Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning
In this session, participants will be given a menu of instructional strategies to "taste test." Each of these strategies is research-based and supports components of authenticity. Once strategies have been chosen, the session will be built around a three-course meal of participants' chosen strategies.... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: November 7th, 2023
In this professional development session, participants discover how various instructional strategies can be used as authentic tools to create and facilitate student-centered lessons with the 5E Instructional Model. Individually, participants will choose a component of the 5E Instructional Model (Engage,... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: December 15th, 2023
This professional development session focuses on increasing teachers' understanding of authentic science instruction and building their capacity to adapt lessons to more effectively implement authentic instructional practices. Participants will first assume the role of students to engage with an authentic... Read more »
Created by: Mariah Warren
Date Updated: May 30th, 2024
This professional development focuses on defining and promoting literacy strategies across all subject areas. Participants will examine how literacy components are necessary for their subject areas, identify the specific literacy strategies appropriate for their content, and discuss ways to implement... Read more »
Created by: Keristy Nieto
Date Updated: April 25th, 2024
In this interactive session, teachers will participate as learners in a 5E LEARN lesson. Through this experience, they will build formal knowledge of 5E concepts and evaluate the lesson’s alignment with the 5E model and its elements of authenticity. After observing modifications made to the 5E LEARN... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: November 19th, 2021
This professional development session, built on theoretical constructs SAMR and Authentic Teaching and Learning, engages participants in an overview of LEGO Mindstorms and a model activity for Mindstorms EV3. Participants can expect to be engaged in a hands-on experience where they will apply research-based... Read more »
Created by: Taylor Thurston
Date Updated: May 21st, 2024
Participants will actively engage in formative assessments and reflect on how formative assessment strategies can be used in their specific content area and with their students. Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: June 4th, 2024
This professional learning session looks at K20's CAN DO resources. CAN DO stands for College Application Necessities for Different Opportunities. At the beginning of this session, participants will review common college vocabulary and application data. They will then explore the different resources... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: January 19th, 2024
Students will spend time exploring the Bill of Rights from the US Constitution. They will determine what each right guarantees, the reason behind the right being included in the Constitution, and examples of how the right has been protected since the amendment was written. They will demonstrate their... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: July 25th, 2023
Bill of Rights
After reading a poem and article about the death of an African American man, students read an article about the death of an African American boy and write an elegy for him in response. While this lesson is currently aligned only to 9th grade standards, it would be appropriate to teach in grades 9th... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: November 14th, 2024
Reading & Writing Poetry
Students will work collaboratively to examine and deconstruct published arguments based on social issues important to them. Students will then evaluate each other's analysis of published arguments and reflect on issues in today's society. While this lesson is currently aligned only to 10th-grade standards,... Read more »
Created by: Keristy Nieto
Date Updated: August 20th, 2024
Part 1: Deconstructing Arguments
This lesson addresses the components of evidence used to support hypotheses, as well as qualitative versus quantitative and primary versus secondary. This would be a good lesson to start the year and requires no prerequisite skills. This lesson includes optional modifications for distance learning.... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: July 11th, 2023
Experimental Components
In this lesson, students will engage in topics about saving and spending and explore investment vocabulary. They will read about different investment types and participate in an online stock market simulation game. Students will use a given scenario to create an investment portfolio. Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: January 24th, 2023
Standard 5: Saving and Investing
Banned Books, Censorship Part 1
Through conversation and close reading, students will begin the study of a controversial work of literature by examining the pros and cons of trigger warnings in our society. Students will choose two published opinion pieces (one from both sides of the free-speech debate) and deconstruct the arguments... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Banned Books, Censorship Part 1
In this lesson, students will explore the meaning and application of the Bill of Rights. Students will summarize each amendment from the Bill of Rights in their own words and discuss the application of each amendment. Students will then discuss whether or not "ballot selfies" should be a protected form... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: October 21st, 2024
Interpreting the Bill of Rights
Students will make observations of various plants and animals to determine how their environments meet their needs. They will then decide which animal would make the best class pet and design a living environment for that animal. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: March 4th, 2021
Ecosystems
Students will identify metaphors and similes in text and understand why these literary devices are important. By the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a paragraph and include sentences using both similes and metaphors. This lesson includes optional modifications for distance learning.... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: September 25th, 2024
Similes and Metaphors
In this lesson, students will learn about a divisive issue—genetically modified organisms, or GMOs—by discussing their opinions, conducting research on the topic with their peers, and, ultimately, taking part in a formal, courtroom-style debate. By conducting their own research and anticipating their... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: June 10th, 2024
Genetics and Ethics
Students will explore the connections between what they know about linear relationships and extend that understanding to arithmetic sequences. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: February 4th, 2024
Functions: Arithmetic Sequences
In this lesson, students will discuss the pros and cons of online shopping and learn how to protect their online identities. Through a variety of scenarios, students will determine when is best to use a credit card or a debit card, as well as options for payments on credit cards. This lesson includes... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: April 17th, 2023
Standard 8: Interest, Credit Cards, and Online Commerce
Students will examine the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Joffe Numeroff to learn about the conditional mood. After deconstructing, reconstructing, and creating their own conditional sentences, students will write collaborative Chain Stories in a narrative style similar to Joffe's book,... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: August 21st, 2024
