Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning
This professional development session focuses on the components of authentic learning. Participants will connect the components of authentic learning to a Rumpelstiltskin lesson. Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: August 6th, 2024
This professional development session focuses on the components of authentic learning. The session is designed to have a minimum of eight participants. Participants will connect the components of authentic learning to a Rumpelstiltskin lesson and explore ways to make their own lessons more authentic... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: August 6th, 2024
In this session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of meaningful Bell Ringers through the modeling of interdisciplinary instructional strategies. Participants are asked to a) address superficial uses of Bell Ringers and more meaningful uses of Bell Ringers, b) actively engage in authentic... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: March 11th, 2024
This professional development will provide participants with literacy strategies to use in their classrooms as they implement document-based questions (DBQs). Read more »
Created by: Daniel Schwarz
Date Updated: May 20th, 2024
This professional development session focuses on instilling an understanding of the framework of authentic learning through multiple tools, such as the 5E Model and LEARN Strategies, while keeping in mind the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Mathematics. The interactive session will give participants... Read more »
Created by: Brittany VanCleave
Date Updated: June 26th, 2024
Participants will actively engage in formative assessments that are in lessons on Learn and reflect on how those 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
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
College and career readiness is a predictor of a student’s success in postsecondary endeavors. Critical thinking and analysis are two powerful skills that support college and career readiness. In this session, participants will be placed in the role of their students and be asked to explore and apply... Read more »
Created by: Patricia McDaniels-Gomez
Date Updated: August 23rd, 2024
How can we place students in the role of being active rather than passive learners? How do we allow students to have choices in their learning while at the same time creating a diverse learning environment? The answer is learning stations. In this professional learning session, participants will discuss... Read more »
Created by: Mary Braggs
Date Updated: May 4th, 2023
This professional development session introduces educators to the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) instructional strategy. Participants explore how to apply CER across different content areas and understand its role in preparing students for college and career readiness exams. Through hands-on activities,... Read more »
Created by: Patricia McDaniels-Gomez
Date Updated: August 14th, 2024
Students will learn how to disrupt cell respiration and what happens when cell respiration is disrupted. This is intended for a Pre-AP or AP Biology class, utilizing the respiration lab recommended by CollegeBoard. If selecting this lesson for other groups of students, read through the differentiations... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
Energetics / Cell Respiration
This lesson will focus on the impacts of the Cold War era in U.S. history. Guiding this lesson is an essential question focused on the use of fear. Hands-on activities, reading of a relevant news article, and argumentative writing will assist students in their exploration of brinkmanship and mutually... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 13th, 2024
Impact of the Cold War
To support students' ability to write persuasive essays, this lesson will scaffold aspects of argumentation through paragraph development. Students will first review the use of evidence and reasoning to support a claim by performing a CER analysis of a comic strip. Next, students will work both collaboratively... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Writing Paragraphs With Evidence and Reasoning
Students will activate prior knowledge and make connections to the post-WWII era in America by looking at images from the time period. In addition, students will read poems that depict contrasting points of view from the decade (the point of view of an American versus a Holocaust survivor resettled... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 30th, 2024
Characterization
Students will practice the skill of inferencing both collaboratively and independently by using images and Chapter 1 of Fredrick Douglass's narrative. Then, students will tie the skill of noticing and understanding unstated details to the big picture of comprehension. While this lesson is currently... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 26th, 2024
Inferences in the Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass Excerpt
This lesson introduces the importance of argument in everyday life. Students will identify arguments in order to build an initial understanding of claims, evidence, and reasoning, and the rhetorical situation: author’s purpose, audience, and context. While this lesson is currently aligned only to 11th-grade... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 23rd, 2024
Introduction to Argument
Metaphors and theme are difficult, yet integral, parts of literature. In this poetry analysis lesson, students will read "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman. To begin the lesson, students will personally connect with the narrator of the poem by correlating the idea of fortitude and chance to... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Poetry Analysis: Theme and Metaphor
Students will use close reading strategies to analyze symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." The class will begin by observing symbols being displayed on the board, transition into recognizing the main symbol in the poem, and finally create a symbolic poem of their own. Through collaborative exercises,... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: May 18th, 2023
