Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning
Students will understand the various forms of bankruptcy, how bankruptcy can occur, and alternatives to bankruptcy. This lesson includes optional modifications for distance learning. Resources for use in Google Classroom are included. Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: November 26th, 2024
Standard 13: Bankruptcy
Through their own research and discussion, students see how career choice, postsecondary education, and salary are all interrelated. Students identify three careers that they might be interested in, identify the postsecondary requirements to attain these careers, and learn what the beginning is for... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: September 11th, 2024
Standard 1: Earning an Income
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
In this lesson, students will explore various types of expository writing. Students will experience the expository forms of description, sequence, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution writing through engaging tasks and collaborative activities and create an expository writing reference sheet... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: September 25th, 2024
Expository Writing
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 use text analysis strategies to summarize two significant events of the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Saratoga and the French Alliance. Then students, working in collaborative groups, will use their knowledge of these events to annotate the lyrics of the song "Guns and Ships" from the... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: September 11th, 2024
Battle of Saratoga and the French Alliance
Students will explore the cultural characteristics that appear in various versions of the story "Little Red Riding Hood." Additionally, students will compare and contrast how the cultural characteristics appear in each story and how American authors have revamped the story to mirror popular culture... Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: September 10th, 2024
Cultural Characteristics
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
This lesson focuses on teaching students how to solve algebraic equations using student-friendly language. Students will begin by trying to solve viral math posts in groups. Next, they will learn the "Do/Undo" method for solving equations. Finally, students will create their own viral math posts and... Read more »
Created by: Mariah Warren
Date Updated: December 13th, 2024
Solving Equations
Students will explore the flow of energy among living organisms by constructing a food web consisting of the organisms that inhabit a salt marsh. This lesson includes optional modifications for distance learning. Resources for use in Google Classroom are included. Read more »
Created by: Morgan Myers
Date Updated: April 6th, 2023
Food Webs
This lesson focuses on eliminating the emotional fear of mathematics by allowing students to evaluate where they are on the math spectrum and identify their goals moving forward. Students explore math concepts taught in past years and analyze their math knowledge to assess their relationship with mathematics.... Read more »
Created by: Brittany VanCleave
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
A Mathematical Growth Mindset
In this lesson, students explore descriptive writing and sensory details then use those concepts to create a short piece of writing. Students consider examples of sensory details, identify sensory details in a short work, then create a descriptive, self-reflective work using writing that appeals to... Read more »
Created by: Keristy Nieto
Date Updated: January 17th, 2025
Creating and Editing Descriptive Writing
This lesson, based on W.W. Jacob's short story "The Monkey's Paw," is designed to help students understand foreshadowing. Students identify passages in the text that foreshadow the end of the story and predict how they think the story will end. After reading the full story, students compare their predictions... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: October 2nd, 2024
Foreshadowing
This lesson uses the book "P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever" by Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter to teach digraphs and nuances of phonetics in the English language. Students will brainstorm to identify other digraph words in their vocabularies, write and draw their own pages for a sequel... Read more »
Created by: Chelsee Wilson
Date Updated: November 26th, 2024
Phonics
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 lesson about the growth and development of organisms, students will gather evidence from research about specific plant phenomena, then use research and in-class investigations to explain the relationship between environmental conditions and plant growth. Activities throughout the lesson will... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Growth and Development of Organisms
In this lesson on the importance of clean water as a natural resource, students will begin by observing a polluted water source within a United States community. Next, students will explore the significance of the Ganges River and the political and religious issues that impact the ongoing struggle to... Read more »
Created by: Kristen Sublett
Date Updated: November 5th, 2024
Ganges River Pollution
