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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Words/Music/Images: Interpretation and Meaning A Motivational Activity

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore popular music in its historical context. In this music lesson plan, students examine the lyrics, musicical arrangement, and video imagery of selected songs to interpret the messages and themes of the songs.
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Unit Plan
West Jefferson High School

The Novel — Honor

For Teachers 9th Standards
For classes tackling To Kill a Mockingbird, this lesson plan sets readers up for discussions or essay writing with questions and prompts. The prompts encourage individuals to explore beyond the novel itself, looking at photographs from...
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Unit Plan
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Simon & Schuster

Curriculum Guide: The Scarlet Letter

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
The Scarlet Letter may be a classic, but keeping high schoolers engaged in the reading of Hawthorne's vocabulary, syntax, imagery, and historical references presents it own set of challenges. Here's a guide that offers readers...
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Lesson Plan
1
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University of California

The Civil War: Emancipation

For Students 7th Standards
Investigate and analyze Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation using primary and secondary sources. The sixth installment of an eight-part series analyzes the meaning of Lincoln's document in relation to its impact on the Civil War. 
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Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Fort Sumter

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The headlines screamed what everyone knew was coming: War! While Fort Sumter was considered the first battle of the Civil War, the engagement played differently in newspapers at the time. Using coverage from Northern and Southern...
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Activity
Orlando Shakes

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of "A Christmas Carol": Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What could be better than a play within a play? A study guide for "The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of 'A Christmas Carol'" has theater-goers share their thoughts on the comedic...
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Activity
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Harriet Beecher Stowe Sends Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Victoria and Albert, 1852

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Harriet Beecher Stowe's plea for abolition is not only laid plain in her acclaimed novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, but in her written correspondence as well. High schoolers read a letter written by Stowe to Prince Albert and Queen Victoria to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Handy Measure

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
How many hands tall are you? Challenge kids to measure themselves the way the 19th century Oklahoma horse traders measured their prize horses (can they guess how many hands tall a horse had to be?). There's some background information...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

"Et tu, Brute?" - The Characters, Conflict and Historical context of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

For Teachers 6th
Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.
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Lesson Plan
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Facing History and Ourselves

Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The choices made by Roy Bryant and J.W. Millam, the men who murdered Emmett Till in 1955, are usually the ones people ponder when they examine the case. But other individuals made choices that contributed to the event and its subsequent...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
NASA

Einstein and His Times

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
Scholars research and present on the historical happenings of 1919. After sharing their findings, pupils debate about how Congress dealt with the moral issues of the time. The evaluation asks learners to write a persuasive essay...
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Lesson Plan
Rockefeller Archive Center

Understanding Mass Media News

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
In an age of fake news and photoshopped images, it is vital that 21st century learners development the skills they need to evaluate mass media and assess its validity. A great way to launch such a study is with a carefully crafted lesson...
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Lesson Plan
Judicial Branch of California

Separate But Equal - Is It Black or White?

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
The story of Ruby Bridges and the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education are fantastic tools for discussing the concept of separate but equal. Kids tackle some big questions about what is fair, what is civil, and what rights or laws...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Sacco and Vanzetti: “The Case That Will Not Die”

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Studying this case within its historical context can help us better understand urgent current issues of today.
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Unit Plan
Foreign Policy Research Institute

Exploring Korea

For Teachers 7th - 12th
A thorough and fun lesson on Korea! In groups of four (Social Chair, Historian, Translator, Travel Agent) class members research North and South Korea to determine a good location for an overseas institute for studying abroad. Once this...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Adapting Literary Learning Methods with the Grimm Fairy Tales

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Learners use Grimm's tales to explore theme, thesis statement, textual analysis, and historical context.
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Lesson Plan
Center for Civic Education

Martin Luther King Jr. and the Power of Words

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
It is easy to forget the power that written or spoken word can have in effecting change. Using quotations from such inspirational leaders as Maya Angelou, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr., encourage your class members to...
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Unit Plan
American Institute of Architects

Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this 10-lesson...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Function of Music

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this lesson from Media Smarts that asks students to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible functions...
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Lesson Plan
Facing History and Ourselves

Decision-Making: Introduction to the Unit

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Make your classroom a supportive and communicative place to be before beginning a unit on the Holocaust. Working together as a class, learners reflect on their previous experiences of classroom discussions before establishing a...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: Ode Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Walt Whitman's "Captain, My Captain" and Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" provide seventh graders with examples of odes. After reading and discussing these and other examples, young poets craft an ode and respond to the ode of a...
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Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Public Housing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Fair Deal was meant to give Americans after World War II a basic standard of living. Those in public housing often found that promise fell short. Learners consider whether the effort was successful by evaluating images, testimonies,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Holidays in Lands Far Away - Boxing Day

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A lesson plan on the holiday known as Boxing Day is here for you. In it, middle schoolers read a passage about the history of the holiday, then complete some reading comprehension worksheets embedded in the plan to reinforce what they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Forty Acres? The Question of Land at the War's End

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Should land be redistributed to former slaves after the Civil War? This essential question guides a instructional activity on the Reconstruction Era, as learners analyze primary sources (linked), recording responses on a worksheet...