Learning+Activities

Julie Fowler Review Game - This review game is called "Whip-Around." The teacher makes flash cards with vocabulary words on the one side and the definition of another vocabulary word on the other. The teacher starts by reading a definition. The student who has the index card with the word of the definition that was just read says the word. Then, they read the definition on the back of their card, and the student who has the vocabulary word that corresponds says the correct word. This goes on and on until at the very end the definition read should bounce the activity back to the teacher who would read the word on the front of their card.

Adrienne Saltz Starting class with media: a photo slide show or song By starting class with something that can get their minds primed for the subject matter, you can get more mileage out of the class time. I particularly like a photo slide show because they can form their own opinions while looking at the pictures and it can lead to a valuable class discussion. Especially if the images of something/someone they are unfamiliar with, I think this has the potential to really bring students in and get them ready for the class.

Adrienne Saltz Bell ringer activity- list of 3 things they learned from previous class  I saw a teacher I observed use this and I really liked it. What she did was ask each student as they came in to write 3 things they learned from the last class on a piece of paper. They would then all stand up and go around the room and share what they have. They would cross items off their list if another student said it, and when all three of items had been mentioned, the student would sit down. I really liked this because it was an active activity and because it brought the previous days information back into the front of students minds and got them ready for the day in an efficient format. The students also seemed to really enjoy having original items that no one else had on their lists, and felt a sense of accomplishment.

Economics
Jessica Siegrist Economics Activity: Divide students into groups of four. Each group will represent a country and students will be given the opportunity to come up with a name for their nation. Once in their groups, I will hand out a paper that lists the country’s available resources as well as the ones they desperately lack. It will include natural, technological and human resources. Based on the information, the groups must decide where scarcity exists and what comparative advantage their country has. They will consider what the most efficient product or process is that their country will make. While they are discussing, I will walk around the groups and prompt students with questions as to what is best for their country. After about 10-12 minutes, one member of the group will act as a delegate and stand in the front of the room. Each delegate will then explain their country’s name, scarcities and comparative advantage. As they are presenting this information, I will outline the country and the details of its production on the board as a visual for students to refer to. Students will not know this ahead of time, but each country will offer a resource that another country lacks. With the given information, the delegates will return to the group and they must decide what other country they want to trade with. To introduce the idea of marginal analysis, each group will only be able to choose one country to negotiate trade. They must consider what resource they need the most and which they are willing to forgo. Students will have to weigh the costs against the benefits. The group will then be asked to hand in a paragraph outlining the description of their country, what decisions were made about trade and reasons for their choices.  Doug Selfridge My learning activity is one that would most likely be used in an economic class teaching scarcity of resources. The student’s would be divided up into “families” of five and would be given a “budget” of the amount of money they could spend. The teacher would set up a “store” and the students would be allowed to go and shop for things such as food, medicine, and less important things such as household goods. The catch on the assignment though is that the teacher would not have set prices for things and only a limited amount of them. Therefore, the students would have to “haggle” for objects and those with the bigger budgets would be able to out due the students with less money to spend. This activity would show how scarcity and competition can affect our decision making and our lives.

Maria Guarni CANDY BAR ACTIVITY: -Inform kids you spend 6 for 3 candy bars. -Try to sell it for 10 -Try to sell it for 9 -Ask how much willing to pay -Say no because not making money -Explain how relates to a recession -I am going to keep candy bars to feed myself because I cannot make a profit-there is no point in selling and loosing money. Everyone is having trouble selling. Because no one wants to sell, no goods to buy. No goods to buy means that GDP will slow, propelling the recession. The only way recession will end is to have something BIG happen. In this case, the plague. I chose my case studies activities because I've had several people ask me for the candy bar activity. The candy bar activity is meant to represent a recession in a very basic way. In using this activity, it is important to keep in mind that many other factors make up a recession, and in many cases, production does not completely stop.  Maria Guarni Directions: - break yourselves into groups of 4, if you are not in a group of 4 because of numbers please just make sure that everyone completes the same amount of tasks Block #1: everyone draws their elements Block #2: announce that someone has the plague (“if you look at the front of your packet, those who have a check mark in the upper right hand corner have now contracted the plague”), they sit out, everyone left draws– this way someone has to pick up the slack Block #3: present the option : someone can sit out now and “take care” of the plague victim or you can continue to work Block #4: Draw again. This can be modified and timed to simulate day light. The drawing activity was inspired by the assembly line activity mentioned in class a while ago. It is supposed to simulate working in the fields when the plague hits, forcing students to weigh opportunity costs.

Matthew Lewis Activity: When observing this semester, I came across a great unit activity/project that my co-op created for his Personal Finance course. This class offers great flexibility in planning and implementation in comparison to his other History classes which require him to follow strict standards, and "teach to the test (DSTP)." For this class, Mr. Vazzana created a unit project that the students are going to work on all semester. The other day, Mr. Vazzana brought them to the computer lab and the students went on a government website that allowed them to view thousands of possible jobs in all sectors of the economy. Their goal was to choose one of those jobs, and document annual salaries along with other basic information. The purpose of this project is for the students to practice proper and structured budgeting. So, throughout the semester, students will be doing daily documentation based on how much money they spent on groceries, gas, and other utilities, as well as considering bills and taxes they have to pay. The main objective and end goal for the students is to maintain a positive gross of income in order to support themselves and/or their family. Although only in the initial stages, this project will help students learn the responsibilities as well as the tediousness required to keep finances in check.

Michelle Emond Assembly lines/marginal benefit/specialization Break the class in half, and assign each member of each team a number (this way more students are able to participate). The students will be making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in an <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">assembly line. Each time, the assembly line will have 60 seconds to make as many PB&J's as possible. Tell the class that you are looking for the perfect number of assembly people. While one person is not efficient, twenty people may also be inefficient. The class is looking for the most number of PB&J's made in 60 seconds while using the assembly line. (For example, having one person plop peanut butter on the bread and another spread it may be too much specialization). Start with the person assigned #1, seeing how many they can make in 60 seconds. Then add #2, #3, and so on and so forth. Stop when the number of PB&J's begins to decline. This will set you up for a lesson on how assembly lines work, how some specialization but not too much is beneficial, and serves as a review for marginal benefit. For example, the marginal benefit of 1 more worker=x sandwiches. When my high school class did it, at lunch time two of the assemblers had a PB*J eating contest. It really made the activity memorable.