Symbolism
Annotating a text allows students to process information about an author’s purpose and point of view. In this lesson, students will learn techniques for analyzing a text to create an argumentative paragraph related to an author’s style. This lesson may be adapted to fit any text with a particular style... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 20th, 2024
Style and Syntax
This lesson is designed to take place after completion of another K20 lesson, "Arguing With Evidence." Students will read an article from the New York Times and integrate knowledge of key terms to construct an argument based on a claim, evidence, and reasoning. Read more »
Created by: Keristy Nieto
Date Updated: June 28th, 2023
Part 2: Constructing Arguments
In this lesson, students explore energy conservation based on how energy from the sun is captured and used to make chemical energy. Students also review how solar energy and the concept of photosynthesis have been used to engineer technology that could be beneficial to humans. This lesson can be used... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 19th, 2024
Photosynthesis
Students will investigate the water cycle and how water flows through ecosystems. Students will use statistical analysis and mathematical reasoning to develop models that can determine the factors that contribute to a tree’s influence on matter and energy cycles within an ecosystem. Students will apply... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: November 17th, 2022
Plant Transpiration and the Water Cycle
Students explore exponential functions by investigating exponential decay. Students should already have an introduction to exponential equations before starting this lesson. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: November 17th, 2023
Exponential Decay
Students will analyze and summarize the philosophical and political principles of ancient and classical societies. Students will work independently and in groups using discussion, text, handouts, and video to identify the impact of Greek and Roman philosophy on the modern world. Read more »
Created by: Cheryl Dezell
Date Updated: May 18th, 2023
Ancient Philosophy
How do you persuade others? How did the characters in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" use ethos, pathos, and logos to sway the minds of the Roman people? This lesson explores the three modes of persuasion and invites students to analyze and notate the speeches in Shakespeare's tragedy for ethos, pathos,... Read more »
Created by: Chelsee Wilson
Date Updated: October 10th, 2024
Julius Caesar
Students will explore the freedoms granted in a democratic constitution, representative of its citizens and expressed throughout the society. Students will identify how a democratic constitution can be threatened by world events. This lesson includes video clips and excerpts from the 2017 University... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: November 11th, 2022
OU Teach-In Series 2017
This lesson engages students in exploring, assessing, and drawing conclusions about the validity of various media sources through exploration of the 2019 "Alienstock" phenomenon. Students will work independently and in groups to compare and analyze different media sources and evaluate the validity and... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: October 3rd, 2024
Analyzing Information, Media, and Validity
This lesson invites students to explore scientific models and simulations to learn about climate and weather phenomena. Students will learn from a meteorologist about how those in the field of climatology use math and science in their careers, as well as the details of this job and career path. By the... Read more »
Created by: Cacey Wells
Date Updated: October 10th, 2024
ICAP Science: Weather
Students explore how different cultures have contributed to the United States of America. We are made of many, but we are one nation. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 29th, 2020
Respect for Cultural Diversity
Students will explore the properties of a cube and make connections to exponents through a short exploration of volume. Students will also construction and defend a mathematical argument. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: November 7th, 2023
Geometry, Volume, & Exponents
Students will examine evidence for glacial theory and other competing theories of the early 1800s. Students will read field journal excerpts from geologists as well as analyze the data collected from early Alpine expeditions. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: June 13th, 2023
Glacial Theory
In this lesson, students will investigate the qualitative characteristics of waves. The next lesson in this three-part series focuses on the quantitative characteristics of waves. Read more »
Created by: Danny Mattox
Date Updated: June 26th, 2023
Qualitative Characteristics of Waves
Behind every historical event there are stories. These stories expand our views through various narratives. Students will examine historical events through several different lenses: photography, factual information, non-fiction, and fiction. Using different lenses will allow students to analyze and... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
History and Literature
In this lesson, students will learn to compare anatomical similarities and differences between organisms and explain the relationship between organisms based on homologous structures. They begin by reading a recent research article on either parrots or penguins. Then, students learn about the ancient... Read more »
Created by: Teresa Randall
Date Updated: January 11th, 2024
Homologous Structures
Students develop questions about the phenomenon of wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park. They explore published data to explain how different organisms interact to change the entire park ecosystem. Using this data, students take the role of a community member to engage in a role-play and... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: February 27th, 2024
