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This is a hands-on learning activity where students learn the meaning of imagery by examining images on two Pueblo pots and reading short excerpts from Native American folklore. They will design their own pots by creating symbols and explaining the meaning of the symbols.

In this learning activity, students will learn about women's history and making quilts. Students will make a quilt square in honor of a person who is important to them.

In this learning activity, students learn about Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican culture by creating their own Carnival mask.  

In this learning activity, students make their own Koinobori (fish kite). These kites were an important way of life for Japanese American children in internment camps during World War II.

No matter where you teach, students are likely to listen to music. Their tastes may vary widely—pop, rap, country, classical, jazz, R & B. Regardless of their preferences, they each bring a rich knowledge of musical tunes and lyrics to the classroom. This lesson takes advantage of that interest by asking students to create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read. Students begin by analyzing how specific songs might fit with a familiar story. Students then create their own soundtracks for the movie version of a novel they have read. They select songs that match the text and fit specific events in the story. Finally, students share their projects with the class and assess their work using a rubric. Examples in this lesson focus on The Beast by Walter Dean Myers, but any piece of literature can be used as the basis of students' soundtracks.

In this lesson, students apply analytical skills to an exploration of the early Renaissance painting Death and the Miser by Hieronymous Bosch. Students sketch and label the painting, use an interactive tool to explore its elements, apply literary analysis tools to their interpretation, predict the painting's plot, and conclude the unit by creating a project that identifies and explains their interpretation of the painting.

Students will enhance their multimedia literacy and expand their understanding of text in this hands-on unit. First, students watch and study digital videos and their transcripts to explore the differences between written and spoken text. As they think critically about the videos, students will discover how text and images can work together to convey information. Once students are comfortable with the ways in which images and words can support and enhance each other, they will apply what they've learned by writing essays and turning those essays into captions for a teacher-created video. At the end of the unit, students will have a documentary film that they have written and designed.

Through multimodal activities, students will explore key elements of design such as color, shape, size, texture, density, and layout to understand and appreciate how these elements combine to convey meaning in Little Blue and Little Yellow, by Leo Lionni. Using art and digital media, they will then create their own designs to express meaning for setting, character relationships, and plot. Students will realize how to use design elements to read images and how meaning in picture books is equally conveyed in both words and images.

This lesson is not about markers over pencils; it is about developing a relationship between students and media and how such nurtured connections can support students' ideas in what they write and how they write it. Through in-class discussions about writing/drawing materials and carefully observing how an illustrator uses media to communicate ideas, students will see how materials can extend knowledge. This lesson provides opportunities for students to explore and experience the meaning potential of everyday writing and drawing tools in their own writing. The lesson can (and should be) adapted for older students.

The students will move to the music based on its beat, words, tune, and other variables.

This alignment results from the ALEX Health/PE COS Resource Alignment Summit.

Reading and creating comic strips and comic books are engaging ways to promote literacy at any grade level and across content areas. The students in this video are members of a high school comic book club and have access to drawing tablets and Adobe Photoshop, so they can achieve sophisticated results. Even without such software, however, teachers can still integrate digital comics into a wide range of teaching situations. This video comes with several support materials that include video discussion questions and project suggestions.

There are a number of comic books, especially contemporary ones, that are not “school appropriate,” so you might want to guide students’ web research on comic books.