Online Lesson Plans
Sponosred by The Department of Teacher
Education & Professional Development at
Central Michigan University
Sponosred by The Department of Teacher
Education & Professional Development at
Central Michigan University
|
Online Lesson Plans
Sponosred by The Department of Teacher Education & Professional Development at Central Michigan University |
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English Lesson Plans -
 indicates a "must visit" site |
| PBS TeacherSource Arts and Literature offers a searchable database of lessons for teachers. You can search by grade level block [Preschool, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12] and by topic [from American Literature to Writing Skills]. |
| The Write Site Designed for Ohio middle school language arts students, The Write Site curriculum has students take the role of reporters and editors to research, write and publish their own newspaper. The site includes unit outlines, handouts, exercises, information about how to write, and more. The participation fee for this OET/SchoolNet Project developed by Greater Dayton Public Television is waived for low income school districts. |
| The Journey North This annual Internet-based adventure engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Students predict the arrival of spring from half a world away. From the Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project. |
| Astro-Venture This multimedia website deals with NASA careers and astrobiology research. The concept is to search for and design a habitable planet. Students enter training, are quizzed on their knowledge, and adjust the features of potentially habitable planets to see what makes a planet habitable and why. The recording of student observations ties this activity to the basics of the scientific process. |
| CyberGuides CyberGuides are back! For those of you that missed them, CyberGuides: Teacher Guides and Student Activities, are back after a brief hiatus. The guides were created by California teachers as supplementary, standards-based, web-delivered units of instruction centered on core works of literature. So, all you literature and literacy teachers, check out the newly revised works. |
| Teaching Tolerance A Web project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Tolerance.org encourages people from all walks of life to "fight hate and promote tolerance." For educators, there are curriculum packages that can be ordered at no cost, as well online lesson ideas. For Kids has online activities and games that promote multiculturalism and tolerance (http://www.splcenter.org/teachingtolerance/tt-index.html). |
| American Writers Created by the cable network C-SPAN to accompany its series of the same name, this website gives information about the featured author, and links to lessons and activities. From the main page (left column), choose classroom. You can either register, or view the lessons as a visitor. In the middle column for resources, you have access to Teachers Resources or Study the Source, which gives questions for critical analysis. Classroom materials only become available after the airing of the C-SPAN program for that author. Real Player is needed to view video clips online. One major drawback is that the pages on this website load more slowly on my Macintosh computer. |
| American Centuries: Views from New England American Centuries features a digital collection of approximately 1,800 objects from Memorial Hall Museum and Library of Deerfield, MA. Teachers will want to access the excellent curricula for Elementary or Middle School students. Activities include transcribing primary sources and training young eyes to observe artifacts of the past. |
| Deep in the Bush, Where People Rarely Ever Go Bring African culture alive in the classroom with folk tales and accompanying activities at this creative site. The stories used in this lesson were collected by teacher Phillip Martin while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. Included in this site is an extensive teacher lesson page, African recipes, links to other African resources, and ideas for your students to create and produce their own plays. |
| English Online This site is a vast professional development resource for teachers of English in New Zealand and worldwide. Educators will find over 150 fully resourced and downloadable teaching units, professional readings, selected links and discussion forums. |
| Understanding the Kosovo Conflict: A lesson in Media Literacy New York educators Katerina Ceman and Mrinalini Rajwar developed this site to look at bias in the media and in government rhetoric. The lessons require critial reading and thinking, and is a good example of how the Internet can support rich learning activities. |
| Project Primary Provided by Ohio Wesleyan University, Project Primary is a collaborative effort between professors in six departments at the university and K-3 teachers in three Ohio counties to produce hands-on activities for the teaching of science. Activities in Botany, Chemistry, Children's Literature, Geology, Physics, and Zoology, are simply explained and designed to engage children's curiosity and to help them learn. The philosophy of the site is explained in the Constructivism section. |
| Julius Caesar Developed by a teacher (Joel Littauer), his instructional unit for 10th grade English classes includes a teacher's guide and online activities. Four student activities that focus on analyzing/discussing a character in a written composition, discussing how characters move the plot of a drama forward, speculating on leadership skills, and searching for alternatives to violence in government leadership changeovers. Part of the Schools of California Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) Project. |
| The National Library of Australia : World Treasures Have students explore the contributions of world cultures in this online exhibit. Lessons in the teacher's section supports the online materials. Each treasure lists the museum that houses it; an interesting supplemental activity would have students uncover how foreign museums ended up with another culture's treasure. |
| EDSITEment The EDSITEment site includes online learning guides and a hotlist of links to top humanities sites. The learning guides include lesson plans to "help students, parents, and teachers use the Internet more effectively as a tool for learning in history and social studies, English and language arts, foreign languages, and art history. " From the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Council of the Great City Schools, MCI and the National Trust for the Humanities. |
| Celebrating Sondheim Looking for ways to movement, multiculturalism and logical/mathematical intelligence in lessons? Look to the teaching resources at this ArtsEdge website for Into the Woods, Jr., Sondheim's Into the Woods, and Dancing in the Park with Friends. |
| Arctic Alive Arctic Alive is a distance-learning environment for learners. Although the actual interaction with researchers has already taken place, teachers can use the background materials on the arctic, earth systems, and climate with students. Lessons, or investigations, often link to activities on other sites. |