In this lesson about perspectives in the Civil War, students will participate in a role-playing activity to become familiar with the motives and points of view of various key figures in the Civil War; analyze each figure in greater depth; participate in a close reading and annotation activity involving... Read more »
Created by: Chelsee Wilson
Date Updated: October 11th, 2024
Perspectives in The Civil War
In this lesson about the Emancipation Proclamation and expanding the goals of the Civil War, students will analyze the Emancipation Proclamation in comparison to an excerpt from President Lincoln's first inaugural address. Students will work in groups using a Card Sort strategy and Paired Text Analysis... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Expanding the Goals of the Civil War
In this lesson about the journalism writing process and the role of a copy editor, students will explore the importance of grammar and style. Students will work in groups to identify the key elements of a news story through a Card Sort. Then, students will work independently to practice editing a paragraph... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: September 26th, 2024
Copy Editing and the Writing Process
In this lesson, students will explore the odds of winning in games of chance and discover the problems associated with gambling. They will participate in a game of dice, read personal stories, and create their own PSAs about the dangers of gambling addiction. This lesson includes optional modifications... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: February 2nd, 2023
Standard 12: Gambling
This short, introductory lesson is a great way to begin the year in any history class from 8th-12th grade. Each student will create their own definition of history then compare it to quotes about history and the term's dictionary definition. Students then will reexamine their own definitions, modify... Read more »
Created by: Kristen Sublett
Date Updated: September 3rd, 2024
Intro to History
Once students have foundational knowledge of rhetorical analysis and persuasion, this lesson allows students to evaluate the use of rhetorical elements in modern product commercials and political campaign ads. This lesson can be used to make connections to rhetorical devices used in American or British... Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: February 21st, 2024
Rhetorical Analysis of Media and Text
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
In this lesson about the women's rights movement, students familiarize themselves with the experiences of women in the 19th century. Next, students interact with a short video summarizing the significance of the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments as the formal kickoff of the women's... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Women's Rights Movement
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: November 27th, 2024
The Reconstruction in Indian Territory
Setting and Conflict
In this lesson, students experiment with changing the settings in well-known fairy tales and examine how conflict might change in a different setting. Students explore the Prologue from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and analyze how the setting affects the conflict. After analyzing and comparing different... Read more »
Created by: Shelby Blackwood
Date Updated: September 13th, 2024
Setting and Conflict
This lesson introduces students to notable historic and present-day Oklahomans, using biographies and informational text. Students will learn about Mickey Mantle before moving on to research another Oklahoma figure, such as Jim Thorpe, Sequoyah, Bill Pickett, Maria Tallchief, Will Rogers, Wiley Post,... Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: May 5th, 2023
Biographies and Research of Notable Oklahomans
This lesson is best taught after students have already explored how speed, velocity, and mass determine momentum in terms of Newton’s first and second laws. Here, students will take those principles and determine Newton’s third law, including what occurs when two objects act upon one another. Students... Read more »
Created by: Brittany Bowens
Date Updated: October 11th, 2024
Physical Science
This lesson builds on the inquiry questions that students developed in the lesson "Hall of Injustice, Part 1." Students will use their inquiry questions based on the Tulsa Race Massacre to write an informative research paper that focuses on how remembering history impacts the present. Students will... Read more »
Created by: Polly Base
Date Updated: November 8th, 2024
Guided Inquiry Research
In this lesson, students will discuss aspects of performance anxiety when speaking in front of an audience. They will identify strategies to manage these symptoms and create a tool to help improve their confidence when speaking to a group. Read more »
Created by: Adam Yeargin
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Speech and Debate
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
In this lesson, students play the role of a nosy detective, digging through a mysterious neighbor's garbage to make observations and inferences in order to solve a case. Using images and "artifacts," students create a character profile to show how their observations and inferences help them come to... Read more »
Created by: Jane Baber
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
Observations and Inferences
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: November 26th, 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
