This course is the first intermediate-level course in Spanish, with a focus on grammar review, additional vocabulary, writing of essays in Spanish and enhancement of cultural awareness. Group activities and projects, and conversation are emphasized. There are detailed simulation activities, readings about literature and art from Latin America and Spain, activities with music videos and interviews, and viewings of recent films such as El espinazo del diablo, Juana la loca, and María llena eres de gracia. Students also participate in the MITUPV Exchange project, a multimedia-centered Web site that deals with university life at MIT, the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain, and other universities.

Course Sequences
Spanish IV aims at developing and improving student’s oral and written communication through the continued study of the language, literature and culture of Spain, Latin America and Hispanic communities in the United States. It also seeks to improve students’ ability to read and appreciate literary and non-literary texts in Spanish, deepening this way students’ awareness and understanding of the cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. The course is organized by themes based on contemporary social, political and cultural issues of Spanish-speaking societies such as: cultural identity, the changing roles of women and family, economic development and its effects on cultural heritage and environment, and the individual’s rights in the political system.

Spanish for Bilingual Students is an intermediate course designed principally for heritage learners, but which includes other students interested  in specific content areas, such as US Latino immigration, identity, ethnicity, education and representation in the media. Linguistic goals include vocabulary acquisition, improvement in writing, and enhancement of formal communicative skills.

As if they are engineers, students are tasked to design solar-powered model vehicles that are speedy and compact in order to make recommendations to a local car sales company. Teams familiarize themselves with the materials by building solar-panel model car prototypes, following kit instructions, which they test for speed. After making design improvements, they test again. Then they take measurements and calculate the volume of each team’s vehicle. They rank all teams’ vehicles by speed and by size. After data analyses, reflection and team discussion, students write recommendations to the car company about the vehicle they think is best for consumers. Youngsters experience key portions of the engineering design process and learn the importance of testing and collaborating in order to make better products. Pre/post-quizzes and numerous worksheets and handouts are provided.

Poster showing a large group of sailors and soldiers seated at a massive table, writing. Photo caption: Writing home.

This resource was created by Maelynn Liewer, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

A Personal Narrative Essay is a creative form of writing that explains a memorable event in a student's life. Like other types of essays, it follows a specific structure and includes an introduction, several paragraphs of body content, and a conclusion. The main purpose of a personal narrative essay is to convince the reader of why the applicant would be a good fit for the college or university they apply to.

Consists of an instruction for how to write a discussion essay about the Stonewall Riots, with the purpose to compare the current situation for LGBTQ+ people in different countries, as well as to discuss how the situation has changed for LGBTQ+ community since the Stonewall Riots.  The instructions are customized for students with ASD, with specific focus on perspicuity, structure and visual aids.

Annie Barrows is co-author, with her aunt Mary Ann Shaffer, of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.' A New York Times bestseller, 'Guernsey' has been translated into twenty-six languages and was named one of the 'Best Books of 2008' by the Washington Post, TIME magazine, and The Christian Science Monitor, among others. Annie is also the author of the award-winning children's series 'Ivy and Bean' and 'The Magic Half.' (58 minutes)

Carol Edgarian is an author, editor, and publisher. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller 'Three Stages of Amazement' and the international bestseller 'Rise the Euphrates.' Edgarian and her husband, editor and writer Tom Jenks, founded the non-profit magazine Narrative which publishes more than three hundred artists each year. She speaks to an audience at UC Berkeley. (43 minutes)

Bestselling author Michelle Richmond reads from her novels and discusses her writing process to a group at UC Berkeley. She is author of 'No One You Know,' the New York Times bestseller, 'The Year of Fog,' award-winning story collection, 'The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress,' and the novel 'Dream of the Blue Room,' a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. (56 minutes)

Sara Houghteling reads from her novel 'Pictures at an Exhibition' that tells the story of a family of Parisian Jewish art dealers whose art collection is looted during World War II. (29 minutes)

Sherry and Justin from Story Pirates show you how to keep a reader on the edge of their seat in this clip about suspense in this video from Camp TV. They explain all the steps to make a story where the reader has to know what happens next and share their own mysterious and exciting examples.

This activity is a field investigation where students will make stream observations to determine its geologic processes and influence to our local topography.

Assignment #1 Student-led discussion of articles from the literature
We assign one or two groups of two or three students to each of four or four or five topics related to climate change, and provide each group a set of related articles from the literature on their assigned topic. The group will lead a one-hour, in-class discussion on the topic, with up to a dozen students and one instructor in each discussion. In preparation for the discussion, the discussion co-leaders must collectively write a set of "Reading Questions" about each assigned article, which help readers focus on the key points made by the articles and can serve as points of discussion. The other students participating in the discussion must read the articles with the aid of these Reading Questions and annotate the portions of the articles that address the Reading Questions. We (instructors) evaluate the Reading Questions written by the co-leaders (they receive a shared grade for these), and we also check the annotated articles turned in by the other discussion participants to ensure that they prepared to participate in the discussion (they receive individual grades this). Discussion co-leaders each receive a grade for the quality of their discussion leadership.

The purpose of this assignment is in part to help students prepare for their final writing assignment by requiring that they read a set of articles closely enough to help other students discuss and understand the key points, and get feedback about their level of understanding, up to a month before the final paper on the topic is due. The immediate outcome that we expect from this assignment is a demonstration that students can read the assigned articles critically, identify and articulate the key points, and help engage other students in a discussion about the articles, including conceptually important or difficult aspects of them.
Assignment #2: Final writing assignment

For this assignment, which follows from the previous one, students are asked to:

locate two or more significant additional articles that relate closely to the articles on which they based the discussion that they co-led; and
write a 8-12 page (typed, double spaced) overview of the history and current state of our scientific understanding about the topic(s) covered by the set of discussion articles, based on the articles themselves plus relevant material presented in class or in assigned reading. In particular, wherever justified by the source material, students should try to include the following in the narrative:

initial observations/evidence;
initial hypotheses posed to account for initial observations/evidence (including external forcings and feedbacks);
subsequent observations/evidence that have confirmed or disproved earlier hypotheses;
technology that made making observations/gathering evidence possible and led to breakthroughs in understanding;
scientific controversies and how they played out historically or are currently playing out;
current understanding and remaining uncertainties.

The outcome should be a written demonstration of the student's ability to analyze and synthesize a set of articles from the literature and supporting materials provided in class to describe the history, current state, and unresolved aspects of our scientific understanding of an interdisciplinary aspect of climate change.

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When you need an example written by a student, check out our vast collection of student models for grades 1-12. Search by grade level or mode of writing such as “explanatory,” “persuasive,” or "narrative."

This module explores modern day apathy, specifically in middle schools. This PBL challenges students to be introspective and reflect onWhat they valueWhat they are concerned withWhat they are passionate aboutand then see how it can be changed.Students collaborate with oneother to discover shared ideas, research their value or issue, and develop a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to communicate what they want to improve. In a culminating activity, students participate in a gallery/exhibition to share their PSAs.Standards:CCSS English Language Arts (Grade 8)Ohio Standards for Technology 

Unlike film, theater in America does not have a ratings board that censors content. So plays have had more freedom to explore and to transgress normative culture. Yet censorship of the theater has been part of American culture from the beginning, and continues today. How and why does this happen, and who decides whether a play is too dangerous to see or to teach? Are plays dangerous? Sinful? Even demonic? In our seminar, we will study plays that have been censored, either legally or extra-legally (i.e. refused production, closed down during production, denied funding, or taken off school reading lists). We’ll look at laws, both national and local, relating to the “obscene”, as well as unofficial practices, and think about the way censorship operates in American life now. And of course we will study the offending texts, themselves, to find what is really dangerous about them, for ourselves.

This source consists of an open textbook organized around making students successful writers. Topics include higher order concerns, such as the writing process and lower order concerns, such as advice on grammar and word choice.