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Is your teen's phone stealing her sleep? What about you? How is your sleep hygiene? Doctors and sleep specialists say that our nighttime screen habits can be a culprit in disrupting sleep. The light our screens give off (esp. if we are close to them) may be suppressing melatonin...

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https://www.projectlooksharp.org/. 850+ free media analysis lessons for integration into all K-12 subject areas including Library -plus short annotated demonstration videos of classroom decoding

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Featured Lesson

Arguing For Freedom

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using diverse media imagery to teach about the history of the movement to abolish slavery in the United States in the early and mid-19th century.

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Description for Project Look Sharp website

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Our website for families provides reviews and ratings of movies, books, games, apps, and other media to help parents and families make informed decisions about the media their children use.

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find our free K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum, reviews of popular edtech apps, tips on teaching responsible AI use, and resources for protecting student privacy and online safety.

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Site we use to teach students to think critically about what they read on the internet

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Site we use to teach students to think critically about what they read on the internet

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Everything you've ever wanted to know about every explorer who ever liived...and more!

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Every picture book/book we read can be used to develop critical thinking skills and media literacy skills!

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Copyright & Creativity - K-12 Teaching Resources on Copyright and Fair Use

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"These lessons are incredible. They help me teach the importance of copyright and fair use as my class does weekly research and inquiry."

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CBC Kids News is real news for real kids. Your trusted daily source for the news, pop culture and sports stories that Canadian kids want to know!

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The Great Moon Hoax by Krensky

Nantucket Sea Monster by Pattison

Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots by Rex

The Sad Little Fact by Winter

Killer Underwear Invasion by Gravel

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Haven't actually taught from it yet but plan to soon.

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Get the latest on Miseducation from Teen Vogue. Find articles, slideshows and more.

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A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by politicians and the media to fool people. Don't be fooled! This website has been designed to help you identify and call out dodgy logic wherever it may raise its ugly, incoherent head.

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NCTE's Mentor Texts for Teaching Argument Writing K-5

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NCTE's Mentor Texts for Teaching Argument Writing K-5

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Mentor Texts for Teaching Argument Writing

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As a follow-up to our November 2017 #NCTEchat, Using Mentor Texts, we asked our social media community to share some of their favorite mentor texts with us. In the first part of this series, we've compiled educators' favorite mentor texts for teaching argument writing. To see the original messages this list is based on, click here.

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Read Brightly's picture books for persuasive writing

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Read Brightly's picture books for persuasive writing

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Excellent mentor texts are a huge asset for teaching any type of writing, but they are especially useful for less familiar genres. Persuasive writing is an increasingly common requirement for the primary grades, but most students don't have as much experience with it as narrative writing or traditional nonfiction. If your class is stuck on the same topics or formats - how many letters have you read angling for a later bedtime or a family pet? - or if they could use a wider repertoire of stylistic moves to be more convincing, check out these useful titles:

Did we persuade you to expand your mentor text collection? Which other titles do you find helpful when teaching persuasive writing? Share your advice in the comments section below.
For more lesson plans, book recommendations, and reading tips for your classroom or library, check out our Teach Brightly page!

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Picture Book Mentor Texts for Persuasive Writing | Brightly

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Persuasive writing is an increasingly common requirement for the primary grades, but many kids don't have much experience with it. If your students are stuck on the same formats or could use a wider set of stylistic moves to be more convincing, check out these useful titles.

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Rewordify: Rewrite texts at different levels

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Rewordify: Rewrite texts at different levels

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Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

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Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

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I am an administrator I am a teacher

CONTENT

Texts (and videos!) for ELA, Science, and Social Studies with scaffolds and higher-order questions

READING

The best features to
support, engage, and build stamina

ASSESSMENT

Data you need;
Feedback your students act on

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Engage every student in every lesson with Actively Learn's award-winning ELA, science, and social studies curriculum platform.

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Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based conceptual framework, which aims to integrate the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters.

Visible Thinking began as an initiative to develop a research-based approach to teaching thinking dispositions. The approach emphasized three core practices: thinking routines, the documentation of student thinking, and reflective professional practice. It was originally developed at Lemshaga Akademi in Sweden as part of the Innovating with Intelligence project, and focused on developing students' thinking dispositions in such areas as truth-seeking, understanding, fairness, and imagination. It has since expanded its focus to include an emphasis on thinking through art and the role of cultural forces and has informed the development of other Project Zero Visible Thinking initiatives, including Artful Thinking, and Cultures of Thinking.

