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The Whole Story
Learners collect and convey information about a current event. By focusing on who, what, when, where, why, and how questions, students study to thoroughly analyze and report on important world events.
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That Was Then, This is Now
Learners read about the effect of strict fur trading laws on the lives of the Inuit people in Canada, then use print and digital resources to compare past and present-day ways of life of several indigenous peoples around the world.
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Talking Trash - Online Message Boards
Students consider their own experiences with online message boards and chat rooms, discover how teens are using the Web to talk about people in their lives, discuss the issues surrounding online conversations.
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Visual Composition
Students study how elements of visual composition and group storyboards for a one-minute videotaped commercial.
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Political Cartoons
Students analyze and interpret political cartoons, then use this knowledge to create their own.
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Joltin' Joe Has Left and Gone Away
Students assess admirable qualities in entertainers. They discuss Joe DiMaggio's obituary, focusing on his accomplishments and place in American society. They research and create their own descriptive biographies of athletes and...
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Counting on the Havoc of Hurricanes
Students define and classify all the different ways in which numbers are used in forecasting and coping with the effects of a hurricane. They conduct research to compare and contrast these numbers as they apply to Hurricane Floyd and
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Has Peace Finally Settled in the Middle East?
Students evaluate the changes made in the Palestine National Council charter and their potential impact on the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. They write a brief essay focusing on an article from an Israeli or Palestinian...
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The Human Costs of War
Students explore the concept of civilian cost to armed warfare. They explore the role of the military, civilians and of press coverage during armed conflicts, creating posters illustrating their research on post-WW II military conflicts.
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The Surreal World
High schoolers explore the concept of Surrealism and how it can be expressed in various art forms. They next create a Surrealist collage, and engage in a Surrealist process to invent a title for their work. They critique a class...
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Spreading the Word
Students analyze the use of propaganda in the war against terrorism, focusing specifically on the attacks in Afghanistan, exploring the distinction between ideas spread to benefit a cause and those spread to damage an opposing cause.
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Making Sense of the World Economy
Students apply the economic principles of supply and demand, market economy, competition, unemployment rate, exports and imports and currency exchange rate to China's present economic success and Russia's economic strife.
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Is All Cinema Verité?
Students explore the relationship between movies and culture, looking at movies as both a part of and a reflection of popular culture. They research the specific historical and cultural realities present during the run of a particular...
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Jingles All the Way
Young scholars explore various tactics used in advertising by studying the advertising campaigns of well-known companies. They earn about methods of political advertising in China by reading and discussing Political Power Grows From the...
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Making the Personal Political
Students identify controversial topics on which they have strong opinions and model their own persuasive opinion pieces after the featured article. They compose persuasive essays on controversial issues that "hit home" for them.
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Consider the Source
Young scholars explain how to critically compare news reporting from around the world, focusing on coverage of the Taliban regime. They compare and contrast television and print media reporting on the issue.
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The Long and Short of It
Students take a look back at the week's news by exploring the news summaries article offered in The New York Times' Week in Review section each week. They look further into ongoing news stories of interest to them in order to create...
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It's a Draw!
Students assess the ways in which editorial cartoons, both current and historic, offer insight into events that shape our world. They create a poster that includes a current editorial cartoon and their explanation of the details of the...
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Charity Begins At Home
Students read and discuss "Prosperity Extends Its Reach, but Not Far Enough to Benefit All," and examine the difficulty, for the working poor, in making ends meet, and propose philanthropic solutions.
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Saving Face
Learners research the allegations of unfair or illegal business practices of various corporations, then create media campaigns that seek to improve the companies' images.
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CNN Interactive: Reading, Discussing and Writing
Students access the internet for current news articles; increase awareness of issues in world news; to read critically; and to write critical reactions.
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Environmental Rhyme and Reason
Students employ poetry as a medium to relay information and express views about significant environmental issues that exist today and to assess their effects on The State of the Planet as we enter the next millennium.
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Newspaper Poems
Ninth graders appreciate the value of words, review the parts of speech, create original poetry, shape the poem, and write an explanation of the images he/she has created.
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Explosive Knowledge
Students examine China's suspected theft of American nuclear secrets, as a springboard for the creation of a research-based, multi-tiered timeline that traces the development, regulation, and use of nuclear weapons from the 1940's to today.