Ecosystem Interactions
This extended multi-standard lesson uses the phenomena of the Dust Bowl to understand ecosystem stability and human impacts on the environment. Students examine art, plant-soil interactions, climate data, and agricultural practices to develop concept maps synthesizing the ecosystem-based causes of the... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: October 10th, 2024
Climate, Ecosystems, and Human Impacts
Students will construct a watershed and discover how water flow impacts humans. IMPORTANT NOTE: Parts of the lesson are adjusted to meet each grade level's specific standard, so be sure to do the parts that correlate with your grade level. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 25th, 2020
Earth and Human Activity
In this lesson, students discover what tax dollars are used for and evaluate which tax-funded community services they feel are important. These services include libraries, police and fire departments, roads, water/sanitation services, and schools. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 21st, 2020
Taxes and the Community Services They Provide
This lesson explores DNA fingerprinting and how it relates to paternity (or familial) tests and police investigations. After talking about what DNA fingerprinting is and what it covers, students will read an article to decide whether they agree or disagree with the practice of DNA fingerprinting in... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: August 28th, 2023
DNA Fingerprinting and Profiling
In this lesson, students analyze a variety of primary source documents in an effort to determine why the Southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Using the evidence they compile, students craft Claim, Evidence, Reasoning statements to explain the Southern states'... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: April 18th, 2023
The Civil War
This lesson explores the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Five Tribes. Students will begin this lesson with a Word Splash activity to activate their prior knowledge about the Five Tribes' involvement in the Civil War. Next, students will explore the Reconstruction Treaties of 1866 (treaties... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
The Reconstruction in Indian Territory
The use of informal language and phrases in our writing and speaking is part of our culture. Idioms, slang, understatements, and hyperboles help characterize language by region, time period, and groups of people. Language, though, often benefits from precision, and appropriate word choice helps articulate... Read more »
Created by: Jane Baber
Date Updated: October 28th, 2024
Word Choice
In this lesson, students learn about the story of the near extermination and subsequent re-introduction of the Gray Wolf of Yellowstone National Park. Through this narrative, students learn about apex predators, keystone species, and ecosystems. They learn to form cause and effect statements, analyze... Read more »
Created by: Jane Baber
Date Updated: May 18th, 2023
Human-Environment Interaction
The main cause of the French Revolution is still debated by historians today. In this lesson, students will begin by activating prior knowledge as they complete a Tell Me Everything activity on revolutions. They will sort conditions in a society that can lead to revolution into categories of political,... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: August 19th, 2024
Exploring Causes of the French Revolution
This lesson is based on the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton. Students will summarize the story and analyze each character's personality and internal conflict. Students will also identify the external conflict through the plot and setting. The author does not provide an ending... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: September 11th, 2024
Internal & External Conflict
This lesson encourages students to use their knowledge of forces to design an effective parachute. This is a more culturally aware, process-focused version of the classic "egg drop" concept, using a Hawaiian fable to inspire the engineering design process. Read more »
Created by: Kanani Blue
Date Updated: February 18th, 2021
Investigating Forces within Engineering Design
In this lesson, students will explore and explain why plants lean toward a window and discuss other adaptations of plants. This lesson can take up to six weeks if you choose to study the full plant growth cycle with students. Read more »
Created by: Delia Gietzen
Date Updated: April 2nd, 2021
Plant Adaptations, Growth, and Tropisms
Students will explore the relationship between the fossil record and the digestive system using coprolites (i.e., fossilized poop) as a phenomenon. Students will explain what coprolites can tell us about the diet of the organisms they came from by investigating the chemical and physical processes of... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: October 16th, 2024
Digestion and the Fossil Record
This lesson examines the phenomenon of coral bleaching as a context for learning about photosynthesis. Students investigate photosynthesis' inputs and outputs using an online simulation activity and connect these elements to the relationship between coral and their symbiotic algae. Student will also... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: June 26th, 2023
Photosynthesis and Coral Reef Health
Students will explore the effects of an increase in nitrogen and phosphorus in aquatic ecosystems. They will collect data from an algae growth investigation and complete a reading about human-produced nutrient inputs. Using these sources of evidence, students will develop a causal explanation of the... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: July 7th, 2022
Effects of Disturbance on Ecosystems
