Writing

Source: Pixabay by QuinceCreative (License: Creative Commons 1.0)

Students use web sites for department stores to find product information for similar products in order to compare prices and qualities of products at different stores so that they can make wise buying decisions.

Source: 4Tests GED Practice Test page (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

A free online practice test site for the 2014 GED test with the 4 sections of the GED provided by Barrons Educational Series. It includes an explanation for the right answer.

Source: The Free Dictionary (License: CC0/Public Domain)

Use the online dictionary, The Free Dictionary as a stepping off point for developing research skills and expanding students' vocabulary and knowledge base through exploration of word of the day, today's birthday, this day in history, today's holiday and article of the day.

TheFreeDictionary.com site has many features including Word of the Day, Daily Grammar Lesson, Article of the Day,  This Day in History, Today's Birthday, Quotation of the Day, Today's Holiday, Idiom of the Day and Grammar Quiz. Word games include Hangman, Spelling Bee, Match Up and WordHub.

Source: NPR's This I Believe (License: CC0/Public Domain)

If you listen to NPR radio, you may hear both famous and unknowns discussing their core values and beliefs on weekly broadcasts of the radio spot “This I Believe,” a take-off on Edward R. Murrow’s original 1950s radio show. The site is an archive of all the modern broadcasts accompanied by the original print essays and contains a searchable database of thousands of other essays on numerous topics ranging from patriotism, to family, to sports. Each short essay that has been broadcast on NPR has a “Listen” link to hear the authors read their essays, which provides a listening component for the ABE student. The audio can be the basis for exercises on note-taking, listening for main ideas, supporting details, and cloze (listening for missing words).

Source: Working the Web for Education Tom March (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

In this activity, Students will read and discuss a current issue: Rise of the machines: Philippine outsourcing industry braces for AI. The emphasis is on critical thinking. Students will read, consider and discuss the future of Technology and its impact on jobs.

The Tom March Web site contains videos, political cartoons, and pictures that encourage students to think critically. 

In this activity, students answer the VARK Learning Style online questionnaire’s 16 questions to measure their learning style preferences in these areas: Visual (V), Aural/Auditory (A), Reading/Writing (R), and Kinesthetic (K) – see descriptions at VARK Modalities page http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=categories in order to find their preferred learning styles and their weaker study habit. The inventory’s focus is on study habits and skills more than personality traits, and there are “help sheets” that explain to students how to develop their less-preferred learning modalities.

Source: https://crfcap.org/mod/page/view.php?id=205 (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

Civic Action Project (CAP) is a project-based learning model for civics and government courses. It offers a practicum for high school students in effective and engaged citizenship and uses blended learning to engage students in civic activities both in and out of the traditional U.S. government classroom. By using Web-based technology and civics-based instruction and activities, students exercise important 21st-century skills in digital literacy, critical thinking, collaboration, self-direction, and learning to be an engaged and effective citizen in a democracy.

Students also see how the content of a government course can apply to the real world. By taking civic actions, they practice what real citizens do when they go about trying to solve a real policy-related problem. CAP fulfills best practices in service learning with an emphasis on public policy.

Source: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/raisin-sun-quest-american-dream#sect-introduction (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

In this activity, students read the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and explore how the social, educational, economical, and political climate of the 1950s affected African Americans' quest for "The American Dream." The critical reading and analysis of the play are complemented by a close examination of biographical and historical documents that students use as the basis for creating speeches, essays, and scripts.

Read the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry with your students and you can enhance your discussion of "The American Dream" even while you and your students explore how the social, educational, economical, and political climate of the 1950s affected African Americans' quest for "The American Dream."

 

Source: http://annex.exploratorium.edu/imaging_station/activities/classroom/genetic_crosses/ca_genetic_crosses.php (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

In this activity, students explore genetic inheritance patterns in the fruit fly using Punnett squares to predict the results of genetic crosses and determine the genotypes of the parent flies in a particular cross.

Source: https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/pocahontas (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

In this activity, students use primary sources to answer the question of whether Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life.

Screenshot of the Reading Like a Historian lesson on Pocahontas

The Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features sets of primary documents modified for groups of students with diverse reading skills and abilities. U.S. History consists of the following Units:

• Unit 1: Introduction
• Unit 2: Colonial
• Unit 3: Revolution and Early America
• Unit 4: Expansion/Slavery
• Unit 5: Civil War and Reconstruction
• Unit 6: The Gilded Age
• Unit 7: American Imperialism
• Unit 8: Progressivism
• Unit 9: World War I and the 1920s
• Unit 10: New Deal and World War II
• Unit 11: Cold War
• Unit 12: Cold War Culture/Civil Rights

Source: https://teachwithmovies.org/amistad/ (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

In this activity, students watch the movie, Amistad, which depicts the 1839 revolt by enslaved Africans aboard the ship, Le Amistad. A U.S. Navy vessel seized the ship and the abolitionists filed a court case to free the Africans. The trial and subsequent appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court brought out the evils of slavery to the public and was a major step in turning the North against the South.

There is a post-viewing enrichment worksheet provided which helps to guide the discussion. Discussions can be continued in class or online in a discussion forum.

Source: https://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/art-ren/ (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

This unit will take students through a process in which they will not only experience masterpieces from the Renaissance, but they will also learn to analyze art, draw conclusions, and, at the advanced level, apply lessons from art to their own lives. In doing so, students will gain an understanding of the characteristics that define the Renaissance.

There are two activity paths. One is traditional with teacher-centered activities. The other is student-centered with project-based activities. This activity takes the traditional approach; however, there are detailed lesson plans on the Web site for both activities.

Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil#t-52581 (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

 

Philip Zimbardo is a well-known professor of psychology at Stanford University and has created a series of videos , on different psychological topics. Be sure to check out other videos found on his YouTube channel.