Resource Library
Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.
We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
Four Corners
Get all students involved by asking them to show their stance on a statement through their positioning around the room.
Gallery Walk
A gallery walk activity gets students moving as they explore a range of documents, images, or student work displayed around the classroom.
Iceberg Diagrams
Encourage students to recognize the multiple causal factors behind an event from history, the present, or literature, using the visual of an iceberg.
Identity Charts
Use identity charts to help students consider the many factors that shape their own identity and that of groups, nations, and historical and literary figures.
Give One, Get One
Students seek out and share ideas and information with classmates through this cooperative learning strategy.
Graffiti Boards
Help students process their thoughts and emotions on a topic by engaging them in a written conversation with their classmates.
Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn
Educators will structure a discussion that uses journaling and group work to strengthen students’ listening skills.
Life Road Maps
Educators will enrich students’ understanding of a historical or literary figure by having students draw the figure’s life journey.
Lifted Line Poem
Educators will provide a creative way for students to engage with a text by transforming a line they find meaningful into a poem.
Levels of Questions
Educators will help students strengthen their literacy skills by increasing the complexity of the questions they need to answer about a text.
Jigsaw: Developing Community and Disseminating Knowledge
Students will become “experts” on a topic and then share their new knowledge with peers.
Journals in the Classroom
Create a practice of student journaling to help your students critically examine their surroundings and make informed judgments.
Relevant or Not?
Help students identify relevant evidence, and give them an opportunity to practice evidence selection with their peers and as a class.
S-I-T: Surprising, Interesting, Troubling
Use this quick way for students to demonstrate their engagement with a text, image, or video by having them identify what they find surprising, interesting, and troubling.
Save the Last Word for Me
This discussion strategy helps students practice being both active speakers and active listeners in a group conversation.
See, Think, Wonder
Guide students’ analysis of a photograph, artwork, or video with this simple critical-viewing strategy.
Shadow Reading
Use this strategy to help students consider, compare, and analyze various perspectives on a complex topic.
Socratic Seminar
A Socratic Seminar invites students to facilitate a discussion in order to work together toward a shared understanding of a text.
SPAR (Spontaneous Argumentation)
Use this debate-style activity to strengthen students’ ability to use evidence and examples to defend their positions.
Stations: Interacting with Multiple Texts
Small groups of students move from station to station to read, watch, and interpret a variety of resources.
Stick Figure Quotes
Use this creative character-analysis activity to help students develop understanding of and empathy for a literary or historical figure.
Storyboard
Help students track a story’s main ideas and supporting details by having them illustrate important scenes.
Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World
Use text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world comparisons to help students connect ideas in a text to their own lives, current events, and history.
Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share activities facilitate thoughtful group discussions by having students first reflect individually and discuss their ideas with a partner.
Échanges croisés (Réfléchir seul et par groupes de deux)
Animer des discussions de groupe réfléchies en demandant aux élèves de partager d'abord leurs idées par écrit, puis avec un partenaire.
Two-Column Note-Taking
Use this teaching strategy to help students learn how to take notes by identifying "key ideas" in one column and their "responses" in another column.
Two-Minute Interview
Students interview classmates to gather evidence and ideas about a topic as they practice being active listeners.
Word Wall
A word wall supports students’ tracking of new or important vocabulary by displaying these words in a shared space in the classroom.
3-2-1 (UK)
Gauge students’ understanding and interest in a topic by asking them to write down takeaways, questions, and something they enjoyed about a text, film, or lesson.
Alphabet Brainstorm
This brainstorming exercise is a quick way to generate students’ thoughts, measure prior knowledge, or check learning.
Analyzing Images
Lead students in a critical analysis of an image that enhances their observational, interpretive, and critical thinking skills.
Annotating and Paraphrasing Sources
Teach students to carefully read material by having them underline key words, write margin notes, and summarize main ideas.
Anticipation Guides
Get students thinking about the ideas and themes that they’ll encounter in a unit or a text.
Anticipation Guides (UK)
Get students thinking about the ideas and themes that they’ll encounter in a unit or a text.
Navigating Jewish American Identity
Students use the ideas of W.E.B Du Bois and historian David Kennedy to explore their own Jewish identities and consider how they coexist with their identities as Americans.
Barometer: Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues
Structure an active class discussion in which students express their opinions by standing along a continuum.
Barometer: Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues (UK)
Structure an active class discussion in which students express their opinions by standing along a continuum.
Big Paper: Building a Silent Conversation
Students have a written conversation with peers and use silence as a tool to explore a topic in depth.
Grand Papier –Conversation silencieuse
Les élèves ont une conversation écrite avec leurs pairs et utilisent le silence comme outil pour explorer un sujet en profondeur.
Bio-poem: Connecting Identity and Poetry
Students clarify aspects of their identity or the identity of a historical or literary figure by writing poems that focus on deeper elements of personal makeup like experiences, relationships, hopes, and interests.
Character Charts
Provide students with a graphic tool to record and organize information about characters in a text.
Character Maps
Help students engage with a fictional or historical character by creating an annotated illustration.
Character Maps (UK)
Help students engage with a fictional or historical character by creating an annotated illustration.
Chunking
Chunking helps students approach challenging texts by breaking down content into manageable pieces.