<span style="color: rgb(90, 0, 255)">Randy von Steuben Although I am teaching AP U.S. History and AP U.S. Government, I did like the activity by Maria and Julie in the Economics portion of the Plague case study group. First, I thought that the activity truly brought to life how an assembly line works, which is a vital concept for any Economics student to grasp, but especially a high school student. Second, the activity demonstrated the effects that the Plague could have on an assembly line in terms of population decrease and a decrease in the labor supplied. The activity truly demonstrated the major concepts of Economics, such as the scarcity of resources (labor, people, time, etc.), production, supply and demand, etc. Also, the activity placed major emphasis on the allocation of resources by having students decide whether or not they would rather allocate people to maintain an efficient economy or save the sick students. Most importantly, during their presentation, Maria and Julie were able to incorporate the key terms and concepts (most prominently, the supply and demand curve) in their activity. Overall, Maria and Julie developed a sound presentation.

Mark Erdosy Activity: Economics This requires you to be familiar with one of my favorite board games, <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">The Settlers of Catan. It is a fun and extremely addicting game that has some important economic elements that can be taught to students. In the game, players are in charge of resources that are used to develop land and expand their empire. A major component of the game is trading. Players actively trade and barter for resources in order to enhance their chances of expanding. In order to succussfully trade, one must understand the market of the resource they are attempting to trade for. The ideas of trading, markets, opportunity cost, and marginal analysis are found throughout the game. This could be an excellent for the end of unit on economics. Teachers can have the students play in groups and ask them questions while they play to test their apprehension. The game is available online for free so you would not have to go out and purchase several versions of the game.

<span style="color: rgb(155, 22, 187)">Shane Jensen - To teach about the problem of scarcity I would have students keep a log about how they spent their time over the course of the week. They obviously have to make choices about how they're going to use their time, if they're going to do one thing then they're going to have to sacrifice time that could have been spent doing something else. Speaks right to the heart of scarcity.

Shane Jensen - This lesson is something that my cooperating teacher and I have talked about actually using next semester. Basically what we would do is each class that we were teaching and each Econ class that other teachers were teaching would become a country with a certain type of economy and an ability to interact with other classes/countries. As the semester progressed the interactions with other classes/countries would become more diverse as the curriculum progressed.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">Adam Holstein One way to teach economics and the impact of economic developments on a societies social framework, could be accomplished through discussing the role new inventions played in changing the way people view a woman's singular role as housewife. The students could analyze primary source materials which described a day in the life of an average housewife before the advancements which came during industrialization. Then they could map out how much time each job would likely take to accomplish without modern technology. The student's would find that cooking, cleaning, making clothing, and other traditional jobs were much more time consuming than they are today. The students would then create a <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">graphic organizer showing the modern advancements and how they reduced the time needed in order to accomplish a task. After this exercise the students would answer questions concerning, the importance of these factors in helping women gain equality, in comparison to other efforts made by women's movements.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(235, 15, 15)"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(219, 10, 10)">Geography
Ben Reiss Geography Activity: Students will take a few minutes to look at the labels on their clothing and write down where their clothes were manufactured. Using an overhead projector and transparency with a world map on it, the class can map out all the locations around the world that students are connected to via their purchases. This is a great way to show the relevancy of geography by demonstrating that because of globalization, students wear and use geography everyday.

Grace Patterson Africa Map Activity: I will bring up the [|AidsinAfrica.net] map on a projector in front of the class. Students will be asked "What do you notice about this map? What countries are particularly hard hit? Which ones are not? Why do you think some countries have higher HIV rates than others?" They will raise their hands and answer, generating group discussion. The I will set the map to show how <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">HIV spread across Africa. Discussion questions will include "Where did <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">AIDS start? Why did it develop more quickly in some places than in others?" Here I will point out that areas with wealthy populations may also have more mobile populations, spreading the disease quickly. Next I will ask, "How would you predict that the fertility rate in a country would correlate to the HIV rate?" I expect students will say that high fertility should equal high HIV rates. A map on the site shows that they are not correlated. Next I will ask how literacy affects AIDS. A map shows there is no correlation. Finally I will ask students how wealth affects HIV rates. I expect students to connect wealth to low HIV rates. A map shows there is no correlation. Some wealthy countries have high HIV rates. The point of this activity is to use geographical analysis to shake up students assumptions about AIDS and HIV. I will not have answers for them about why things like high fertility do not correlate to high levels of HIV, but I want them to brainstorm about all of these questions. When we are finished I will ask, "So what do you think might correlate to high levels of HIV/ AIDS? How else might we predict which regions will be hardest hit?" Finally, to wrap up the class, I will ask students to brainstorm ways in which geographical analysis might be used to help solve the AIDS/HIV epidemic. Some ideas might include targeting education and treatment at regions with high infection rates, or comparing regions with high HIV rates to figure out what they have in common.