Conditional Statements
In this lesson, students become familiar with identifying, locating, and analyzing persuasive techniques in writing and multimodal compositions, including their own, by examining the ways in which commercials and infomercials employ these techniques. Using their new knowledge, students will write a... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 19th, 2024
Persuading Your Audience
In this financial literacy lesson, students will explore the need to plan for retirement and discuss the amount of money that will be needed to retire comfortably. Students will investigate traditional ways to save for retirement, including personal savings, Social Security, mutual funds, 401K, IRAs,... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: January 24th, 2023
Standard 6: Planning for Retirement
In this lesson, students will learn to determine which materials are best used in various situations based on their properties. After categorizing a few common materials like cotton balls and cooking oil, students contribute their rationales to an Anchor Chart, which is then expanded to include the... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 30th, 2020
Structure And Properties of Matter
Author's Purpose
Using the tale of The Three Little Pigs and associated nonfiction pieces, students try their hand at text analysis with a special focus on author’s purpose. Through examining a variety of texts, students practice determining author’s purpose. At the conclusion of this lesson, students demonstrate their... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 30th, 2020
Students begin this lesson by brainstorming what it means to be a good citizen. Next, students analyze two documents to understand what it means to be a good citizen of a democracy, including responsibilities like participating in the democratic process, protesting injustice, and understanding how the... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: November 18th, 2022
Responsibilities and Rights of U.S. Citizens
This lesson challenges students to write and solve proportions comparing the characteristics of a larger community with the characteristics of a smaller community. Students begin the lesson by listening to a story about what the world would look like and sound like if it were represented by 100 people.... Read more »
Created by: Amber Stokes
Date Updated: December 6th, 2024
Proportions
In this lesson, students go on a hat hunt, enjoy a story, and play with words. Students are introduced to a variety of hats and headgear and their purposes. A parent guide for doing the lesson at home accompanies this lesson. Read more »
Created by: Patricia Turner
Date Updated: April 22nd, 2021
Reading, Playing with Words, and Gathering Information
In this lesson, students will create a composition using a limited number of musical elements by selecting from a menu of pitches, dynamics, rhythms, and symbols. Students will then reflect on their experience and engage in a discussion concerning the benefits and drawbacks of musical limitations in... Read more »
Created by: James Doyle
Date Updated: June 6th, 2024
Embracing Musical Limitations in Songwriting
Diamonds, Not Just a Girl's Best Friend
Students will watch an ICAP video of Plains tribe member Crystal Pewo Lightfoot who makes star quilts and start quilt based designs. They will learn the history of the quilts and the Plains tribes, examine quilts using modern principles of design, and make a design of their own. Students will share... Read more »
Created by: James Doyle
Date Updated: May 20th, 2024
Diamonds, Not Just a Girl's Best Friend
In this lesson, students investigate what factors affect the force of gravity and use plotted data to determine graphically how each variable is related to the force of gravity. Students review their understanding of gravity and how to linearize a set of data. Students use a gravity simulation to collect... Read more »
Created by: Kevin Warren
Date Updated: February 8th, 2024
Universal Law of Gravity
Escher's Terrific Tessellations: The Art of Tile Transformations
In this follow-up lesson to "Diamonds, Not Just a Girl's Best Friend," students explore an app that creates Escher-like drawings. Students discuss the principles of design in the drawings. Students discuss Escher and then discuss similarities of the Plains tribes art that precede Escher. Students reflect... Read more »
Created by: James Doyle
Date Updated: May 20th, 2024
Escher's Terrific Tessellations: The Art of Tile Transformations
Students will define “stereotype.” After doing so, they will share stereotypes they have regarding Hispanic food, watch a few videos that will explain or dispel those stereotypes, and come to a consensus on whether stereotypes are useful. When they have finished the discussion, they will construct a... Read more »
Created by: James Doyle
Date Updated: September 22nd, 2023
Examining Stereotypes in Hispanic Cuisine
This 9th-grade campus visit focuses on increasing students’ postsecondary education (PSE) awareness and preparation. Students will recognize the factors that influence the accessibility of PSE options, identify solutions for funding PSE, and create actionable steps for increasing their chances of success... Read more »
Created by: Lacy Pennington
Date Updated: February 28th, 2024
Students reflect on their life after high school. In groups they are tasked with finding facts about various Post-Secondary Education options through a virtual scavenger hunt. Acting like a recruiter, students present their key information to the class. They reflect on which school matched best with... Read more »
Created by: Amber Stokes
Date Updated: October 5th, 2022
In this activity, each student will reflect on their most recent ACT score and set a goal for a future ACT. Students will learn how to read their ACT score report and then apply this knowledge to set a goal for both their composite and math scores. Students will choose at least one action to practice... Read more »
Created by: Michell Eike
Date Updated: August 26th, 2024
In this first ACT English prep activity, students will focus on reflecting on their score from taking the test and setting a goal for a future ACT. First, students review and reflect on test-taking tips from other students. Then students review their existing English scores before setting a goal to... Read more »
Created by: Patricia McDaniels-Gomez
Date Updated: September 19th, 2024
In this first ACT science prep activity, students will focus on reflecting on their score from taking the test and setting a goal for a future ACT. First, students review and reflect on test-taking tips from other students. Then students review their existing science scores before setting a goal to... Read more »
Created by: Teresa Lansford
Date Updated: September 10th, 2024
In this English ACT prep activity, students review the content from the past nine prep activities. First, students review skills learned from week nine. Then, students practice questions reflective of the topics still confusing to them using Magoosh. Finally, they end the class revisiting their Goal... Read more »
Created by: Patricia McDaniels-Gomez
Date Updated: January 30th, 2024
Students work in groups to explore careers that use content that is specific to their courses. Students first complete a card sort to test their knowledge of careers and educational requirements before developing and presenting an informational report with a group about a career they are interested... Read more »
Created by: Lydia Baker
Date Updated: December 13th, 2023