ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: English Language Arts (11), or English Language Arts (11), or Social Studies (9 - 12), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: Research Project: American Heroes - Collaborative Education
Description: This lesson is designed to help students of all backgrounds learn to work together in groups to complete a research paper assignment. This is a collaborative based lesson plan that challenges students to work together to complete the assignment as a warm-up to the individual research paper required at the end of the term. It is a technology-based lesson with student presentations and student guided research. It is a cross curriculum based lesson with areas of history and technology integrated within the lesson's content.

Subject: English Language Arts (11), or English Language Arts (11), or Social Studies (9 - 12), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: Holocaust Research Project
Description: Students will create a slide presentation in cooperative learning groups proving that the Holocaust did indeed occur.

Subject: Business, Management, and Administration (9 - 12), or English Language Arts (9 - 12), or English Language Arts (9 - 12)
Title: Pennies for your Future!
Description: This is a hands-on activity that is designed to guide students through the process of finding and applying for scholarships. Students will use word processing software to write and submit a scholarship that is applicable to them. This lesson plan contains a financial aid component. Authors: Mona Coan and Stefanie Weaver

Subject: English Language Arts (10 - 12), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: Writing a Persuasive Essay
Description: In this lesson students research opposing viewpoints on controversial issues and develop their own position papers. Though primarily for English classes, this lesson could be easily adapted for an interdisciplinary unit with social studies or science classes.

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 (11), or English Language Arts (11), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: American Historical Fiction Journal
Description: In this American literature (1900-2000) creative research paper project, each student creates an original work of American historical fiction using his/her knowledge of the research process. Students identify and address the ways culture, technology, and social customs are reflected in American literature from 1900 to the present.

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
Title: Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology Add Bookmark
Description: Students complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology. They compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology (such as 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 ).
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 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: 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: Avoiding Sexist Language by Using Gender-Fair Pronouns Add Bookmark
Description: Students engage in a brief writing assignment that concretely illustrates how language and gender stereotyping interact causally.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Arts,Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's ''The Crucible'' Add Bookmark
Description: In this EDSITEment lesson, students consider how Arthur Miller interpreted the facts of the Salem witch trials and how he successfully dramatized them in his play, The Crucible. Students examine some of Miller's historical sources: biographies of key players and transcripts of the Salem Witch trials themselves. The students also read a summary of the historical events in Salem and study a timeline. The students then read The Crucible itself.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: On the Road author Jack Kerouac embarked on his first cross-country road trip in 1947. Add Bookmark
Description: Students read a section from On the Road that deals with cross-country travel and reflects Kerouac's unique writing style. Students then attempt to write a narrative using Kerouac's stream-of-consciousness style.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Teaching the Epic through Ghost Stories Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, students connect to the oral tradition of epic storytellers by sharing their own oral tales of ghosts and goblins and monsters.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Patriot Day is celebrated today on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001. Add Bookmark
Description: Students write about the name '' Patriot Day'' and how it marks the anniversary of a huge disaster. An alternative assignment could be to ask students to record their reflections about 9/11.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12