To whom it may concern ... Scholars undergo the process of writing a letter to an authority figure. The lesson asks writers to compose a formal letter requesting a music therapy space. Pupils learn how to submit a project proposal to any...

How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...

Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...

Practice the skill of compare and contrast. First, show learners the different pairs of artwork in the project packet (included). Then, each learner chooses one of the pairs and finds the similarities and differences between the...

Hip Hop? Country? Punk? R and B? So many styles. Young song writers consider the emotional effects of various style options before selecting the style best suited to the emotions they want to express in their song. The sixth in a...

What a great activity, upper graders are sure to love. They explore costume design and the relationships between theatre, culture, and history. They research three time periods, write a response about two of them, then create a composit...

Learners analyze and critique theater events by evaluating and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theater, film, television, and electronic media productions.

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Why is Apple suing Samsung? Give your English language learners a bit of reading comprehension practice. First, they read the short passage provided, and then they complete 10 activities. There are true or false questions, matching...

Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is beautiful and significant in both culture and tradition. Engage your class in this expressive fine art form through a instructional activity on using, holding, and creating brush strokes common to...

Learners read and write an artist's statement. In this artist's statement lesson, students read Dorothea Lange's artist statement before writing one of their own about their photography. They examine their own photography and use...

High schoolers create original costumes and make-up for a puppet presentation of a scene from Shakespeare in this week long creative project. Performances of the Shakespeare scenes end this lesson geared towards state and national...

Students create and present a theme-based exhibition. For this design lesson, students categorize objects to reflect a specific design theme and create their own theme-based collections. Students research a museum collection to discover...

Learners practice looking skills as they reflect upon the differences between viewing original works of art and reproductions. In this art viewing lesson, students interpret a work of art using formal analysis and research done for...

Young scholars use the methods of description, reflection, and formal analysis for a study of images. In this image analysis lesson, students work in teams to interpret and analyze an assigned work of art. Young scholars write responses...

Fifth graders investigate bullying and nonviolent ways to deal with bullies.  In this conflict management lesson plan, 5th graders discover the definition for the word ahimsa and examine ways to incorporate that philosophy into...

Students explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Students identify and anaylze linear and...

Fifth graders write a paragraph titled "All About Me" in the computer lab after they have drawn graphic organizers to fill in background information about themselves and used a "10-Point Writing Checklist" to do peer editing.

Students read an artist's statement by Dorothea Lange and write a statement based on their own photographs. In this photograph and writing lesson, students examine the relationship between photography and the artist's statement. Students...

Students write a composition comparing and contrasting two portraits. In this comparing and contrasting lesson plan, students will observe two portraits and compare them through their writing. They then will write a letter to the artists...

High schoolers identify life situations which require various writing responses, use the power of the written word to obtain results, practice writing responses to real-world events, and demonstrate the skills needed to recognize and...

Students create plastic bag costumes for a short scene developed in the classroom. Performances and assessment occur at the end of this quick lesson plan. A very creative mini-project for theatre arts classes.

Students compare and contrast the Lincoln portraits using a Venn diagram and included analysis tool. In this presidential photography instructional activity, students write a journal entry and a letter as if they were Abraham Lincoln....

Students explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.