In this lesson plan, students will create informative presentations using Canva on a topic of their choice or assigned by the teacher. They will learn how to use Canva’s design tools to create visually appealing slides that effectively convey their message. Once their presentations are complete, students will present their work to the class, practicing public speaking and communication skills. This activity combines creativity with technology and enhances students' ability to organize and present information.

In this module, students will read, write, and speak about the topic of voting rights and responsibilities. In the first two units, students will read informational texts that focus on the women’s suffrage movement and the leadership of New Yorker Susan B. Anthony. Specifically, they will read firsthand and secondhand accounts of her arrest and trial for voting in a time when women were outlawed from doing so. Students then read The Hope Chest by Karen Schwabach, a historical fiction novel set in the weeks leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment. They will continue to examine the idea of leaders of change and explore the theme “making a difference” by collecting evidence on how selected characters make a difference for others. After completing the novel, students will analyze this theme in selected passages of the novel and write an essay

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

The 4-day unit is designed to center on the voices of a marginalized community, Muslim Americans, as a foundation for students to explore and celebrate the plurality of values and identities in their own classrooms. Students will be engaging with journalism, practicing active listening, compassion, and empathy, and meet differences with curiosity rather than prejudice.

Students begin this unit by reading The Proudest Blue, a picture book by Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad that captures the challenges Faizah and Asiyah face when Asiyah wore her hijab to school. Students discuss discrimination and focus on the the hijab as a symbol of cultural identity.

Then students screen a short documentary film “Holding Fire.” The documentary follows Somia Elrowmeim, a naturalized American Yemeni immigrant and activist, who fights for the rights of South Brooklyn Muslims. The film provides a behind-the-scenes look at how grassroots organizing works especially during the modern Islamophobia period.

Driven by the courage and joy that Faizah, Asiyah, and Somia demonstrate in celebrating their cultures and standing up in their communities, students will explore these themes in their classroom. This mini-unit is being taught as a part of a longer classroom exploration of conflict and resolution.

In this unit from Central Valley School District in Washington, students dive into inquiry, engaging with compelling questions to help learn about the culture of some of their tribal neighbors and the forces that brought change to the northwest: fur trade era and exploration. The module includes detailed teaching notes for planning and executing instruction, emphasizing close reading of complex texts and specific strategies for supporting students' evidence-based reading and writing. It provides clear requirements for student work, along with summative assessments, central texts, key resources, and protocols to facilitate learning.

This module is designed for 3rd through 5th graders to explore their names, identity, immigration and cultural lore to find heroic moments in their family history. Using Icelandic immigration, both historical and current, as a model to explore: the meaning and uses of names, the difficulties of language, belonging and identity, and historical storytelling through "Egil's Saga", the student creates a personal definition of a hero. After learning basic interview techniques, the module includes interviewing a family member and identifying a heroic moment to portray through a student created comic. A gallery of comics is displayed for the community viewing including artists statements.

Based on the Wyoming PBS program What’s in a Name, students will view episodes of the program to learn about how Wyoming towns got their names. In the introductory video Phil Roberts from the University of Wyoming introduces the PBS series entitled “Main Street Wyoming: What’s in a Name”. This introductory clip discusses how early explorers first named the rivers, streams, and mountain ranges and passes of Wyoming. Students will then work as a group to create a fictitious Wyoming town.