Book Club
This unit introduces book clubs/literature circles to lower elementary classes, but could be adapted to higher grades. It outlines the anticipatory activity that includes a WebQuest, a discussion to clarify questions about the unit,...
Curated OER
Jeffersonianism at the Bar
Eleventh graders participate in a political roundtable discussion. In this Jeffersonianism lesson, 11th graders role play individuals from the 19th century and discuss issues of the Federalist period.
Curated OER
Individuality vs. Conformity
Spark an animated debate in your class! Young adults consider some of the fads or trends that are prevalent at their school, as well as their own level of participation in them. Just how much of a role does popular culture play in their...
Tidewater Community College
Assignment: The “Big Mac” Index
Young economists learn about the method of predicting changes in the exchange rate with Big Macs in an instructional video. After an understanding the index, learners write a post on a discussion board and respond to class members' posts...
Creative Visions Foundation
Studying Documentaries Like a Writer - Looking For Persuasive Techniques
Revisit the documentaries viewed in the previous instructional activity in this series in order to take a look at the persuasive techniques employed by the documentary creators. Small groups watch the films a second time, taking notes on...
Museum of Disability
Taking Down Syndrome to School
Teach your class about the ways they can befriend and understand people who are different from them with a reading comprehension lesson. As youngsters read Taking Down Syndrome to School by Jenna Glatzer, they answer a series of...
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Learning area 2: Challenging Stereotypes and Discrimination
Six powerful and eyeopening lessons provide scholars with activities designed to challenge stereotypes and discrimination. The unit provides reading material with which pupils read and discuss. Grand conversations lead to physically...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Stressed Out Sally
Life changes may cause stress. Here, scholars identify stressful situations in a peer's life and offer coping skills to make for a better day. A short story, "Stressed Out Sally," provides pupils with a look inside a bad day. After...