Alicia Montalbano Writing Assignment for World Cultures China For homework students will write a reaction paper (about 2 pages in length). This activity meets the NCSS standard by requiring students to analyze a government policy (interaction of humans) which emerged do to China’s overcrowding population and resulting environment problems in the East. The paper will be a reaction to the following prompt: Although China is a large country with an abundance of open land, such land does not have desirable living conditions. As a result China’s large population is overcrowding the eastern coast and causing environmental problems. The government has responded to its growing population by enacting a one-child-per-family policy. Those families that adhere to the policy receive rewards (like high wages) while those who do not are penalized. What is your opinion of this policy? How would you feel if you had to adhere to it? Could anything be done to make other areas of China more desirable to live in?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(122, 237, 12)">Chris Clarke <span style="color: rgb(93, 10, 235)"> For this activity I would give students a map of the United States from a certain year in the late 1800’s. The map would only show physical characteristics such as lakes and mountains and major U.S. cities at the time. Each student would also be given a piece of string about 6 inches long or so, with black marks spaced out by each inch, as kind of an approximate flexible ruler. What I would next do is tell students that they have a certain number of inches of railway that they can lay down. I would then ask them to plot their ideal railway lines on the map using the following criteria. The rails have to connect as many major U.S. cities as possible, students must take into account the difficulty of going through various physical features of the land, and students must use their sting rulers to stay within the allotted amount of track that they have available to them. Once students have plotted the railway lines on their worksheets where they think they should be, I will call on several students to show their maps to the class and defend why they chose to put their rail lines where they did. The students and I would ask them questions about their maps and students would explain their reasoning. After we have gone through this with several students I would show them the same map from their worksheet, but with all of the existing railways from that year filled in. That way students would be able to see how close they were. We would then examine the actual lines and analyze their positions and the importance of where they were placed. This would teach students geographic principles such as accessibility. It would also require students to read and interpret maps, as well as to generate and interpret information such as cities and physical features.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(235, 15, 15)"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(219, 10, 10)">History
Mark Erdosy Activity: Another assessment activity is a simple writing assignment that has the student take the main point/idea of the lesson/unit and compare and contrast it to another event or personal experience. An example of an assignment I wrote of had the students compare and contrast the case of Sacco and Vanzetti with that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They are very similar cases that share similar outcomes. However they are from different time periods and important distinctions can be made. This makes for an interesting assignment for the students that will have them do some research of their own.

Melissa Zakalik Scategories Meets History: This game was partially demonstrated during our Blue Jeans presentation. It is a great review activity at the end of a unit. There are two options. The first option is to create a large die and write a topic pertaining to the unit on each side. The second is to write the topics on the board with a corresponding die number. Divide the class into groups and then have one person roll the die. Groups then get 30 seconds to write down a fact about that topic. If the answer is correct and unique that group gets a point. However, if there are duplicate answers those groups do not get a point. The idea is to have the students to think about the topic and not write the first thing they think of. Students are forced to recall more details and specifics for the topic in order to get points. The incentive is to win. The winner can be determined by the first group to reach a certain number of points or the winner can be determined by whichever group has the most points at the end of the period.

<span style="color: rgb(151, 61, 184)">Melissa Zakalik Broadcaster: Students will be divided into small groups (2-4). They will get a video clip with no sound. They will watch the video clip and with their group come up with a script giving a play-by-play of the clip, like they were a sportscaster for a game or a newscaster for a breaking story. Students will commentate in the traditional sport format of pre, during, and post game events. In this case it will be the causes of the event, the event, and the results. Teachers can supply guidelines or a rubric to go along with the clip to help the play-by-play stay focused on the most important aspects of the clip. Questions/rubric topics may include where the event taking place, who is involved, significance, and results of the event from the video.

Ben Reiss History Activity: The game of “telephone” can be used to teach students the importance of primary sources. The game should be played using a brief synopsis of an historical event able to be conveyed in three to four sentences, or at least long enough that information will likely be changed or lost during its transmission throughout the classroom. Using the original story written down, the teacher and class can then compare the original message to the “telephoned” message. Hopefully there will be enough deviation from the original written account that the teacher can easily show the importance of the primary source as a reliable reference for factual information. The change in information can be also be related to public memory and interpretation, as well as the role these factors play within secondary sources.

Grace Patterson Students will meet in groups before class to research the positions their countries have on the <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">Kyoto Protocol. Their research may come from <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">secondary sources, but it should also come from primary documents related to the protocol, from government papers to newspaper articles. The students will write position papers together. The United States will not want to ratify the protocol because it does not put any burden on developing nations. The European Union will go along, and suggest ways in which they will lower their greenhouse gases. India will ratify the proposal and demand that the developing nations take responsibility for environmental problems. China will support the protocol, and will insist that they should also have a chance to industrialize with coal, and that their carbon output per person is relatively low. Russia will agree to the protocol if they can be let into the WTO. The group of environmentalist will write about the rational behind the treaty as it stands, and the impact it will have, and the economists will present the mixed economic results the treaty will have. Writing these position papers will hone students' research skills, and their ability to form arguments. In their papers, they will be asked to include a brief description of their <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">type of government, and how the history and culture of their country has an impact on their decision on the protocol

Juile Eller One of my favorite activities for a history class is having the students write diary entries as someone from the time period you are studying. They can be used with any subject and are infinitely adaptable. Diaries can allow the student to be creative and use their strengths, whatever they might be. Depending on how you frame the assignment they can be long or short, as well as in and outside of class. Having the students complete a diary from a historical perspective will allow you to assess the students understanding of historical events or principle and will also immerse the students in the content as well. By having students place themselves in the shoes of a historical figure can open many doors for them to understand the material on a deeper and more personal level. <span style="color: rgb(37, 0, 255)"> Another practice I think would work very well is a game that I was introduced to by a family friend who is a retired teacher. The game is “I Am…Who Has?” and can be used as an ending activity for a lesson, as a review game before a quiz or test or just for fun with older material if you have a few minutes to fill at the end of class. Each student will be given a card that has two statements one beginning “I am” and the other “Who has”. Starting with one of the “Who has” questions the students will go around the room answering the them with the appropriate “I am” statements. For example the first student would give the question “Who has the author of The Prince?” and the student with “I am Niccolo Machiavelli” would read it off their card and then read the “who has” question on their card and it would bounce around the room as the students answered the questions. Although it may be a little time consuming to make up it is a really good tool to foster student led reviews and discussions. By watching you can pick out if there are certain events or principles you need to go over again. Also, if your students like this game you could make it more difficult by placing a time constraint on it.