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Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based conceptual framework, which aims to integrate the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters. Visible Thinking began as an initiative to develop a research-based approach to teaching thinking dispositions. The approach emphasized three core practices: thinking routines, the documentation of student thinking, and reflective professional practice.

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Intriguing Times images stripped of their captions — and an invitation to students to discuss them live.

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Graphs, maps and charts from The Times — and an invitation to students to discuss them live.

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Project 562: Photographs of all 562 tribes in US by indigenous photographer

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Project 562: Photographs of all 562 tribes in US by indigenous photographer

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Washington State Library NW Digital Heritage collection

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Washington State Library NW Digital Heritage collection

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Ad Fontes Media’s Interactive Media Bias Chart web app.

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Video from The Onion satirizing teens social media preferences

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Video from The Onion satirizing teens social media preferences

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Teens Migrating From Facebook To Comments Section Of Slow-Motion Deer Video

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Trendwatchers say more and more teens are leaving Facebook and Twitter in favor of the comments section on a YouTube video of a deer running in slow motion.

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Book: Hopeful Visions, Practical Actions: Cultural Humility in Library Work

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Book: Hopeful Visions, Practical Actions: Cultural Humility in Library Work

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Hopeful Visions, Practical Actions: Cultural Humility in Library Work

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Learning for Justice article on polarized classrooms

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Learning for Justice article on polarized classrooms

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In February 2016, the opening month of presidential primary season, I visited a public high school in New York City to teach a lesson about political polarization in the United States. The students were all black and Latino and had grown up in Manhattan, a borough that voted 84 percent for Barack Obama in 2012.

I began by explaining that I was going to give them one word and ask them to write down all the words that came to mind when they heard that word. Then, I would give them a second word and they would do the same thing. The first word was Republican, and the second word was Democrat.

We then made a class list of the words they had chosen. Students identified many that one might expect. Republican lists often included conservative, capitalism and Donald Trump. Democrat lists included blue, Barack Obama and middle class. When asked what they noticed about the lists, students immediately recognized that there was a difference in tone. The Democrat lists also included positive words like honest, caring and supportive. The Republican lists, on the other hand, included labels like greedy and heartless.

The activity demonstrates what political scientists term "affective polarization." That is, as our country becomes politically polarized, one effect is that people increasingly distrust-or disdain-those who identify as members of political parties to which they, themselves, do not belong. This trend applies to both sides of the primary partisan divide in the United States. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 38 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of Republicans have a "very unfavorable" view of the other party. These numbers reflect a significant increase since 1994, when 16 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Republicans reported a "very unfavorable" view.

The students at the Manhattan high school I visited are growing up in what my colleague and collaborator Diana Hess and I have labeled a "like-minded" school. (We define schools as like-minded if 80 percent of the students reported either solidly liberal views or solidly conservative views on a survey of eight political issues.)

We found that students who grow up in politically homogeneous communities (be they liberal or conservative) develop some positive civic characteristics. While in high school, they score significantly higher on a measure of civic engagement than their peers in politically diverse schools. After high school, they are more likely to pay attention to elections, and they are more likely to report that their families and friends think it is important to keep up with the news. In our study, they also voted in midterm and general elections at much higher rates than other young people.

But political science research also shows that people who have strong ideological views (solid liberals and solid conservatives) are also more likely to believe that the other side has no good views (political intolerance), dismiss credible information that does not comport with their views (confirmation bias), and believe that politics is a battle between "the good team" and "the bad team" (affective polarization).

As anti-bias educators, we should be concerned about the negative effects of polarization. Democracy erodes when citizens do not enter the public sphere with a spirit of what Professor of Government Danielle Allen at Harvard University labels "political friendship." In Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown v. Board of Education, Allen writes that living in a democracy requires citizens to recognize that they will lose at times, but those losses are tolerable if we trust that our rivals will govern with attention to the common good.

Civic Education in an Era of Polarization

For the past 25 years, the United States has been experiencing increasing political polarization; this is the only political context that young people today have experienced. Polarization also shows no signs of abating. Given this reality, how should teachers prepare young people for living in a democracy?

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Understanding political divides can help students learn to bridge them.

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Hear student-produced stories on many of KQED's most popular programs like Perspectives, The California Report, Forum, The Bay and more. Learn more about Youth Takeover and check out previous years' stories.

The KQED Youth Advisory Board is a group of Bay Area teens who support our youth media efforts while learning about different career paths in public media. Applications for the 2023-2024 Youth Advisory Board are open now! Application Deadline: October 2nd, 2023 11:59pm PST.

