ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: English Language Arts (11), or English Language Arts (11), or Social Studies (11), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: The Challenges and New Inventions of the Great Plains Farmer.
Description: Students will work in groups of four to create presentations using their research on a particular farming invention that was created from (1837-1867) and also research specific elements about life on the Great Plains. Each group's presentation will be merged into a final class presentation.

Subject: Arts Education (6 - 12), or English Language Arts (10 - 11), or Social Studies (9 - 12)
Title: Design Storm
Description: This is a project that focuses on the practical application of the production concept. Students work in team of three (a director, a scenic designer, and a costume designer) to develop and illustrate their own production concept for a production of Romeo and Juliet. This is an advanced lesson intended to be used at the end of a basic theatre class or in an advanced class.

Subject: English Language Arts (9 - 12), or English Language Arts (10 - 12)
Title: A Creative Twist to The Tragedy of Macbeth
Description: A Creative Twist to The Tragedy of Macbeth is a project that gives students an opportunity to express their understanding of Macbeth through their artistic ability. The activity appeals to the learning style of all students by allowing the students to establish their position as the reviewer of the play The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Subject: English Language Arts (10 - 12), or Social Studies (10 - 12), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: Constitution or Articles? the Question or the Millennium
Description: In this lesson,students will observe the political climate at the time of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and read the writings of the delegates who refused to sign the proposed Constitution,as well as, those who supported it. Taking on the role of Mason, Gerry, Randolph and others, students will work together to create a modern-day document - a press release, advertisement, bill ,or declaration on PowerPoint that summarizes their objections or support of the proposed constitution. Students will be asked to quickly communicate thier position to the majority of state legislatures and to the citizenry.

Subject: English Language Arts (10 - 12), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: Is Romance Dead?
Description: As an introduction to the medieval romances, students compare and contrast the medieval rules of courtly love to the modern "rules" of courtship and romance. Students write a compare/contrast essay after group work and class discussion.

Subject: English Language Arts (12), or English Language Arts (11 - 12), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: Interpreting Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Description: After a study of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, students working in small groups conduct research and create a slideshow presentation that emphasizes key aspects of the play and/or new ideas generated by the play.

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Black Poetry Day is celebrated. Add Bookmark
Description: Books and webpages are gathered that focus on the work of African American poets and students explore the resources and find a poem to contribute to a poetry reading.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Chaucer's Wife of Bath Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson from EDSITEment introduces students to one of the most admired characterizations in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath. Students read Chaucer's description of the Wife in the General Prologue to consider how he represents her, both as the poet of The Canterbury Tales and as a character in his own poem, then read the Wife of Bath's Prologue, where he has her speak for herself, to gain additional perspective on her character. Next, students investigate some of the literary sources that Chaucer drew upon as he created this portrait of a woman with her own ideas about matrimony, and examine evidence about marriage in the Middle Ages and the role that women played in medieval society. Finally, students read the Wife of Bath's Tale and explore the alternative readings of the tale in relation to the character of the Wife of Bath.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Families in Bondage Add Bookmark
Description: This two-part lesson from EDSITEment draws on letters written by African Americans in slavery and by free blacks to loved ones still in bondage, singling out a few among the many slave experiences to offer students a glimpse into slavery and its effects on African American family life. In Part I, students examine the letters of Hannah Valentine, an enslaved woman who lived on a Virginia plantation. In Part II, students read letters from a fugitive slave to his still-enslaved wife and from a black Union soldier to his still-enslaved daughters, confronting directly the anguish of separation that was a constant factor in African American family life during slave times, when children and parents, husbands and wives, were routinely sold away from one another. Students explore the emotional terrain revealed in these letters by comparing the response to separation voiced by Valentine with that voiced by the Union soldier and the fugitive slave.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Get ready to celebrate Banned Books Week! Add Bookmark
Description: Students brainstorm reasons why certain books might have been banned and discuss common reasons why books are challenged.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Poe's '' The Raven'' was published in 1845. Add Bookmark
Description: As Poe's '' The Raven'' is read aloud, students note their reactions and discuss the changes or development of their first impressions as the poem continues.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Poet Robert Burns was born in 1759. Add Bookmark
Description: Students read examples of traditional Scottish ballads and use this information to write and perform their own ballads.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Renaissance Humanism in Hamlet and The Birth of Venus Add Bookmark
Description: After reading Shakespeare's Hamlet, students identify, analyze, and explain how elements in Botticelli's painting Birth of Venus and examples from the play illustrate the philosophy of Renaissance Humanism.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Poet Emily Dickinson was born in 1830. Add Bookmark
Description: Students discuss Dickinson's poem '' This Is My Letter To The World'' and use it to focus on how audience affects voice.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Arts,Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Walt Whitman's Notebooks and Poetry: The Sweep of the Universe Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students read the poetry of Walt Whitman to determine how he attempts to combine universal themes with individual experiences and feelings. Additionally, students reflect on how Whitman used his experiences in the Civil War in his poetry.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: The ''Secret Society'' and Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students explore the nature of the secret society implied in The Great Gatsby through a close study of the text, an examination of Fitzgerald's letters and other statements, and a consideration of class, wealth, and status during the turbulent 1920 s. Students combine critical thinking, textual analysis, and imaginative writing skills to write a credo for the secret society implied in The Great Gatsby.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Arts,Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students explore the idea of democratic poetry by reading Whitman's words in a variety of media, examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850, and comparing the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's I Hear America Singing and Langston Hughes Let America Be America Again. Finally, using similar poetic concepts and techniques, students have an opportunity create a poem from material in their own experience.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ''The Yellow Wall-paper''-The ''New Woman'' Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit from EDSITEment, students study the historical context of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, The Yellow Wall-paper. Students focus particular attention on the economic conditions and social roles of 19th-century middle-class women.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Today is World Poetry Day. Add Bookmark
Description: Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem '' Introduction to Poetry.'' Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Faulkner's ''As I Lay Dying'': Form of a Funeral Add Bookmark
Description: This unit of five lessons, from EDSITEment, features lessons exploring the narrative voices and social concerns in William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying. In these lessons, students explore Faulkner's place in American literary history, research Faulkner's Southin the context of the historical South, and understand the use of multiple voices in narration.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on this day. Add Bookmark
Description: Students compare the film versions of The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's novels. Students then imagine how a scene in a current novel that they are reading would be filmed.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Novel News: Broadcast Coverage of Character, Conflict, Resolution, and Setting Add Bookmark
Description: This twist on readers theater has students prepare original news programs based on incidents in a recent reading, as they explore standard literary elements of character, conflict, resolution, and setting.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Jacob Grimm, one of the Brothers Grimm, was born today. Add Bookmark
Description: Students compare different versions of the fairy tale Cinderella and then rewrite a lesser-known Grimm story and explain the changes they made.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Unlocking the Underlying Symbolism and Themes of a Dramatic Work Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson plan invites students to consider characters from Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Students explore a selected character and write poems about objects associated with that character.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Weaving the Multigenre Web Add Bookmark
Description: Students analyze the elements of a novel in many different genres and then hyperlink these pieces together on student-constructed Websites.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12