Jessica Siegrist Introduction Activity: Vietnam War After watching video clips of <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">The Green Berets and <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">Platoon students will be asked to draw two identical charts with columns labeled “The <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">American soldier ” and “The VC soldier.” One chart will be for the movie The Green Berets and the other for Platoon. In the columns they will write down any characteristics or thoughts that come to mind when they think of the portrayal of the American/VC soldier in each movie. This activity makes students analyze the different portrayals of soldiers during the Vietnam War. After being able to compare the videos, it will help them recognize that there are contrasting interpretations and begin the process of questioning why this happened. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif"> Debbie Strnad Teachers should use a variety of resources when they present material to their class. Photographs and images should not be overlooked as important tools in the classroom. Photographs can especially be used in historical investigations because it can often give a face or picture to the past that students are having a hard time to understand. After students identify, examine and evaluate the photograph, they can continue the activity in a variety of ways. As we did in the blue jeans case study, students can recreate the photographic scene and role-play the characters. Other ideas include: create a photographic galley exhibit with the students as the curators; write a historical narrative about the people in the photograph; use the image as a quick-write/warm-up; write an editorial about the photograph if it were in a newspaper of the time; and find an event similar to today’s society in which a comparison can be made between images.

Doug Selfridge My first learning activity would most likely be used in a history class to give students practice in reading and interpreting primary sources. For this learning activity, you would need a fairly controversial and “unproven” topic, such as the story from /After the Fact /concerning Silas Deane or the JFK assassination. The teacher would give out 5 handouts of different accounts of the event. One would be a textbook type description, one would be a wikipedia type description, one would be a credible <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">secondary source account, and the last would two secondary source accounts. All the information would be given on the authors and the publications, but it would be up to the students to decide what they believed to happen based on the given information. To conclude the activity, the class would have a discussion based on why they chose to trust certain sources and why they decided to discredit the others.

<span style="color: rgb(193, 13, 242)">Moira Lertora Examining the changing role of women in society during WWII : I will begin the class by showing students the short newsreel Wanted: Women War Workers. This video is approximately 8 minutes long and details the government’s efforts to mobilize women. It begins by discussing the need for a work force and previously untapped labor resources. It even includes brief interviews with workers and clips that show the procedures women went through as they sought war work. I will go over the analysis sheet and directions with students. Then I will give them about 2 minutes to fill out step one of the sheet before beginning the video. I will also remind them to fill out step 2 as they watch the video. Once the video is over I will give students about 5 minutes to complete the remainder of the analysis sheet, they may do so individually or in groups. As a class, we will then discuss their reactions to the film, and go over this analysis sheets. I will also pose other questions to the students such as: What problems were identified in the beginning of the film? How did the government address those problems? What challenges did this pose? What did you find interesting about this film? What questions did it leave you with? As we wrap up the discussion we will prepare to move on to portion 2. For this part of the activity students will be broken up into groups. Each will receive the same set of primary sources that includes images of WWII posters and radio scripts produced by the Office of War Information (OWI) to encourage women to work in industry. Each group will receive 2 sources, a posters and a radio scripts. For the posters they will complete poster analysis sheets, while for the radio scripts students will complete the document analysis sheets. These analysis sheets will help them analyze the key elements of the sources such as: who is the poster/radio ad aimed at? What is the government’s purpose in creating this? What message are they trying to relay? What does this source tell you about life in the United States at this time? Students will be asked to pay particular attention in their sources to reasons used for motivating women to enter the work force, the challenges they faced, and how their roles in society changed. Once students have completed their analysis sheets we will review their conclusions as a class. Moira Lertora Examining social gender ideals in the U.S. history Day 1: Each group will receive a source packet for the particular period they have been assigned such as women in the 1820 up to the civil war, women in the late 1800s, men in the late 1800s, the “New Woman” at the turn of the century, <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">Rosie the Riveter and the 1940s, women and the 1950s, men and the 1950s, and so on. Each source packet will contain images of men or women of the time. For example those assigned the 1940s might have photographs of women working in factories producing war materials or Rosie the Riveter posters, while those who are responsible for the 1950s might have an photographic still from I love Lucy or an advertisement image of the time. In their groups, with the assistance of the photograph analysis worksheet ( http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo_analysis_works heet.pdf ) they will examine and analyze the various images. They will then create a short bio or brief summary of key ideals and influences of this particular period on social gender ideals. Once this is complete they may begin brainstorming on how they will create their own advertisement, using the 6 questions below as a guide. Day 2: Students will have the class period to work in their groups on their project – an advertisement selling the ideal social gender image of their time period. They will have to create a visual image and slogan that summarizes the key attributes and influences of the period. This will need to be in the form of a poster in which they can for example draw or use collage. They will each be given a large piece of paper on which to complete their advertisement along with markers, scissors, glue sticks, etc. They will have this class period to complete their work and prepare for their presentation during tomorrow class period. As they create their work they will need to refer to the project guide handout that contains key questions to consider as they create their advertisement (see questions 1 – 6 below). Six Questions 1. Based on the images in your source packet, what are the main physical features of the male or female gender ideal of your time period? 2. How is their particular image related to historical and cultural events of the time? 3. How do these images reflect roles assigned to the men and women within society? 4. In what way could you design an advertisement that exemplifies this particular gender ideal to others? 5. What slogan could you create for your advertisement that would summarize the main message of this gender image? 6. How does the physical appearance of women in this image differ from the period before? (If you are in the first group, how does the image differ from the ideals of today?)

<span style="color: rgb(44, 246, 246)">Alicia Montalbano Lesson for a US History class For a class size of 24, students would get into six groups of four. Four of the groups will pick significant <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">presidential elections in American History and each member will act as a different candidate that ran in the election. Each student will research the candidate they will be acting out and learn about his political views and opinions. An example would be the <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">election of 1824 where the candidates were <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams , Henry Clay and William Harris Crawford. The group will then go to the front of the class. The class will be acting as the American voting citizens or in the TV show’s case, “the dater”. Each candidate will explain his or her views. The voters can then ask questions to help them decide which candidates should be “nexted” and which one has what it takes to be the US president. Two of the six groups will get to make up pretend candidates for the next election. They will have to create candidates with specific beliefs and policies towards current issues. The class, again representing the voting population, will then decide which one would be the best US president while giving the boot to the other candidates.