Empower student voice and choices through media-making for publication on our national platform. Join a Youth Media Challenge to engage student voice. Challenges are open year-round to middle and high school students across the U.S.

Above the Noise is an Emmy Award winning YouTube series for secondary students. Each episode cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting their daily lives-then encourages them to draw their own informed conclusions.

Bring the world to your classroom. KQED and PBS have curated free, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans and more for teachers like you.

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KQED's Youth Media empower students to participate in a variety of projects, from producing audio stories to creating interactive websites.

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Free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world.

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A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall and Vera Brosgol

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A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall and Vera Brosgol

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Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen

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Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen

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The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt

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The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt

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Balderdash! John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books by Michelle Markel

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Balderdash! John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books by Michelle Markel

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How to Party like a Snail by Naseem Hrab

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How to Party like a Snail by Naseem Hrab

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The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

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The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

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A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce

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A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce

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Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

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Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

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Mud Pies and Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow

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Mud Pies and Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow

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Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss

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Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss

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They All Saw a Cat, picture book by Brendan Wenzel

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They All Saw a Cat, picture book by Brendan Wenzel

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Seven Blind Mice, picture book by Ed Young

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Seven Blind Mice, picture book by Ed Young

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Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots, picture book by Michael Rex

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Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots, picture book by Michael Rex

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How to Party like a Snail, picture book by Naseem Hrab

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How to Party like a Snail, picture book by Naseem Hrab

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The Creature of Habit, picture book by Jennifer E. Smith

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The Creature of Habit, picture book by Jennifer E. Smith

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Except Antarctica, picture book by Todd Sturgell

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Except Antarctica, picture book by Todd Sturgell

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Glow: The Wild Wonders of Bioluminescence by Jennifer N.R. Smith

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Glow: The Wild Wonders of Bioluminescence by Jennifer N.R. Smith

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Developed by the Right Question Institute, the Question Formulation Technique, or QFT, is a structured method for generating and improving questions. It distills sophisticated forms of divergent, convergent, and metacognitive thinking into a deceptively simple, accessible, and reproducible technique.

The QFT builds the skill of asking questions, an essential - yet often overlooked - lifelong learning skill that allows people to think critically, feel greater power and self-efficacy, and become more confident and ready to participate in civic life.

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What is the QFT? - Right Question Institute

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The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is a simple but rigorous step-by-step process designed to help […]

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March 2, 1955: Claudette Colvin Refuses to Give Up Her Bus Seat - Zinn Education Project

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I could not move, because history had me glued to the seat. . . It felt like Sojourner Truth's hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman's hands were pushing me down on another shoulder, and I could not move. - Claudette Colvin on Democracy Now!

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Share this Book

Claudette owed at least part of who she was to what she learned from those who came before her-Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass. Choices she made were influenced by the choices of others "to work hard and [cause] trouble so Black people would be treated fairly." When you read aloud Because Claudette, get students thinking about who has greatly inspired them and how historical figures and events have influenced who they are.

Share your own story with students about someone from your life and their influence on you. Then ask students to think about people from their past who have had an impact on them-a family member, friend, neighbor, teacher, coach, or someone else. Have students create a poem that looks back on how that person or people shaped who they are today, using the format in this example:

I am a reader
Because of Mrs. Jeter
Because she was a good teacher
Because she let me pick out whatever books I wanted
Because she had lots of books in her classroom
Because her mother was a librarian
I am a reader

Questions for Discussion or Reflective Writing

1. What does the word "because" mean?

2. Who was Claudette and what did she do? If you were Claudette, what would you do in her situation?

3. Why was she arrested? Why do you think Claudette's classmates did not treat her as a hero after she was arrested?

4. Who was Rosa Parks? What did Claudette have in common with her?

5. How did Claudette create change? What impact did she have on the Civil Rights Movement? How is that impact felt today?

6. Who inspired Claudette? How do you carry her history with you?

Related Resources

Activist, author, and NEA's Read Across America Ambassador Marley Dias makes a reading connection with Tracey Baptiste

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This picture book biography celebrates both Claudette Colvin, whose teen-aged activism launched the Montgomery bus boycott, and the power of collective action.

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Featured Article: "A Civil Rights Pioneer Seeks to Have Her Record Cleared" by Eduardo Medina
In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, a teenager named Claudette Colvin took the same action in Montgomery, Ala. Now, 66 years later, Ms. Colvin is seeking justice from the court system.

In this lesson, you will learn about how and why Ms. Colvin took a stand. Then, you will reflect on a time when you stood up for something you believed in or write to a young person whose activism inspires you.

