Curated OER
Targeting Young Speeders
Students research the police ticketing of teens in their city or county. They determine if the police are targeting teens and why. Students explore other ways the community tries to ensure safer teen drivers. They survey teens in school....
Curated OER
Hair, Clothing Considered Disruptive
Students investigate dress codes in their school and how they compare to what courts have ruled as well as interview school administrators, students, and teachers on their views of the dress code. Students then write a news feature about...
Curated OER
Poetry and Hip Hop
High schoolers compare and contrast the genres of poetry and hip-hop. They view a poetry slam and write about it in their journals. Learners view a Lauryn Hill music video and respond to it in their journals. They compare and contrast...
Curated OER
Literature
Students read a book that is recommended on the Internet, then write their appreciation of what they have read. They send their opinion about others' written appreciation through the e-mail.
Curated OER
Rights of the Accused: To Be Confronted with the Witnesses Against Him
Students take on the role of Supreme Court Justices, after reading summary of a case and the arguments for and against a defendant's appeal. They make a decision, write majority and minority opinions, and report their decision.
Curated OER
FBI Counts Mosques
Young scholars gather as much background as possible about this controversial FBI directive and what Muslim and civil liberties groups believe about it. They perform interviews with Muslim students to gather opinions and then form a...
Curated OER
Genetic Engineering: Friend or Foe?
Students brainstorm and discuss ways genes can be altered, transferred and cloned. They will complete a subject sampler, opinion paper and prepare to debate their opinion on genetic engineering.
Curated OER
Art On Trial (A Mock-Court Activity)
Students engage in a mock trial to decide if a work of prospective public art is "art" and accepted for a city park. They broaden their definitions of what "art" is. Students distinguish between opinion and informed judgment of art works.
Curated OER
Comparing Themes Across Texts
Read various texts to compare the themes across each text. Learners write a journal entry describing the most beautiful scenery they've seen and use a map of the United States to locate the Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods. They then...
University of North Carolina
Blogs
The blogosphere may be overwhelmed with content, but there's still room for unique points of view. Creating a blog that stands out, however, is the bigger challenge. A handout on blogs, part of a series of handouts on specific writing...
Curated OER
Tackling a Statement: Rights of the Child
Young scholarsare introduced to the idea that people have rights. They voice opinions about whether children should have special rights and be treated differently then adults. The main purpose of the activity is to get students thinking...
Curated OER
What Is Legal With Music On The Web?
Students research what is legal now as far as downloading music from the Internet. They also gather information now that some citizens have been charged with crimes. The research allows students to form informed opinions that are educated.
Curated OER
Student Travel in the Shadow of War
Learners research and discuss pros and cons of study abroad during times of war, and document decisions and positions of local school administrators on topic. Students then write editorials voicing their opinions.
Sinclair Community College
Sentence Sense Editing Exercise
This one-page sentence editing practice is a beast! Grammar masters make corrections in punctuation and capitalization in a lengthy paragraph that is about writing process (how post-modern). This efficient resource can be used as...
Curated OER
Teaching Others About Being Deaf
Pupils read two articles about how college students taught others about being blind or deaf. In their school, they interview pupils with a physical challenge and use the internet to research how to write about those with disabilities....
Curated OER
School discipline includes paddling
High schoolers debate the pros and cons of paddling in schools. Students investigate the policy in their corporation. If high schoolers disagree with the policy, students write an editorial that helps your readers find ways to make the...
Curated OER
Abercrombie & Fitch Catalogue: Is it Pornographic?
Students use their textbook to find a legal definition of the word pornography. Using the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, they write a column about whether the pictures are borderline pornographic or not. They also may present their...
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
Pupils read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojacieckowski. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the Christmas holiday. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing, social studies,...
Curated OER
Football game seating: Security or Restriction?
High schoolers write an article or an editorial about the situation of Cleveland-area schools instituting policies to restrict seating at night football games. Students research their own school policy, as well as other school policies.
Curated OER
Manifest Destiny
Students explore the Manifest Destiny. They interpret quotations, study point of view in writing, research English words that derived from Mexico, and analyze reasons why settlers moved west. After writing journal entries in first-person...
Curated OER
Police Arrest MySpace Users
High schoolers research the background of websites, MySpace and FaceBook. In groups, they interview local experts about Internet crimes. They investigate what their school's policy is and write a news feature how local schools are...
Curated OER
Role of the Government
Namely through discussion, get your opinionated scholars examining the roles of government- is it even necessary? They analyze the quote: "To be free, one must be chained," writing what it represents and then sharing. Consider...
Curated OER
Hawthorne: Author and Narrator
Learners examine the difference between a narrator and author. They read Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, 'The Scarlet Letter,' write a description of the narrator, and research how Hawthorne was impacted by the politics of the time.
Curated OER
Ohio Virtual Academy: Learning Online
Young scholars spend time researching online education facilities. After interviewing teachers, they develop a survey on how productive online education sites are to its students. They write a story for the school newspaper about this...