Amanda Hulme Topic: Salem Witch Trials Activity: Mock Trial With the proper preparation and classroom management, this could be an interactive way to engage students in the topic at hand, while they still learning about the roles religion and overall Puritan culture played into the witch trials. Ideally, the activity would be done at the end of a unit about the Salem Witch trials, in which students would have already learned about the variety of different factors that contributed to the overall situation. Before beginning the activity, I would need to make sure that students had a solid foundation and understanding of what contributed to the witch-hunt hysteria. To start, I would break the class into half and tell them that we would be holding two “witch trials” to simulate what happened in Salem. Given that the class is probably around 30 students, this seems like the best way to allow for each of them to participate and could provide different perspectives on the events. After the class was divided, one student from each half would be broken in their “roles” for the trial. They would include: “Accuser” (or afflicted), “Accused”, Defense attorney, Prosecuting attorney, Judge, Witness for the defense, Witness for the prosecution, Jury (this would be comprised of the remaining students, while the other roles would only have one person; “jurors” would be given degrees of Puritanism as well, i.e. one could be “moderately Puritan”, while another would be “exceptionally Puritan”). After the group was divided, I would hand out both the scenario which outlined the specifics of the case, as well as the characteristics of the person the student was to “play”. Each group member would be expected to assume the role of their respective character, as per the information that they had learned about their roles in Salem society previously, and a “biography” slip of paper I would construct for them. Students would be expected to embody the people who they were assigned roles as, in all religious and ideological ways. One day of planning would include research about the role they were to play, the beliefs their character may have held, as well as any additional information that would allow them to adequately portray the person. I would also mandate that during this time, students have a brief 2-3 minute individual meeting to discuss which direction they are headed in with the activity. This will allow me to make sure that they stay on track, as well as clarify any misconceptions or guide them towards additional information they may have left out. An outline format of what their “character” would say would allow me to assess if they understood this particular position in larger Salem society, and they would hand this in at the end of the activity. Furthermore, this could be beneficial for students within the class who may be lacking in public speaking skills, or just simply not as outgoing as their peers. The trials would be carried out under my direction, but ultimately this would be student-led and decided; the jury would be responsible for this. The other half of the class who is not “performing” that day would be spectators, and therefore, would have no say in the outcome of the trial. Also, I would be sure to make the scenarios different enough so that the two groups could not simply “copy” off of each other. After the trials were finished, I would also provide the groups with some type of graphic organizer that would allow them to better address standards of the lesson.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">Amanda Hulme Topic: Imperialism Activity: Primary Source Evaluation of the Belgian Congo During the unit of imperialism, I would have students look at primary source cartoons and advertisements stemming from the Belgian Congo. This could serve as a case study for the greater heading of imperialism, and would provide visuals that demonstrate the mentality of the time. The first source would be geared towards the over-arching idea of the “white man’s burden”, while the other is distinctively anti-Belgian and sympathetic towards the Congolese. After a lesson on imperialism, and introducing Leopold II’s Congo as an instance of it (to extremes), I would have students break up into pairs to analyze these sources. This would be especially beneficial to visual learners, as they are primary sources, but easily taken in given they are drawings. To ensure that students saw the connection to imperialism, I would create a graphic organizer that would ask three questions pertaining to the pictures. They would be: 1. What do you see in this picture? 2. Who do you think produced this piece? For what audience? 3. What bias about the Belgian’s involvement in the Congo is portrayed? After groups had answered these questions, we would then reconvene as a group to fill out the graphic organizer as a group and hold a discussion addressing the above questions.

Julie Fowler Political Cartoons - Political cartoons are a great way to enhance a lecture. They are a great way to demonstrate the popular opinions and sentiments of an event. Also, they help students place events in context within a given time period. Furthermore, political cartoons are really good to use to emphasize important points.<span style="color: rgb(19, 98, 241)">

Adam Holstein Here is an interesting learning activity I came up with: The students will then begin a problem based learning activity which will be completed over the course of about a week. The activity will center on the process of passing legislation. The students will be given a hand out which explains the symbolic event of the printing of //The// //Jungle// as though it just occurred//.// Next they will be charged with solving the issue through legislation of some kind. They will then be broken up into three groups, the Presidential group, the House of Representatives group, and a Senate group. One of the problems the students will have to overcome is that the House of Representatives group will be arguing from a libertarian perspective, the Senate will be arguing from a socialist perspective, and the President group will be arguing from an independent moderate group. The hand out will explain that the students need to spend the current and next class in their groups developing legislation they feel is true to their groups ideology. After the legislation has been created the students will share their legislation with the other groups through a short presentation. They will then vote on all of the three bills. If all of the bills are defeated, which they should be, the presidential group will be split into halves, one half going to the house group the other going to the senate group. The students will go through the process one more time, returning to their original groups to vote on the compromise legislation. The goal is not for the students to pass legislation but for them to understand how our system of government works, and also to understand different <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">political ideologies.

Randy von Steuben Analyzing political cartoons is another very important skill. I recall during my AP U.S. History class in high school that we were constantly instructed to analyze political cartoons, because political cartoons are an excellent primary source document. Sure enough, the AP U.S. History exam had two political cartoons as primary source documents that students were forced to interpret. Also, from a Political Science standpoint, political cartoons are great way for the public to express their opinions on particular topics. Accordingly, I liked the work that the Triangle Factory Fire group did with political cartoons. I appreciated the learning activity that involved the students working in groups to interpret two or three political cartoons. Then, I liked the notion of having the students discuss their viewpoints on the political cartoons as the teacher acted as a moderator and facilitated the discussion by asking questions. The activity encouraged the students to interpret a document, discuss it in small groups, present their information to a larger class, and answer questions posed by a teacher. All of which are great skills for a History and Political Science student.

