Curated OER
Dress Reform in the 19th Century
Students read and discuss the writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Timothy Shay Arthur and others to explore mid to late 19th century dress reform. They use their findings to write a letter to an editor from a 19th century viewpoint.
Curated OER
Editorial Writing: What's On Your Mind
Students write an editorial column for a newspaper. For this journalism lesson, students discuss and analyze editorials in print and broadcast media. Students will compare the differences in these two formats of editorial...
Curated OER
Pig Products
How do you feel about cloning? This issue is highly debated, so educate your class before they participate in a similar debate! Read a New York Times article related to the use of cloned pig organs for human transplants. Groups develop...
Curated OER
Hammurabi's Code of Laws
Students explore why the need arose for laws to govern society, comparing and contrasting hunter/gatherer societies vs. agrarian societies. They write letters to the editor of the Babylonian Times, discussing their opinion of Hammurabi's...
Curated OER
Civil Rights after MLK and RFK
Students are assigned to groups representing minority populations who produce a research project in a digital format from the list. A few of the choices are: speech, letter to the editor, editorial cartoon, etc.
Curated OER
Newspapers
Middle schoolers create a class newspaper about the Olympics. In this newspaper lesson, students discuss the basic characteristics of each component of the newspaper. Middle schoolers work in small groups to complete stations...
Curated OER
The Homestead Act
Eighth graders analyze the Native American's viewpoint of the Homestead Act. Using one Native American group who lived in Nebraska, they write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper discussing the Homestead Act and how it affected...
Curated OER
History of American Child Labor
Students study the historical and social issue of child labor. They examine the photographs of Lewis Hine to see evidence of child labor and decide how the photographs depict the historical impact of the practice. They write a letter to...
Curated OER
James McCune Smith: A Model of Resistance
Young scholars discuss examples of resistance. In this anti-slavery activity, students analyze a portrait of James McCune Smith and listen to a lecture about his life and involvement in abolition. Young scholars analyze his actions and...
Curated OER
Safe and Secure: More or Less?
Students discuss what they believe to be the state of security of the nation since September 11, 2001. Reading articles on security, they gather insight into new reports on security. They write letters to major newspapers expressing...
Curated OER
Problems with our Food System: Hunger
Learners understand that hunger causes many deaths a year and many children are trapped as slaves through watching a video. In this hunger and child slavery lesson, students write letters to call attention to the problems of hunger and...
New Bedford Whaling Museum
A New Bedford Voyage!
A thorough set of activities, articles, and reference material can enlighten your class about the history of whaling in New England. Kids travel back to a time when whale products were valuable and hunting whales was a way to help the...
University of Pennsylvania
Decoding Propaganda: J’Accuse…! vs. J’Accuse…!
Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...
Curated OER
Voice
In these writing style worksheets, students practice developing their writer's voice. Students complete three activities that help them with their writing voice.
Curated OER
A New State Seal
Students select one letter from "Letters to Howard" and write a response to the editor or an imaginary dialogue they might have had with the authors of these letters.
Curated OER
It's Your Opinion
Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...
Curated OER
"No News Like Ancient News"
Want to know more about Ancient history? Young historians will read a minimum of two web sites to complete the chart "Residents of Olympus". They choose one Greek god or goddess to research. This could be a small group activity or...
Curated OER
Denial on Trial
What is the "Faurisson Affair”? What is “Holocaust Revisionism”? What does freedom of speech entail? Do revisionists have a right to voice their ideas? Such questions are at the heart of a richly detailed, thought provoking lesson...
Curated OER
Justice Is Blind, Colorblind That Is
It's so interesting to see kids respond to articles about education. To start the day, prompt learners to discuss the words colorblindness and diversity. Then, split your class in two and have one side read an article from 2007 and...
Curated OER
Serving Memory
Students read an article about a woman who lost her fiance in Iraq. Reading a letter he left his son, they discuss how his words will affect his son once he is old enough to understand. They research the number of casualties in the war...
Curated OER
Putting Writing Skills To Work
Tenth graders reinforce their knowledge of the format and elements of business letters by writing a request letter. A review of effective letter writing is provided prior to an independent assignment. This helps with scaffolding the...
Curated OER
Writing for Different Audiences: A Discussion of Cover Letters And Resumes
Students examine the process of writing a resume. They identify examples of casual and formal language, read an article on writing resumes, discuss key questions, write a resume, and discuss and edit another student's resume.
Curated OER
Writing Prompts: Prose, Pamphlets and Poems
Students practice reading an atlas and writing prompts. They use graphic organizers to construct their writing prompt. They use the Internet to do their research.
Curated OER
Capitalization of Nouns
Which nouns are capitalized? Challenge young editors with these erroneous sentences, all of which require capitalization. After circling all the necessary capitals in 10 sentences, they rewrite two sentences (which are all in capital...