Many of the issues facing 21st Century learners are challenging and even discussing these issues can be a challenge. So how do teachers prepare learners for these difficult conversations? How do instructors create a safe classroom where...

Incorporate technology into a literature lesson with an innovative language arts lesson. Middle schoolers read an electronic version of original stories or fairy tales, and after determining the point of view, rewrite the tale from...

Young scholars rank a list of everyday risks to compare with classmates. They rate each risk on both its ability to be controlled and its observability in the environment. Results are graphed.

Develop an understanding of point of view in your young learners. Read narrative stories to your class and discuss who the storyteller is. Point out different points of view and discuss new vocabulary in order to introduce this concept....

Options for public and privately funded health care is a valuable debate for students to follow and learn from. They can use their research to take part in a Town Hall Meeting using facts and style. They will contact the representatives...

Why do readers need to know an author’s purpose? How do you figure out what that purpose is? Guide your pupils through a series of activities that show them how to identify various techniques and structures used in persuasive writing....

Who would have thought to explore the concept of race through children's literature?  After reading Bell Hooks' picture book, Skin Again, and chapter sixteen of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members...

Encourage your class to recognize the diversity in the beliefs and backgrounds of their peers. Learners use the acronym FRAME to consider culture, background, and life experiences.

Learners read and analyze William Faulkner's novel, 'As I Lay Dying.' They define Faulkner's place in American literary history, describe Faulkner's "South" in the context of the historical South and examine the Bundren family through...

Students investigate the environmental factors that threaten Timbuktu. Students investigate what measures are being taken to restore their mosques, and the condition of their ancient manuscripts. Students discover information about the...

Students conduct online research regarding the origins of the city of Timbuktu and discover why it became such an important place. Students write about the city's origins until it became a part of Mali.

Students identify and analyze land use changes over time with historical aerial photographs. They classify different land use into categories.

Students investigate who the Mongols were and where their empire was located. They research Kublai Khan and the region he ruled. They study the major products of 13th Century China.

Students examine Marco Polo's route from China to Sumatra. They investigate the geography and climate, the religions and architecture of modern Indonesia. They study the use of spices and why they were so important in medieval times.

Students study the route from Hormuz to Constantinople that was traveled by the Polos. They explain the importance of Constantinople in medieval time and discuss its location, and outer wall structure.

Students role play as Marco Polo to detail his travels. They include the terrains, foods, religions, people and cultures that were encountered. They write a journal entry as if they were Marco Polo detailing one aspect of his travels.

Learners investigate Marco Polo's life as a young boy in 13th century Venice. They analyze maps, explore various websites, complete a chart and answer discussion questions, and create a travel brochure about visiting 13th century Venice.

The Odyssey, one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, is often a difficult read. Be sure to include the internet activity involving Ageanet List, where pupils can ask scholars questions that arise while reading. One...

Direct your class’s attention to the elements that make their community unique. After examining sample travel brochures, groups select something from their community to use as the subject, and then research, create, and publish a...

Over the course of three classes, tech-saturated youth review their cyber portraits, map their virtual lives, examine their relative anonymity, and establish a "virtual conscience" to guide choices that foster privacy protection and...

"Would a rational and well-regulated world include human suffering?" "If the plight of human suffering is the 'best of all possible worlds' do humans have freewill?" Class members develop their position on an issue raised by Candide,...

What are the three most important items for survival? Readers of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, ponder this question individually and share their list with a group, that must then reach consensus on the three most...