Students will read and view different portrayals of the lotus eaters, inspired by Greek mythology and classical literature. Students will compare and contrast the selections, then put themselves in the position of the sailors and determine whether they would succumb to temptation. Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: September 13th, 2024
Exploring Temptation Through the Lotus Eaters
In this lesson, students explore the idea of superstitions and ghost stories and how they affect people and their emotions and behaviors. Students read “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving and examine how the two main characters react to and are affected by the legend of the headless... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Characters' Differing Perspectives
Students will watch videos to learn about firsthand accounts of ghost encounters and decide whether these stories are believable. Students will then read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and examine if and how Brom's story of the Headless Horseman was credible. Students will conclude the lesson by creating... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: September 16th, 2024
Credibility and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
In this lesson, students learn to compare and contrast geographical features found among different regions in the United States. Students will then apply these skills by comparing their home state's features with those of another state in the nation. Read more »
Created by: Delia Gietzen
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
In this lesson, students will connect the theme of sadness and mindfulness in both a short-story fiction text and a nonfiction text, to explore the socio-emotional development of characters. This lesson includes optional modifications for distance learning. Read more »
Created by: Brandy Hackett
Date Updated: October 24th, 2024
Theme and Characterization
Students will identify the elements of a budget. They will examine how life events and lifestyle affect and change budgeting needs (i.e., personal expenses, emergencies, saving for future goals, family vs. individual). Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: June 28th, 2023
Standard 1: Fundamentals of Budgeting
Sometimes, students have an aversion to writing because they lack a sense of purpose. In this lesson, students learn that letters can be an important way to communicate and can be fun to write. First, students brainstorm what they already know about letters and then explore letters written by a variety... Read more »
Created by: Makala Foley
Date Updated: September 10th, 2024
Writing Letters
In this lesson, students use differences in water clarity among four Oklahoma lakes as a phenomenon. They investigate how local environmental conditions and the survival strategies and growth of phytoplankton (algae) affect water clarity. After designing and conducting experiments that relate water... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: September 11th, 2024
Nutrients, Genetics, and Plant Growth
This lesson asks students to analyze the motivations of Montresor in Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" and engages students by placing them in the role of a forensic psychologist. In this role, having students will answer questions in a clinical evaluation. Students will analyze... Read more »
Created by: Brandy Hackett
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Irony and Characterization in "The Cask of Amontillado"
Students will discuss and evaluate the importance of managing and reconciling a bank account. Using a scenario, students will create a fictitious bank account register. Students also will investigate various local banks' checking account policies and compare them. Finally, students will draw conclusions... Read more »
Created by: Susan McHale
Date Updated: March 15th, 2023
Standard 4: Managing a Bank Account
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: November 26th, 2024
China's Civil War
In this lesson, students will explore the contributions of Oklahoma's jazz musicians through the analysis of music, images, and text. Students will summarize their understanding by creating Six-Word Memoirs for influential jazz musicians including the Blue Devils, Jimmy Rushing, and Charlie Christian.... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: March 15th, 2023
The Contributions of Oklahoma's Jazz Musicians
In this lesson, students will examine the facts associated with evolution, infer what fossilized remains can inform us about an organism, explore how evolution is influenced by an ever-changing environment, and construct a timeline of an organism change resulting from environmental factors or human... Read more »
Created by: Brittany Bowens
Date Updated: August 5th, 2024
Biology
In this lesson, students will learn about and explore characteristics of limited and unlimited governments. After accessing their prior knowledge about governments, students will analyze quotes about governmental power, classify characteristics of governments, and explore historical and contemporary... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: May 31st, 2023
Characteristics of Limited and Unlimited Governments
Do words matter? Does our choice of words affect the attitudes of others? In this lesson, students will explore the denotation and connotation of different words from the play "Romeo and Juliet" and how word choice affects understanding and perception of an author’s writing. This is a multimodality... Read more »