<span style="color: rgb(31, 239, 86)">Katie Torres The students will be broken into groups of four students picked as they wish. They will be given either two photographs (one from 1800 and one from 1850) a journal entry, two inventories or wills (one from 1800 and one from 1850). The groups will observe the differences and note: • What makes it a primary source? • What year is it from? • What class status do you think the owner (or person being photographed) fell into? • What evidence in your picture supports your decision? • What is the evidence that the Industrial Revolution happened (at least by the second picture/will/inventory)? • What can we tell about the family values based on your primary source? • What do you think is the most important piece of information that you learned from this primary source? The groups will then jigsaw around the classroom and act as experts about their primary sources in their new groups. The new groups will answer: • What is common information can you find out of all of the primary sources of the approximate same date? • Do you think that all of these people were of the same social class? Why or why not? • Do you think there was enough evidence in each of the primary sources to tell you the social class of the individuals? • Is there a clear impact of the Industrial Revolution on the individuals? If so what is it (in 2-3 sentences)? • Do you notice a shift in family values as the economy changed and they relied less on large amounts of manual labor? At the end of the lesson, I will go over the questions with the class. This will allow me to assess what if the students met my goals, also if there are any questions that seemed to stump the group at large. I will allow the students to volunteer other students to participate, that way I do not have the same show of hands as usual. Since the students have all conferred answers, this should not intimidate any of the students and will be a comfortable environment to go over their work and re-teach any troubled areas in a carefully lead discussion. This may be necessary, since the students may all get very different answers to the second set of broader questions.

Katie Torres For the activity I will be simulating the Salem witch trials. Students will be selected at random to be placed on trial before the classroom. Some will have a card with an X and others an O. The X will mean that the students are guilty. The O will signify that the students are innocent. The students will believe that there are an equal amount of accused people that guilty as there are innocent. However, none of the students will be guilty. Three students will act as the girls who are being “attacked” by witchcraft. They will be given a list of things they can chose to say while on the stand such as: “It’s chilly in here now that (accused parties name) is on trial and angry,’ ‘I saw a spectral being in the shape of (accused parties name) attack me,’ ‘I know it was (accused parties name) because (he/she) has a personal vendetta against me because of (whatever the accuser might have done to the accused in the past), etc.’ One student will act as the lawyer running the trial on behalf of the girls. The accused class members will have an opportunity to rebut anything their accusers have stated about them. I will act as the judge, so that I can steer the simulation in the correct path. At the end of the trial, the remaining class members will vote as to who is guilty and who is innocent. <span style="color: rgb(255, 165, 0)"> Kelly Welsh **Current Events JEOPARDY** Everyone LOVES Jeopardy!! This is an activity everyone was obsessed with in my 8th grade social studies class. Based upon current events in newspapers, magazines and reliable internet sites students will hand in ten questions and answers for a Jeopardy game. The ten questions will be comprised of five topics-National, International, Local News, Sports and Entertainment (two questions for each). Once I collect the questions and look them over, we will play Jeopardy! Activities that allow students to collaborate and interact with eachother adds variety to lessons. At the end of the game, the students will discuss important current events that were covered. Students will develop study and research skills for finding the most important information in an article. Hopefully, students will develop an interest in current events that will extend beyond the classroom. It is really an important life skill to be able to read articles and articulate politics, sports, local news, etc. In order to answer questions correctly and win, students will have to be aware of a myriad of topics and not just the ones they read about.

Kelly Welsh **Jerry, Jerry, Jerry** Anytime your clicking through television, you are bound to come across a variety of talk shows from Oprah Winfrey to Jerry Springer. In order to completely absorb history, students must master critical reading and writing skills, which sounds painfully boring. The best way to develop these skills, while having fun, is to divide the class into groups of 4-6 students and have them create their very own talk show. As a final assessment for a time p eriod, students will write a dialogue demonstrating a significant or controversial event in the topic being covered with all of the students accurately portraying key figures in history. I t will be their responsibility to further explore the historical figures they choose to portray. For instance, if I had just taught the class all about European exploration and imperialism in America. For the talk show one of the students might pretend to be Christopher Columbus while another student plays an Indian chief that against European settlers intruding. It will be interesting to see how students reflect their own opinions with controversial topics. The students will perform their talk shows in front of the class. Planning, writing, and performing a talk show about historical event will help enforce the material while building essential organization and communication skills. Rubrics will be handed out ahead of time so they know exactly what they are being graded on.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(21, 130, 213)">David Anderson Comparing Changing Believes and Values Over Time The activity that would be performed would give students the opportunity to analyze past economic values and beliefs to current economic values and beliefs. I would break the students into groups of four initially. The students would be asked to assign themselves roles to play within the group. There would be two researchers, one recorder, and then a group leader who would present to the class. Each group of four would be given two Time Magazines. One of the magazines would be from a much earlier point in history and the other would be from the present day. The two researchers would have to go through the magazine and find two articles that they can compare. They would be asked to record why the articles are similar and why are they different. Can they explain as a function of time what economic beliefs and values have changed within American society between the first article and the second? Why is it that the focus of these articles has changed due to economic evolution? The recorder would answer all of these questions and then as a full class we would discuss what each group had come up with.

David Anderson Political Cartoon Activity • Students are broken up into groups of six. • Four groups will receive political cartoon A, three groups will receive cartoon B, and three groups will receive cartoon C. • Each group is instructed to analyze their cartoon by answering the following questions in the packet. -“What is the cartoon depicting?” -“Who are the characters in the cartoon symbolizing?” -“Why do you think someone would draw this cartoon?” • When the students have had an opportunity to answer, cartoon A will be brought up on the PowerPoint. The groups who analyzed this cartoon will answer the questions in the packet aloud to the class. Groups may agree with, add on to, or challenge other groups’ answers. • Repeat for cartoon B and cartoon C. If necessary, direct instruction ensues to inform students about topics not covered during group share. Chris Clarke In this activity, we would examine the biases, beliefs, and points of view that we have seen affect varying accounts of the Vietnam War, and apply them to the conflict our country is currently involved in. We would have students search for historical accounts of the conflict over the past five years. After students have seen how these factors affect the narrative of Vietnam, they will be able to see how these factors continue to play a role in our understanding of the war in the Middle East. Everyday students are bombarded with different opinions about today’s war and it is important to see them not as fact, but as they would see them as part of a historical event; mainly, who is making this argument and why. This activity would allow students meet the <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">Delaware and national standards while making the lesson relevant to their own experiences.

