Search results

The Remember: The Journey to School Integration lesson introduces students to the ideas of segregation and school integration. The lesson is designed to be a combination of teacher-led ins-truction and student-centered learning. Students build and develop their background knowledge on the topics of segregation and the integration of public schools. Once a knowledge base has been established, students look at the pictures from Toni Morrison’s book, think critically about the message being conveyed in them, and then create their own comprehensive response to the material presented in the entire lesson.

The His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg: Courage, Rescue and Mystery During World War II lesson plan addresses teaching a very difficult topic, the Holocaust, by looking at a heroic individual who devoted his life to saving those affected. This lesson’s focus is student-centered discovery. Small student groups approach multiple aspects of the Holocaust and then come back together as a classroom to share their new knowledge. The students then compare critically the experiences of individual Holocaust survivors to better understand the complexities of the event. This lesson emphasizes technology as a means for students to discover information on this challenging topic.

State of Tennessee v. John T. Scopes tested the legality of the Butler Act which made it unlawful for public school teachers “to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.” The media event became known as the “Monkey Trial” and brought a flood of publicity to rural Dayton, Tennessee, turning the creation vs. evolution debate into a national conversation. This dialog and debate caused Americans to consider the powerful influence of traditional religious beliefs and to examine how ideology fares when challenged by modernism and the advancement of scientific theory. Accordingly, the Scopes Trail is included in national curriculum standards for middle grades to foster historical inquiry and encourage students’ contemplation of concepts and factors associated with human thinking, feeling, and behavior. The historical fiction in Monkey Town presents the trial and related hysteria through the observations of a 15-year-old local girl trying to discover what she believes. This lesson encourages learners to critically analyze the relationships between ideas and practices. It enables students’ cursory exploration into issues and conflicts, allowing them to develop discussion and critical thinking skills by considering different perspectives in a historical setting.

This lesson plan focuses on the election process that takes place in a K-12 classroom every year, i.e., the election of a class president. Concepts presented parallels in the language and processes involved in electing The President of the United States, so it can be used to support the teaching the teaching of an American Government course. It can be used with almost any age level, but this lesson plan is designed specifically for a senior high school class. It uses a trade book entitled Pete for President to engage the students in a life-like, fun story about two friends caught in the excitement of an election process and have to deal with the impending challenge on their friendship.

Everybody Works in many ways, indoors, outdoors, at home, at an office, by traveling from place to place, to earn income, or as a hobby. This book is a photographic essay looking at the many ways in which people work and sometimes use animals in work. The learning cycle lesson helps young children construct a deeper understanding of work as varied and an important part of each person’s life.

This lesson uses On the Town: A Community Adventure, a book that follows a young boy and his mother through their community one afternoon as they take care of errands. Instructional development focuses on the tasks of various community members and the value of their tasks to the community at large. This lesson can be used with early elementary students in order to promote emergent reading and writing skills, in addition to working toward a better understanding of common good among members of a community and the impact people have on one another.