Created by: Shelby Blackwood
Date Updated: November 27th, 2024
Connotation and Denotation in Romeo and Juliet
In this lesson, students will learn about paleontologists who have helped shape our understanding of organisms’ evolutionary history. They will research and evaluate evidence that scientists have used to construct and continually use to reconstruct evolutionary history and environmental pressures that... Read more »
Created by: Brittany Bowens
Date Updated: November 20th, 2024
Students will read and analyze the short story "The Interlopers." They will determine multiple themes throughout the story, compare character motivation, and evaluate the effects of setting on the story. Using a similar format, students will research a popular “feud” in contemporary culture or history... Read more »
Created by: Polly Base
Date Updated: September 10th, 2024
Conflict, Motivation, and Setting
In this lesson, students explore themes of community and identity by analyzing a poem and creating their own poem inspired by the themes. Through these activities, students reflect deeply on their lives and learn to apply a variety of literary devices that allow them to express their creativity and... Read more »
Created by: Shelby Blackwood
Date Updated: September 13th, 2024
Poetry
This lesson has students connect the theme of regret across poems, songs, nonfiction, and short stories to explore how social-emotional factors can affect character development and theme. Students work independently to write their own apology note as well as write an apology from the perspective of... Read more »
Created by: Daniel Schwarz
Date Updated: September 13th, 2024
Character Development and Theme in "The Scarlet Ibis"
In this lesson, students will explore the reasons for imperialism in Africa and the effects of colonization on the African continent. Students will analyze maps, images, and political cartoons. They also will watch a video and read an article to understand how imperialism affected the continent of Africa... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: April 18th, 2023
Imperialism in Africa
This lesson is part of a series, titled "Woman Crush Wednesday," where we look at how female scientists have shaped our views of science. In this biology lesson, students explore the contributions of Nettie Stevens and her discovery of sex chromosomes. Read more »
Created by: Mariah Warren
Date Updated: September 6th, 2024
Inheritance and Variation of Traits
In this introductory lesson to the "Lord of the Flies" unit of study, students learn what a microcosm is, what its significance to this story is, and how to build a microcosm of their own. The author's use of the microcosm to symbolize human nature sets the stage for the unit and focuses on author William... Read more »
Created by: Margaret Salesky
Date Updated: November 14th, 2024
I'm a Survivor
This lesson examines the role of organizations such as the Black Panther Party in advocating for social justice during the Civil Rights Movement. Using texts, images, and the Black Panther Party's Ten Point Program, students learn how the Black Panther Party fought against social injustices. By the... Read more »
Created by: Mariana DeLoera
Date Updated: February 27th, 2023
The Civil Rights Movement and The Black Panther Party
In this lesson, students will learn about the four points of natural selection and how they drive the evolutionary patterns of a species. Students will determine how to answer evolutionary questions through interpreting graphs and making connections among natural selection concepts. Students also will... Read more »
Created by: Brittany Bowens
Date Updated: September 10th, 2024
Natural Selection
What motivated and inspired legendary folk musician Woody Guthrie to create and perform music? Students explore this question throughout the lesson by engaging in a Gallery Walk analysis of Guthrie photos and quotes and then using his lyrics to determine the political and social issues that Guthrie... Read more »
Created by: Sarah Brewer
Date Updated: April 18th, 2023
Contributions of Influential Oklahomans
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: November 26th, 2024
Equality, Fairness, and the Amendments
In this lesson, students will analyze ancient civilizations to understand how the environment impacts both human settlement and the characteristics of a civilization. Students will construct PERSIA graphic organizers of the civilization they live in and compare their civilizations with the ancient civilizations... Read more »
Created by: Laura Halstied
Date Updated: November 14th, 2024
Characteristics of Civilization
In this lesson, students will build on their knowledge of parallel lines by incorporating perpendicular, vertical, and horizontal lines. The goal is for students to understand the characteristics of different types of lines and then apply their knowledge to design a structure as an architect might.... Read more »
Created by: Brittany VanCleave
Date Updated: September 12th, 2024
Parallel, Perpendicular, Vertical, and Horizontal Lines
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 learn about the way trade affects the spread of religion by studying the contributions of Mansa Musa to the culture of West Africa. Students examine the empire that Mansa Musa led by viewing images related to Mansa Musa’s contributions, viewing a video, and reading an article... Read more »
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