<span style="color: rgb(62, 229, 46)">Matthew Lewis Activity: This activity is one that I first saw utilized by the teacher I observed last spring for my EDUC 413 course. Through my education courses as well as first hand experiences, I have learned that adolescent students learn in varieties of different ways. This teacher, while teaching on the Reconstruction Period for her general U.S. History class, made a worksheet titled, “Reconstruction Vocabulary.” It is a 3-4 page paper with vital key terms from the unit. The pages are set up in tables with a box for the term, a box for the definition, and a box for a picture respectively. Terms such as pardon, tenant farmer, and disenfranchise are typed and listed in the “Terms” boxes. Next to the terms, in the “Definitions” boxes, the teacher has basic ideas and connecting information bulleted; there is spare room for students who wish to add to the definition. Lastly, and most interestingly, lays the box labeled “Picture.” Here, the students are to draw an image (i.e. of people, objects, or text) that helps them best remember the word in a visual manner. In today’s classrooms more than ever we are seeing an increase in visual teaching through increases in technology and a slow separation from traditional practices. During the class, the teacher had students volunteer (as well as pick on students) to read the terms and definitions, and then come draw on the board the image that they chose to represent the term. For example, for the term 15th amendment, one student went to the board and drew a voting booth with a clear stick figure standing next to a colored-in stick figure in front of a voting booth to symbolize the equal right to the vote regardless of color. Not only did the activity create a great amount of motivation and participation, but it aided all type of learners to grasp the material, those who were photographic textual learners to those who were visual learners.

Jennifer Janssen Activity 1: Creating the Meat Inspection Bill • Explain to students that after the publication of The Jungle, the government began investigating the meatpacking industry and worked to create public policy to affect change. • Explain to students that Roosevelt and Agriculture Secretary James Wilson commissioned Charles P. Neill and James Reynolds to begin an independent investigation of the meatpacking industry. Their report described conditions that were even worse than those described by Upton Sinclair. Roosevelt eventually sent a copy of the Neill-Reynolds report to Congress instructing them to create a stringent meat inspection bill. In 1906, Congress established committees to hold hearings and create an inspection bill. • Explain to students that as a class, they will hold a mock Congressional hearing in which they will hear testimony from different interest groups, and then take this information and create a meat inspection bill. Explain that you will give each group a set of primary sources that were written by their interest group. They will examine the documents and answer the following questions: 1) What are the group’s different arguments? 2) What evidence do they use to support these arguments? 3) What would members of this group like to have included in a bill? (Rank these elements of the bill in order of importance.) • Average Citizens: This group will read and analyze 4 documents written from the perspective of a common citizen. • Meatpackers: This group will read and analyze 4 documents which were written from the perspective of meatpackers and people who supported/defended the meatpacking industry. • Theodore Roosevelt: This group will read and analyze 4 documents and speeches which were written by Theodore Roosevelt and his supporters. They will also use the Neill-Reynolds Report to gain supporting evidence. • Congressional Committee Members: This group will read and analyze sources which reflect the opinions of the members of the 1906 Agriculture Committee. • Explain that the average citizens, meatpackers, and Theodore Roosevelt and his supporters will pull together the information they gained from the primary sources to create a short presentation of their arguments and supporting evidence. The Congressional Committee Members will be asked to run the hearing. They will use their primary source evidence to formulate questions for each group of witnesses, challenge the interest groups, stall proceedings if they feel the interest groups’ information is irrelevant or damaging to meeting their objectives as a committee, etc. • After students have finished reading their sources and outlining their arguments, they will conduct the hearing. • When the hearing is over, the class will act as a Congressional Committee and write a meat inspection bill. They will try to accommodate the different interests and resolve conflicts and make compromises between competing interests. • As a class, they will compare the bill they created with the actual Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Discuss: What got included in the bill? What did not get included and why? How do people and the government affect policy? How can people get involved in creating public policy? <span style="color: rgb(211, 85, 172)"> Jennifer Janssen Activity 2: The Salem Witch Trials • When you have finished outlining the basic story of the witchcraft trials for the students, tell them that they are now going to listen to testimony from the trials. Assign the following parts to the students: Tituba, Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, and Examiners 1, 2, and 3. Using the testimony at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_REC.HTM, have the selected students act out the trial. The remaining members of the class should actively participate in the trial by commenting on what the accused says, calling out “Witch,” etc. Make sure to define proper classroom behavior prior to this activity. After each trial is finished, ask the students to summarize what the trial was about and the social and cultural influences they think might have impacted these trials. • Explain to students that they have learned about the basic story of the trials, but now they are going to examine the trials from a few new perspectives. • Put up the following chart on the board: Hysteria The Influence of War and Indian Attacks Woman Alone The Geography of Witchcraft Argument: Evidence: • Divide the students up into 4 groups. Pass out a Salem Theory handout (short 1-2 paragraph handout) to each group. Instruct the students to read over their theory and decide what the theory’s argument is and what evidence is used to support the argument. Ask a volunteer from each group to explain the theory and the evidence used to back up the theory. Ask the students what cultural, institutional, economic, and social influences the theories suggest might have influenced these trials. • Tell students that they watched the trials of the accused. Now, they will have the opportunity to put one of the accusers on trial. As a group, the students will use the different theories to craft 8 questions which they can ask the accuser, Betty Parris, daughter of Samuel Parris. When they are finished crafting questions which they will ask during her trial, they will then create a closing statement (similar to those seen on shows like Law and Order) in which they summarize the information learned in the different theories and how these cultural and institutional influences affected the Salem witch trials and Betty Parris’ role in the trials as an accuser. The group’s product will be the assessment for this lesson. • Model this idea by using the Woman Alone theory. Example Trial Question: Did you accuse women of witchcraft because they were economically independent and owned their own property? Example Testimony: Throughout this case, we have witnessed these young girls make several accusations against women of the Salem community. We have noticed that they have accused women who did not fit into the stereotypical female role of being subordinate. These women were both outspoken and owned property, thereby making them targets for these girls’ accusations. • Conclude the lesson by asking the students to fill out what they learned during the lesson by answering the question: Based on what you know, how would you explain the cultural and institutional influences of society, the Puritan church, psychological, and economic motivations on the events of the Salem witchcraft trials?