| Whale Songs Presented in conjunction with the International Fund for Animal Welfare's research vessel, Song of the Whale, this site shares basic whale information and lesson plans (Action Painting, Journal Writing, and Whale Form and Function). |
| PlainTrain: Plain Language Online Training Have you ever looked at a student's written work and thought "What is this student trying to say?" "Plain language is an approach to communication that begins with the needs of the reader." This website explains how to identify the reader, organize ideas, use appropriate words, create simple sentences, and build effective paragraphs. Testing written work is considered a necessity. I preferred the information in Digest form, which is easy to print and easier to read. |
| CurriculumUnits.com Teachers at Shawsheen Technical High School have been busy creating ways to integrate technology into the curriculum and have taken the time to put together a website to share their ideas with you. The three units created so far fit into the curriculum for high school English, mathematics, and science. The Crucible offers background information and assignments that seek to enlighten readers of the Arthur Miller play. Galileo has students explore the life and times of Galileo, as well as examine his theories in a lab setting. The Excellent Adventure has students virtually travel from Philadelphia to Orlando, estimating costs of travel and learning local literary and historical background in each stop along the way. |
| Purdue University Online Writing Lab As a young English teacher, did you ever look with envy at the file cabinets of your elder colleagues? The wonderful handouts that must exist in there! Well, Purdue University's OWL (Online Writing Lab) has posted a hugely comprehensive set of handouts online that can support writers (and teachers of writing!). From the ubiquitous and boring (Sound-Alike Words: Their/There/They're; It's/ Its, etc.) to the more subtle and specialized (Business Letters: Subordinating Negatives in Good News and Neutral Messages), this Web site has it all. Such a wealth of handouts online will allow you to individualize how you work with your students. |
| William Shakespeare's Hamlet Designed for use with 12th grade English classes, this unit by teacher Joel Littauer provides students with practice in analyzing Shakespeare's drama, Hamlet, as well as discussing major characters and the impact the protagonist has on the minor characters. Includes a teacher's guide and relevant Web links. |
| Romeo and Juliet This supplemental unit was developed as part of the Schools of California Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) Project by teacher Joel Littauer. Complete with teacher's guide and 3 student guides, this unit was designed for use with 9th grade English classes. The exercises encourage students to acquire, organize and transform information into a composition that deals with the relationship between character and plot in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. |
| Daily Grammar Generously posted by veteran English teacher Bill Johanson from Canyon View Junior High, Daily Grammar provides simple and clear lessons on the basics of English grammar. Set up in modules of five examples and a follow-up quiz, the simplicity of the approach and the explanations make this a great site for students to use themselves when they feel they need self-paced remediation or enrichment. |
| Paso Partners Paso Partners, a division of Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, has created a two-volume curriculum and resources guide designed to help K-3 teachers increase achievement of Hispanic children whose first language is not English. Preceding each complete unit in English is a Spanish version of background information for the teacher, as well as a Spanish version of the lesson itself. |
| Kids Who Read Billed as the largest book club in the world. Students nominate and vote for their favorite book during November 2001 (voting will take place in early December). There are areas to get to know more about some favorite authors, and a literacy curriculum area for teachers. |
| English Exercises Online This site, developed by a teacher from Belgium, offers online and worksheet activities for English language learners. Lessons incorporate activities with teaching tips. When activities have Dutch/English next to them in parentheses,that means it is in Dutch,to be translated into English. However, most exercises are in English and help to prepare students for the general work force. |
| Cyber English Syllaweb Here are some online English assignments that use technologies as tools and topics. The site includes a booklist of literature with technology themes. Created by English teacher Ted Nellen. |
| The Reading Village Reading and language arts teachers will find lesson plans, resources, discussion groups, and Cyberguides to frequently studied books. Among the standards included are the California Language Arts Content Standards, and Governor's Elementary Reading Initiative for California. |
| The Beast Within: An Interdisciplinary Unit This interdisciplinary unit involves a study of the darker side of human nature as explored by the literature and history of 20th century man. |
| The K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook NASA's Learning Technologies Project and Cislunar Aerospace have taken a potentially dry subject, The Principals of Aeronautics, and created this outstanding educational web site. The illustrated textbook includes sections on history, mythology, fundamentals and more. Before "opening" a chapter, visitors select a reading level, from beginner to instructor. The text is also available in Spanish. Other highlights of the site include curriculum bridges, lesson plans, activities, and an Internet guide. |
| A Language Arts Website for Middle School Students Designed for middle school teachers, this site consists of a variety of language arts lessons, activities, and ideas you can use to integrate the Web into language arts curriculum. |
| The Nobel Channel Based on Nobel Prize achievements, this site offers resources and historical references with compelling interactive media. Included is an Interactive Learning Studio of lesson plans based on the Nobel Prize themes: Peace, Physics, Chemistry, and Literature. Exercises contain multimedia elements, references, resources, and Teacher Bulletin Boards.(NOTE: For optimum viewing, a minimum Internet access speed of 56KB or greater is recommended.) |
| The Jurassic Park Interdisciplinary Activities Page This interdisciplinary unit includes activities for students to do after viewing Steven Spielberg's film "Jurassic Park." Students are invited to send e-mail, poetry, essays, and artwork. |
| Phonics Link Phonics Link was created to help elementary educators stay informed about the newest research, resources and classroom ideas in phoneme awareness and phonics. Teachers are invited to respond with lesson plans, questions and comments about book club selections. |