This public speaking lesson focuses on presenting and conveying important information, details, facts, and opinions in a concise manner. This lesson presents several different real-world situations where students are asked to share their perspectives, experiences, and stories where they are to give supporting details and facts that are important to the context of different social interactions (talking with peers, colleagues, community, interviews, etc). With the creation of this lesson, different level options of technology integration are offered to allow for flexibility and modifications for this lesson to best serve various classrooms and their students (low tech, medium tech, and high tech options). This lesson will help students analyze a social interaction and/or topic and have them clearly and concisely give an authentic response.

Striking images can leave lasting impressions on viewers. In this lesson, students make text-self-world connections to a nature- or science-related topic as they collaboratively design a multimedia presentation.

This unit is designed to appeal to adolescents with its non-print text base, the movie "Groundhog Day". The pre-viewing activities prepare students for the allusions in the movie and include cultural literacy. The teacher can pick and choose from the activities to apply the concept of personal growth. The teacher may select from activities for science, workplace ethics, music, computer competency, and English language arts. The teacher may modify any of the attachments to suit the students' needs and interests. Students will: demonstrate accurate analysis of audience through appropriate choices in diction, motive support, point support, and non-print textual support; demonstrate knowledge of the concept of character qualities and reflect positive values. The content of the presentation must be persuasive and make connections between literary elements (plot development and dynamic characterization) and another discipline (psychology, science, vocational arts, or music).

In small groups and class discussion, students share knowledge about Christopher Columbus and his voyages, learn about the impact of Columbus, and consider some ecological and political results of the encounter.

How can we, as youth, build a sustainable future while meeting the energy needs of today? The Path to Sustainable Energy (PaSE) curriculum explores sustainable energy as students investigate place-based energy resource and consumption issues, gather resources, and build leadership skills to identify and take action on shared challenges and impacts of energy usage.

As the situation in Syria worsens and the number of Syrian refugees increases, the Reimagine Syria curriculum addresses this need to understand the conflict and how this conflict has and will impact a generation of young Syrians. Through media and conflict analysis, students develop knowledge and skills to better understand the multiples ways conflict affects them and are able to address the driving question: "How can we, as youth, develop productive solutions to conflict in our communities?"

During days 3-6 of the unit, students will complete a short, focused research assignment to learn about the characteristics of Sourthern Gothic Literature and to begin to view To Kill a Mockingbird through that lens.  As is true with the rest of the unit, the three day time frame is a suggestion only and can be adjusted based on your schedule and the needs of the students.Image source: "Mockingbird" by skeeze on Pixabay.com.

Students use the model of the infamous Bill and Ted from the feature film "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" to "go back in time" to learn about deities in the ancient world. After researching, studying, and viewing reproductions of artworks that depict gods and goddesses, students transport their chosen deities to the modern world as characters they write about in a mock television talk-show script, which they enact for the class.

Social change, at its core, does not come from one event or incident, but the long, sustained work of individuals and groups in numerous sectors of society. How do we, as youth, participate in sustaining positive social change in our communities?

In this module, students engage with literature and nonfiction texts that develop central ideas of guilt, obsession, and madness, among others. Building on work with evidence-based analysis and debate in Module 1, students will produce evidence-based claims to analyze the development of central ideas and text structure. Students will develop and strengthen their writing by revising and editing, and refine their speaking and listening skills through discussion-based assessments.

This unit engages students in a variety of activities that analyze and reflect on the role of social media in our everyday lives. This includes options for collaborative group work, reading nonfiction articles, a design challenge and presentations to communicate ideas. The unit also includes a formal writing assessment option that aligns with the Common Core State Writing Standards. Activities can be adapted or combined in a variety of ways to support student reflection and analysis. These lessons were piloted in 9th grade English classes but are suitable or a range of secondary students. 

Christopher Columbus is one of the most controversial figures in history.  By some, he is viewed as a grand explorer who opened up new areas for European conquest and profit.  But by others, he is viewed as a butcher, who brought disease, and who's actions began the destruction of an entire continent's population.  This lesson will show you two different views of Columbus so that you can draw your own conclusions about whether we should celebrate Columbus or not.

Of the three branches of our government, many believe that the most important is the one directly elected by "We the People": the legislative branch, represented by the two houses of the U.S. Congress at the Capitol building. Join a group of middle schoolers on a tour of Washington, D.C. as they learn about the Constitution and what it means to be "We the People." The "We the People" videos are produced in collaboration with the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

Highlighting the film, Girl Rising, this curriculum seeks to examine the barriers that prevent children, specifically girls, from accessing education. The curriculum engages students in a critical discussion of: "How do we, as youth, create solutions to overcome the challenges of access to education?"

How do we, as youth, engage our communities to positively address human rights issues? The Rights of the Child curriculum explores human rights in an effort to foster cultural awareness, bring to light the rights of the child, and activate global citizenship among youth through international dialogue and collaboration.

The ocean's resources are slowly being depleted. This curriculum examines the issue of overfishing and its impact on both the environment and human life. In developing sustainable solutions, the students address the driving question: "How can we as youth, sustain the future of the world's ocean through our actions today?"

The Wasted: Don't Trash the Earth curriculum asks students to examine the impact of the waste we locally and globally produce and seek creative solutions to reduce this wastefulness by answering the driving question: "How can we, as youth, rethink waste?"

This unit is centered around an anchor text that may be common among content area teachers in a high school setting. Although this unit may be incorporated into any high-school English class, it is aligned with Common Core standards for 9-10. This unit will primarily focus on informational and argumentative texts, and can be used to incorporate more informational texts (as directed by the Common Core) into English classrooms at the high school level. This unit is best suited to a collaborative model of development in which ELA and content area teachers share an anchor text (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and communicate about how to connect diverse skills to common texts and essential questions.

This public speaking lesson focuses on presenting and conveying important information, details, facts, and opinions in a concise manner. This lesson presents several different real-world situations where students are asked to share their perspectives, experiences, and stories where they are to give supporting details and facts that are important to the context of different social interactions (talking with peers, colleagues, community, interviews, etc). With the creation of this lesson, different level options of technology integration are offered to allow for flexibility and modifications for this lesson to best serve various classrooms and their students (low tech, medium tech, and high tech options). This lesson will help students analyze a social interaction and/or topic and have them clearly and concisely give an authentic response.

This unit explores the various ways information and ideas about climate change are presented through a variety of media. This includes the evaluation of social media posts, research into climate change issues, and an exploration of contemporary art and artists. This was designed and taught in an honors 9th grade English Language Arts Classroom by Dr. Tavia Quaid in response to student interest in climate change and to reinforce key information literacy skills.