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(235, 15, 15)"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(219, 10, 10)">Psychology
Adam Plaiss Huckleberry Finn and Kohlberg In case you don't know, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written in 1800s by Mark Twain. The novel takes place in the South before the Civil War, during the time of slavery. Huckleberry Finn, a white pre-teen who is the main character of the story, runs away way with an enslaved man named Jim. At one point in the story, when the two are separated, Huck starts to worry that he is sinning by helping Jim escape, since as a slave, Jim is someone else's property and stealing is a sin. So Huck writes a letter to Jim's owner telling her where Jim is. In the passage below, Huck has just written the letter. He's sitting down, staring at the letter, thinking. From Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain: I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn't do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking – thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a-floating along, talking and singing and laughing. . . and then I happened to look around and see that paper. . . I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: "All right, then, I'll go to hell" – and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. . . . I would take up wickedness again. . . And for a starter I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog. Questions In pairs, write in your journal answers to these questions. Be sure to use the text to form your answers: • In what ways, if any, is Huck's moral reasoning at a pre-conventional level? • In what ways, if any, is Huck's moral reasoning at a conventional level? • In what ways, if any, is Huck's moral reasoning at a post-conventional level? • What level do you think Huck is at?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(27, 0, 255)">Adam Plaiss This one is about body image and the media: Either on their own time at home or by using a in-class supply, students would cut out from magazines advertisements in which a person's body plays a prominent role. Then, in class, the students would, either in pairs or in groups, separate out their advertisement clippings in to two piles: one pile being for those advertisements that want the viewer to have a positive impression of the body displayed, and another pile being for those advertisements that want the viewer to have a negative impression of the body displayed. Then the students would be asked six critical thinking questions (see below). Six Questions 1.What do your positive association images have in common? What do your negative association images have in common? 2. What do certain body types represent in these ads? 3. Why would advertisers use how people look to help them sell something? 4. How could advertisers make ads without encouraging judgment on body types? 5. Why do ideal body types change? 6. What is your opinion on these images—do you feel they actual shape people's ideas about the desirable body type?

Debbie Strnad The subjects of psychology, sociology, and human behavior provide many opportunities of creating unique activities that can apply directly to the students’ lives. My cooperating teacher came up with various “experiments” that the students conduct while learning about the subject of human behavior. One is the “Polite Stranger Experiment” which is designed to help the students more fully understand the concept of role. They are to act as a very polite, pleasant person but a complete stranger in their own home. For instance, students should address their parents as “sir, ma’am, Mr. and Mrs.” They are to record observations for an entire night; the description of their own behavior and the nature of the response. If the responses are too negative, the student would discontinue the experiment. They will learn more about the expected roles of a person who occupies a specific social position. The results can be discussed in class with after-experiment questions or formulated into a writing assignment.

<span style="color: rgb(43, 255, 0)">Michelle Emond Gender roles/stereotyping/advertising Students will be broken into groups of five. Each group will be given an advertisement directed towards a specific sex (i.e. the Swiffer, the Burger King Mushroom-Bacon Melt, Ziploc bags, a Barbeque, and an F-150). Next, the students will design an ad for their product that would appeal to the opposite sex it is trying to reach (i.e. an ad that would sell an F-150 to a woman). They must also think of where this ad would be placed in order to reach their target audience.Then, students will share their ads with the class, explaining what they did to make it appeal to the opposite sex as intended. Finally as a class we will discuss the role stereotypes play in advertising and how conforming to these stereotypes makes the most sense when advertising (as the students will see through the creating their own <span class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer">ad campaign ). Overall, this activity will help the students see the impact of stereotyping and analyze how influential it can be in consumer decisions since much advertising is based on these stereotypes. They will also see how advertising reinforces these stereotypes (i.e. women think they are supposed to do housework because ads for cleaning products are aimed at them).

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(235, 15, 15)"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(219, 10, 10)">Sociology
Elizabeth DeCataldo Sociology Lesson: Peer Pressure If you are teaching a unit on gender roles, identity, or peer pressure this activity is fun and engaging, and can be tweaked to work for all of those topics. From my experience, the high school students like this topic because it really applies to them and they are old enough to not be as bashful or shy talking about it so it is fun to get them involved. The unit I saw was called “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll.” The teacher split them in groups, where he asked them to pick either peer pressure to do drugs as an adolescent or peer pressure to have sex. Most of them picked sex. Then they were asked to each bring in a popular magazine, so each group had 3-4 People, or Cosmopolitan magazines. They were asked to find advertisements that influenced teenagers to have sex and paste them on one side of a poster. Then on the other side, they were supposed to paste advertisements that made teenagers want to abstain from sex. When they presented it was clear that there were more advertisements pressuring teens to have sex. This led to a discussion where they made a list of reasons or morals that would sway kids to give into peer pressure or refrain from it. The kids loved the topic and got very involved.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">Elizabeth DeCataldo Sociology Lesson: Nature vs. Nurture If you are teaching the topic of nature versus nurture this activity is a loosely structured debate that would introduce or review the lesson and get students involved. After giving out the directions, you would ask everyone who believes nurture is more important to stand on one side of the room, and everyone who believes nature is more important to the development of a person to stand on the other side. You could then proceed to organize a debate as structured as you want, or as a loose discussion. I would do it one of two ways. The first way I’ve seen it done is to give them a topic, like homosexuality and give each side time to come up with a written argument using what they know from the topic, and then one person would read it. Then each group could have time for one rebuttal argument. You could also not give them a topic, and just let them come up with their own general arguments, but I still recommend having the rules be very clear. Each group can write an argument together, but only one person reads it aloud. Then, the next group reads their argument. If you do not do this, people will begin yelling back and forth over each other. So it was clear that they enjoyed the activity but it needs to be structured to be effective.