What is your reaction to the video? How does Ms. Colvin's story make you feel?

What did you learn about Ms. Colvin from the video?

If you could ask Ms. Colvin one question about her life and experiences, what would it be?

Read the article, then answer the following questions:
Watch this two-minute video interview with Claudette Colvin from 2016.

Then, respond to the following questions:

1. Why did Ms. Colvin refuse to give up her bus seat in 1955? What statement did she want to make?

2. Ms. Colvin recently filed a court petition. What is she asking for in that petition? Why did she feel it was an important action to take?

3. How did leaders of the civil rights movement at the time view Ms. Colvin's refusal to give up her seat?

4. Do you know the term colorism? How does it relate to why Ms. Colvin did not become a major face of the civil rights movement?

5. What was the significance of the Browder v. Gayle case? What role did Ms. Colvin play in it?

Think about a time when you had to stand up for yourself, your rights or the rights of someone else in your community. What did you do? Why did you choose to takeaction? How did it feel?

Who is a young person who inspires you? It could be someone in your school or community, someone you follow on social media or an activist you've heard of. What does this person stand for? How does this person make his or her voice heard? Why does this person inspire you? Write the person a letter or email sharing why you appreciate their activism and how they have inspired you to speak up.

Additional Teaching and Learning Opportunities

Learn about another significant figure in the civil rights movement. Read an obituary, such as that of Gloria Richardson, Lucille Times, Georgia Gilmore, Bob Moses or Julian Bond. Write down three facts you learned about the person. What role did this person play in the civil rights movement? Why was this person significant?

Listen to a podcast about Claudette Colvin. This 10-minute episode from the Radio Diaries podcast goes into more detail about her life. After listening, share two things you learned with your classmates.

Learn about the history of transportation protests. Navigate this timeline to learn about protests on public transportation dating back to the 1840s. Were you familiar with any of these stories? Why do you think public transportation has been such a powerful site of resistance? Do you know of any transportation-related battles happening in your community, such as the movement for free public transit?

6. Why was Ms. Colvin hesitant to enter legal proceedings in an attempt to clear her record?

7. What is significant about Calvin L. Williams' being the judge to rule on Ms. Colvin's case?

Claudette Colvin was a teenager when she took a stand for justice. Throughout history, young people have often been leaders of change. Explore youth activism further by responding to one of the following prompts in writing or in a group discussion:

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.

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Lesson of the Day: 'A Civil Rights Pioneer Seeks to Have Her Record Cleared'

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Featured Article: " A Civil Rights Pioneer Seeks to Have Her Record Cleared " by Eduardo Medina In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, a teenager named Claudette Colvin took the same action in Montgomery, Ala.

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Duck! Rabbit! picture book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

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Duck! Rabbit! picture book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

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It Looked Like Spilt Milk picture book by Charles G. Shaw

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It Looked Like Spilt Milk picture book by Charles G. Shaw

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Cool Math Games - Free Online Games for Learning and Fun

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Coolmath Games is a brain-training site for everyone, where logic & thinking & math meets fun & games. These games have no violence, no empty action, just a lot of challenges that will make you forget you're getting a mental workout!

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Connections - Group words that share a common thread

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Group words that share a common thread. A new puzzle is available each day.

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About This Game

You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.

You don't remember who you are, and you don't remember how you got here, but there's one thing you can do: explore the island in hope of discovering clues, regaining your memory, and somehow finding your way home.

The Witness is a single-player game in an open world with dozens of locations to explore and over 500 puzzles. This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There's no filler; each of those puzzles brings its own new idea into the mix. So, this is a game full of ideas.

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You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you. You don't remember who you are, and you don't remember how you got here, but there's one thing you can do: explore the island in hope of discovering clues, regaining your memory, and somehow finding your way home.

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The Novel Effect app follows along with interactive music and sound effects, creating magical moments when you read aloud with a child.

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How many words can you make with 7 letters?

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How well do you know movies? Movie Grid is a daily trivia game where you use the clues to pick a movie for each spot on the grid. Come back every day for a new puzzle!

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Play Blossom, a new word challenge game from the editors of Merriam-Webster. Can you make 12 words with 7 letters?

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Syllacrostic - Play online at Coolmath Games

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In Syllacrostic, fill in the blanks one syllable at a time. There is a new puzzle every day. See how fast you can get through all nine clues.

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Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

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Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

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A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai

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A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai

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Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford

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Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford

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I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Kadir Nelson

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I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Kadir Nelson

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Abdul's Story by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

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Abdul's Story by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

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Platanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris

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Platanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris