Analyzing Primary Source Media

In this media-rich, self-paced lesson, students analyze primary source news footage to gain insights into public sentiment toward historical figures, issues, and events of the past 50 years.

A Character's Perspective - Colonial House

Students watch a video segment that shows the reactions of colonists and native people when they encounter one another for the first time during a colony settlement reenactment. Students then select a character and write a letter from that character’s point of view that describes the meeting.

Character Development: Cancer - A New Treatment

Students will answer questions about what motivated chemical engineer Mark Davis to search for a better treatment for his wife's cancer. They then complete a journal entry in which they compare his motivations and goals to those they’ve established for themselves.

Fact and Opinion: Parents, Teens, and Texting

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore the debate between parents and teens over texting and interpret facts to form and support their opinions.

Interpreting Characters, Setting, Plot, and Theme - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Disaster

Students watch a video segment chronicling the tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Using a story elements graphic organizer, students determine the various elements of the story and arrange them in the correct order on the organizer.

The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis

Through flashback, L.D.Cox tells how he survived the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis during World War II in this segment from History Detectives.

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Symbolism: Keely's Mountain

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students learn about the use of symbolism in literature and examine how places can have symbolic meaning for people.

Up Down and Around

Up Down and Around written by Katherine Ayres and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott is Pennsylvania’s One Book, Every Young Child 2008 choice. In this poetic, colorful picture book, vegetables grow in all directions: up, down, and all around.

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The Wreck of the Corinthian

This interactive activity, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, tells the story of the wreck and towing of the whaling ship Corinthian using three narrative sources.