To teach students the difference between primary and secondary sources, I like to use a fun game like “Telephone” to show how information gets warped and changed as it passes through many different minds and mouths. Once exposed to different …
Students learn about civil disobedience and social responsibility throughout their school years, and the life of Mahatma Gandhi is a great introduction to this topic. To begin this unit, I first read the informational text “How Salt Shook an Empire“ …
I’m getting ready to teach the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I want to focus on happiness. I could use the Diogenes conversation right before introducing the novel to get the kids thinking about the meaning of happiness. …
I am teaching analysis of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous essay “Self-Reliance,” and I want to focus on the theme of success by looking at the many sentences in the essay which explore this theme in relation to the individual. At …
In teaching a unit on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I want to focus on the theme of self-motivation, as so many of the novel’s characters are motivated by different things, some harder to figure out than others; …
I am teaching poetry and the poem “Ode on Solitude” by Alexander Pope creates a wonderful opportunity to study the theme of isolation with students. This poem focuses on the upsides of loneliness and therefore raises interesting questions about what …
Teaching about a youth leader like Malala Yousafzai provides a great opportunity to really delve into the theme of fear, because even though many in Malala’s country do not believe girls should be educated, Malala stayed calm in the face …
In teaching about The Great Depression it would be a great idea to look at the theme of perseverance. During horrible economic turmoil, instead of giving up the United States and Franklin D. Roosevelt created the biggest reforms and works …
One of the greatest moments in American literature occurs in Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, when Huck makes the decision to help Jim escape slavery, even though it goes against everything he has been taught. The theme …
When teaching Arthur MIller’s The Crucible I would keep the John Adams conversation regarding power in my back pocket. As Miller craftily shows how quickly power can go awry when it is in the wrong hands. I could use John …
In government I want to teach the theme of power through federalism— the balance of authority between the states and national government. The John Adams conversation would be an effective way to introduce the concept of federalism by getting the …
The short story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs is a suspense story that pairs perfectly with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt conversation about fear. The theme of fear of the unknown shows that people in scary situations may act rashly, …