In this lesson, students will learn about China’s Civil War from 1945-1949. Participating in a discussion about why people rebel against their governments, they will analyze an excerpt from an article about the life of peasants in China prior to the conflict under the Kuomintang rule and an article... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
China's Civil War
Students will investigate how digital and analog waves carry information by developing a model and relating it to information transmission. This lesson is Part 3 of "Beyond the Slinky®," a three-part lesson series on waves and their properties. Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: June 27th, 2023
Information Transmission Through Waves
Building upon students' understanding of gravity, this lesson helps them to determine that gravity is attractive and is correlated with mass and inversely correlative with distance. Rather than using calculations or formulas, students use data and tables to determine whether the provided information... Read more »
Created by: Alonna Smith
Date Updated: November 9th, 2022
Relative Gravity and Gravitational Force
In this lesson, students will investigate the paintings, history, and artistic talents of a group of Kiowa artists collectively known as the Kiowa Six. Students also will consider whether the systemic policy of assimilation and acculturation helped or hindered the artists' career success. Finally, students... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: February 27th, 2023
The Legacy and Contributions of Six Kiowa Artists
This lesson focuses on grade level standards that require students to identify examples of characterization as well as construct an argument. Students will identify examples of characterization in both film and text, then construct an argument on a character’s personality based on the characterization.... Read more »
Created by: Adam Yeargin
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
Characterization in the Outsiders
This lesson has students explore how the properties of a circle, including area and circumference, relate to one another and to the world around them. The goal is for students to analyze the dimensions of a circle and correlate these to familiar, real-world situations. Read more »
Created by: Brittany VanCleave
Date Updated: May 22nd, 2023
Area and Circumference of a Circle
Equality, Fairness, and the Amendments
Students will read and analyze the short story, "Harrison Bergeron," by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Students will consider how the amendments to the constitution promote equality. They will discuss different claims, which support the amendments, and discuss evidence or lack of evidence to explain... Read more »
Created by: Polly Base
Date Updated: August 29th, 2024
Equality, Fairness, and the Amendments
During this third lesson in the Connecting Social Issues and Health Inequities unit, students will analyze satellite images of two locations, calculate the percentage of squares that are mostly forested and those that are mostly urbanized (using aerial images of two different zip codes with drastically... Read more »
Created by: Alonna Smith
Date Updated: July 13th, 2023
The Role of Green Spaces
Truth is a powerful thing. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes it is hard to deliver. In this multi-genre lesson, students will analyze and compare three texts written on the subject of honesty. Students will determine the claim a text is arguing and the evidence and reasoning that is used to support... Read more »
Created by: Shelby Blackwood
Date Updated: September 11th, 2024
Claim, Evidence, Reasoning
In this lesson, students will explore the protected rights all students have on school grounds based on the precedent set by 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines. Students will analyze how this court case helped to clarify and extend students' First Amendment freedoms, then they will reflect... Read more »
Created by: Mariana DeLoera
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
What are Your Rights as a Student?
In this lesson, students will explore the meaning of the word "parallel" and analyze how and for what purposes parallel structure is used in speeches. At the end of the lesson, students will compose a tweet to summarize the purpose of parallel structure in writing. This lesson includes optional modifications... Read more »
Created by: Brandy Hackett
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Parallel Structure
Students begin this lesson by analyzing a poem written by Wilfred Owen, a British soldier in WWI. Students then make observations and inferences about the technologies developed and used in WWI. Students view a short video about WWI technologies and complete Jigsaw readings in groups about the technologies.... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: November 12th, 2024
Technology in WWI and Its Effects
Is lettuce interesting? The answer depends on whom you ask. Whether the subject of lettuce is personally captivating or not, a good essay on the subject requires a thesis statement to organize the text and to keep the reader oriented and focused. A strong thesis statement not only helps the reader,... Read more »
Created by: Jane Baber
Date Updated: June 20th, 2023
Writing a Thesis Statement
In this lesson, students will analyze the impact of the Treaty of Versailles. Students will extend their learning by analyzing an article about German reparations. Student learning will be assessed by completing a Claim, Evidence, Reasoning response to a question about the treaty's impact on Germany. Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
Evaluating the Treaty of Versailles
In this lesson, students make connections between severe weather events and human behavior. Students will play through AWARE: Advanced Weather Awareness & Response Education, a digital game-based learning (DGBL) module; explore population growth data; and research the economic sectors and natural resources... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: July 3rd, 2024
The Influence of Natural Hazards on Human Activity
Causes and Effects of the Congress of Vienna
