Students will go "inside" the NY Times Best Sellers List to explore recent best sellers across categories, then use those lists as models to create their own in categories of their choosing. They will write one-sentence summaries for each book on their lists, then analyze and explain their choices by writing "Inside the List" articles. Ultimately, students will answer the question, "What do best-seller lists tell us about our culture?"

Students will read scientific text about top predators in Arctic marine ecosystems and how they may be affected by global climate change. Students will work individually or collaboratively to write a report based on the scientific text they have read and participate in a large-group discussion session based on their analysis.

The graphic novel Persepolis is set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Most students are unaware of the changes associated with the events during that time, but the repercussions of the revolution are still being felt throughout the world. In this lesson, students work in small groups to research a specific topic related to Iran, using a WebQuest to focus their research on relevant and reliable information. After the research is complete, students present their information to the class through a technology-enhanced presentation.

George Orwell's experiences as a policemen for the British Empire in India formed the basis for his early writings, including this essay. After receiving some background information on British rule in Burma as well as on Orwell, students will read the essay in order to analyze its use of metaphors, symbolism and irony.

Students are guided through the process of learning about the Harlem Renaissance and specific artists who contributed to this period of American history. Students are further guided to share their findings by collaborating and producing a Renaissance Fair.

This lesson is designed to guide students through the process of learning about the Harlem Renaissance and specific artists who contributed to this period of American history. Students are further guided to share their findings by collaborating and producing a Renaissance Fair.

In this lesson, students work to find a general and specific topic about which to write a research paper. The lesson guides them through the process of narrowing their focus to a more specific topic that can be more easily researched.

In this lesson, students review techniques for writing strong literary analyses. Students take notes on the techniques, then practice by analyzing a passage from a literary work.

In this lesson, students will identify how Common's rap song "A Dream" and Walter Dean Myers's short story "Monkeyman" reinterpret Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of nonviolence. Students will delve into a text-based discussion on characterization and conflict, as well as compose an essay on the Six Principles of Nonviolence (rubric available).

In this lesson,students will learn how to use their subtopics and evidence in order to create effective body paragraphs.

Students begin by evaluating the universal theme of betrayal from multiple perspectives. After reading time period scenarios as well as reflecting on personal experiences, students use critical thinking skills to explore and identify interventions for each betrayal scenario, including personal examples. Students then research Roman history as they write down thier own critical perspective of a scenario depicting plausible scenes from Roman times. As the culminating project and assessment, students will create comic strips with the Interactive Comic Creator

Students conduct Web searches on open-ended questions and draw on their experiences to develop guides to searching effectively and finding reliable information online.

This inquiry-based activity reinforces the idea that a mixture can be taken apart by physical means. Students will have 3 hours to separate as much pure substance as they can. These will be broken into percentages based on purity and the amount they have been able to separate. There is no set procedure for this open, inquiry-based activity; students will record the procedure they use as they complete the activity.

This lesson plan is designed to guide students through a reading of the classic short story, "The Lady or the Tiger?". The lesson provides a guide for an in depth analysis of the text by asking students to seek textual evidence to respond to the provided guided questions. A culminating activity is provided, which directs learners to draft an essay that builds upon that textual evidence to draft a response posed by the title's question.

After students have read a book about the Holocaust, such as The Diary of Anne Frank or Night by Elie Wiesel, students will view Life is Beautiful and complete discussion questions that challenge their ability to analyze literature using film. When the film is complete, students will write a letter to the director conveying their opinion of the film.

In this lesson, students access their own knowledge of characters from a variety of texts to make comparisons between the familiar concepts of hero and villain and the new concept of the Byronic hero. They first list heroes and villains with which they are familiar and discuss any examples that may blur the lines between the two. Using Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and the character Edward Cullen, students identify the characteristics of the Byronic hero in a Venn diagram and diagram other characters with these traits. Students then choose a project—an expository essay, photo collage, or book cover—to extend their understanding of this complex and compelling character type.

This lesson pairs a magazine article about the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in 1975 with the Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." After comparing and contrasting the elements of each text, students will choose a historical event and, using the song as a model, create a narrative poem about their chosen event. In addition, more contemporary songs and current events will also work for this activity.

In this activity, students complete an online scavenger hunt to discover information about famous American author Mark Twain. Three websites are provided from which the students might gather the required information.

In this mid unit assessment for Oedipus the King, students will write a three point claim essay in response to the prompt: "What relationship does Sophocles establish between prophecy and Oedipus's actions?"

In this lesson, students discuss the meaning of “A More Perfect Union,” a speech about race made by then-Senator Barack Obama, during the 2008 Democratic primary campaign. Students will also examine and assess how textbooks position groups differently in our national historical narrative — and how this positioning affects our understanding of ourselves.