In this Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide, indepth discussion questions guide students through exploration of Rick Bragg's All Over but the Shoutin', a haunting memoir about growing up dirt-poor in the deep South, and about struggling to leave the past behind while still deeply tied to it through bonds of love and responsibility.

In this Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide, the questions, discussion topics, author biography, and suggested reading list will enhance student reading of An American Story by Debra J. Dickerson. Dickerson's frank, thought provoking, and ultimately triumphant memoir traces her spirited rise from the poor, black, working class of St. Louis in the 1960s to the ranks of the educated, middle-class, professional elite.

In this lesson, students will understand the concept of argumentative position, analyzing the position, premises, reasoning, evidence, and perspective of arguments.

After gaining skill through anazlying a historic and contemporary speech as a class, students will select a famous speech from a list (included) and write an essay that identifies and explains the rhetorical strategies that the author chose while crafting an effective speech. The analysis will consider questions such as: What makes a good argument? How did the author's rhetoric evoke a response from the audience? Why are the words still famous today?

In this lesson, students will explore the idea of globalization and mass consumption and how the author of Sugar Changed the World conveys these ideas.

In this lesson students learn to evaluate political cartoons for their meaning, message, and persuasiveness. Students first develop critical questions about political cartoons. Then they access an online activity to learn about artistic techniques cartoonists frequently use. Finally, students will work in small groups to analyze a political cartoon.

Surveys are an important tool when doing research and learning to evaluate information. In this lesson, students consider the purpose and meaning of surveys, learn what types of questions are asked, evaluate the validity of a specific survey, and write in their journals to reflect what they have learned.

This page contains a teacher's guide for Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. The guide includes background information on the time period and on Anne Frank's life, prompts for writing and discussion, vocabulary words, and supplemental information and resources to extend knowledge of World War 2 and the Holocaust and their timelines.

This page contains notes on Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, with strategies for approach, lesson ideas, suggestions for discussion and projects, and ways to tie the content to modern day issues.

This guide prepares students to write an argumentative letter on a social justice issue of their choice. It includes a review of argumentative structure and resources to assist them in finding an informational article on an issue they would like to address.

This guide prepares students to write an argumentative letter on a social justice issue of their choice. It includes a review of argumentative structure and resources to assist them in finding an informational article on an issue they would like to address.

In this lesson plan, students will learn how to critique nonfiction texts, focusing on how to determine bias and how to identify an author's purpose in a text.

Students will explore the Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Earls, in which high school sophomore Lindsay Earls challenged her school's drug testing policy. Students will watch a documentary on the case, apply the Fourth Amendment to the case, and further their understanding by participation in activities such as creating an anti-drug campaign and a moot court or mock trial.

In this lesson, students will listen to examples of love songs from several musical styles and historical moments. The activities are designed to explore how music and lyrics work together to express different sentiments toward love and relationships.

The repercussions of the Great Migration are far-reaching. Today, much of the restlessness and struggle that the Blues helped to articulate in the Migration era remains central in other forms of American music, including Hip Hop. In this lesson, students look to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf as case studies that illustrate why African Americans left the South in record numbers and how communities came together in new urban environments, often around the sound of the Blues.

This brochure assignment teaches how shifting purposes and audiences can create change in a student’s writing. After exploring published brochures, students determine key questions, research a topic and work through the writing process to create their own informative brochure complete with visuals.

In this Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide, the introduction, questions, and suggestions for further reading are intended to enhance student discussion of Edwidge Danticat's book, Brother, I'm Dying, a memoir of the tragedy and losses of a Haitian family and the hope of a new life in America.