This lesson introduces students to the impact of the Congress of Vienna. This lesson is meant to be taught after the French Revolution and Napoleon content has been introduced to students. Using hands-on activities, discussions, and research, students explore the individuals who helped shape the Congress... Read more »
Created by: Kim Press
Date Updated: July 12th, 2022
Causes and Effects of the Congress of Vienna
In this lesson, students will explore the way in which culture is connected to the foods people eat. Students will examine how their own favorite foods are connected to their cultural identities and read Amy Tan's short story "Fish Cheeks." Read more »
Created by: Lisa Loughlin
Date Updated: August 10th, 2023
Exploring Cultural Identity Through Food
In this lesson, students will look at the question of neutrality through the lens of the Holocaust. Students will explore articles from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's website, read an excerpt from Elie Wiesel's book, "Night," and read Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech while synthesizing... Read more »
Created by: Lisa Loughlin
Date Updated: July 10th, 2024
Exploring the Role of Neutrality in the Holocaust
This lesson uses Lawrence Kohlberg's Heinz Dilemma to teach students how to create an effective argument using evidence and logical reasoning. Content is introduced with an anticipation guide and class discussion. Students then read and respond to the Heinz Dilemma and analyze four claims, then create... Read more »
Created by: Lisa Loughlin
Date Updated: May 8th, 2024
Examining Argument Through a New Lens
Analyzing Imagery In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains"
In this lesson, students discuss smart houses and the impact of smart technology in society in small-group and whole-class discussions. Students then read Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" and analyze the imagery throughout before writing a brief literary analysis. Next, students watch an... Read more »
Created by: Lisa Loughlin
Date Updated: September 1st, 2023
Analyzing Imagery In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains"
Fire Ecology as a Management Tool for a Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem
In this lesson, students explore the Tallgrass Prairie ecosystem and fire ecology as a management tool. They evaluate the prairie ecosystem's response to the impact of burning. Read more »
Created by: Teresa Randall
Date Updated: August 29th, 2024
Fire Ecology as a Management Tool for a Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem
Examining Symbolism in Native American Poetry and Art
In this lesson, students examine symbolism in Native regalia, poems, and art and gain a better understanding of what symbolism looks like in a real-world context. Throughout the lesson, students research and discuss Native authors, tribes, and artists. After reading and annotating a poem, students create... Read more »
Created by: Lisa Loughlin
Date Updated: September 14th, 2023
Examining Symbolism in Native American Poetry and Art
In this lesson, students examine how Einstein’s spacetime is warped by mass, and they learn to use this idea to explain how gravity holds the solar system together. Students investigate spacetime being warped by using a Fabric of Spacetime Table and then apply Newton’s Law of Gravitation to derive the... Read more »
Created by: Kevin Warren
Date Updated: February 15th, 2024
Universal Law of Gravity
Examining Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation Through Character Analysis in Macbeth
In this lesson, students explore what intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are and the characters' motivations in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Students create visual and written representations of their assigned character's motivations. Students end the lesson by writing a scholarly essay about the... Read more »
Created by: Lisa Loughlin
Date Updated: September 28th, 2023
Examining Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation Through Character Analysis in Macbeth
Discerning the Reliability and Credibility of Sources
In this lesson, students practice determining the relevance, reliability, and validity of information gathered while researching well-known urban legends. Students analyze the quality, usefulness, and accuracy of the sources they find using a provided framework. As their final product, students construct... Read more »
Created by: Shayna Pond
Date Updated: February 22nd, 2024
Discerning the Reliability and Credibility of Sources
Do we really know what dinosaurs looked like? In this lesson, students learn about different dinosaurs and discuss society’s interpretation of their behavior and appearance based on the little evidence we have. Then, they will sketch different dinosaurs, using small models as a guide. Students will... Read more »
Created by: Jacqueline Harmon
Date Updated: October 31st, 2024
Art
This workshop prepares student for the ACT test by utilizing several K20 Instructional Strategies. The workshop is designed to be an after-school program lasting for seven weeks and including one 2-hour session each week. Sessions will be broken up into reading/ELA and science/math. This resource provides... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: July 15th, 2022
In this reading ACT prep activity, students first infer what they know about an ACT-style reading passage before reading it. Students then respond to three different claims about the passage by creating evidence and reasoning to each claim. Students practice responding to five ACT-style questions and... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: January 12th, 2024
In this English ACT prep activity, students review the vocabulary and roles of different paragraphs (i.e. introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs), topic sentences, and thesis statements. Students then select the most appropriate transition words, identify roles of sentences, and apply this knowledge... Read more »
Created by: Patricia McDaniels-Gomez
Date Updated: September 19th, 2024