Encourage your class to consider a beautiful short film about a boy named Theo who happens to be visually impaired. Over the course of the lesson, pupils work in pairs, discuss their ideas and the film as a class, view the film,...

"I'll just wait for the movie version." How often have you heard that line? Transform passive viewers into active readers of visual images with an understanding of the three stages of the filmmaking process. This 28-packet packet is...

Sometimes the New Order becomes synonymous with its implications for European countries, but what about its consequences for East Asia? The final instructional activity in a four-part series teaches scholars about World War II. High...

A rich series of activities introduces learners to the concept of culture by closely examining the behaviors, practices, and art of three distinct peoples: the Highland Maya of Guatemala, the Hmong of China and Southeast...

Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...

Teens and pre-teens are a prime target for advertisers, so how are they doing it? An interactive lesson highlights the strategies used by advertisers, such as visual imagery and verbal clues. Then, a short writing assignment puts those...

What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the...

"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...

Thor, Loki, Iron Man, and Captain America. As part of their study of Greek and Roman gods and heroes, middle schoolers compare the characters in The Avengers to Greek counterparts. Individuals then create their own superhero,...

The Blue Man Group, three bald performance artists painted blue, offer lessons designed to engage, intrigue, and excite the imaginations of all ages of learners. Groups craft a trickster tale, invent melodious mathematical instruments,...

Designing a travel brochure is a classic project that will help your class members develop a variety of skills, such as researching informational texts, designing creative visual products, and communicating what you have learned.

History detectives put their keen observation skills to the test as they closely examine artifacts. Drawing on visual and tactile clues, they formulate a theory about who done it, or in this case who made it, why, and for what...

Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth...

Kamishibai (paper drama), is a Japanese form of storytelling that uses emakimono (paper picture scrolls), to relay a moral lesson. As part of a series of resources that examine Japanese art and artists, learners watch a video...

Middle schoolers will sing the praises of this music program. The resource, designed as an overview for music instructors, is loaded with ideas, activities, and links. Not a sour note in the packet. 

Color, light and shadow, the placement and size of objects. These are some of the tools artists used to tell their stories. Model for learners how to read a painting by closely examining these features. The richly detailed packet...

And then what happened? Class members engage in a series of activities that model for them how to read the story in a painting. Participants respond to questions that ask them to closely examine the elements in William Glackens'...

Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....

Introduce your young learners to opera by dressing up as Mozart and recounting some of the fascinating details of his life and music. After exploring the Metropolitan Opera's site for kids, the class listens to a reading of Kyra...

Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons,...

Summer slide. Alas, not a term synonymous with a type of sliding board, summer slide refers to the fact that learning slips during summer break, especially in the areas of spelling and math facts. Enrich summer break with a...

Storyboarding is an essential part of planning a film. Introduce your class to storyboarding and allow groups time to plan out their documentaries in this sixth lesson in a series about creating documentaries. Class members review an...

Wrap up a documentary creation project with the final lesson plan in this series. Class members reflect on their learning and compose responses to four questions relating to what they learned, whey they would do differently, and how the...

Examine two works of art and use these pieces as inspiration for dialogues. The whole class discusses Renoir's Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise and Toulouse-Lautrec's At the Moulin Rouge. Then, in groups of either three or ten, pupils...