Political cartoons, because of their powerful means of communicating the artists' message, are subject to "freedom of speech" protections. Have students create their own political cartoons after studying First Amendment rights and freedom of speech issues.

• First, explore free speech issues and the First Amendment using resources on this EDSITEment Freedom of Speech Week webpage. Ask students the following: "What constitutes free speech? When does one's freedom of speech become an infringement on another person's rights? How do political cartoonists exercise their first amendment rights?"
• Then, after completing one or more of the lessons below, ask students to comb the newspaper or Internet resources and create a list of current events.
• From this list, have students draw original cartoons using the techniques they've studied.

After students have completed their work, consider having them published in the school newspaper, or share them in the school library.

Promote school-wide awareness of bullying issues by sponsoring a poster contest. First, complete one of the lessons below and review information learned about bullying and the roles of bystanders and victims. Divide the class into three groups, and have each group create a poster representing the role of the bully, the victim, or bystanders to educate other classes about bullying issues. Then, advertise a poster-making contest to other classes, asking students to create posters that illustrate ways each student in the school can help stop bullying and make the school environment safer.

• Invite entrants to use any medium they wish to create their posters, including pencil, crayon, paint, or even an interactive medium such as the ReadWriteThink Printing Press (flyer format).
  
  
• Ask other classroom teachers, the school counselor, and the art teacher to help in judging the posters. Be sure to communicate your judging criteria as part of the contest.

Include a reproduction of the winning poster in the school newsletter or website, or feature the poster in the library, cafeteria, or main office.

Share with students one of Seamus Heaney's most famous poems, "Digging." Ask students to focus on the figurative language the speaker uses to characterize himself as a writer, especially as he compares himself to his father and grandfather. Challenge students to discern the speaker's attitude toward himself as a writer, and how metaphor, simile, and image contribute to their understanding and appreciation of the poem.

Using Heaney's poem as an inspiration, invite students to write a poem that uses an extended metaphor (or a series of metaphors or other comparisons) to express their own attitudes toward themselves as writers. Point out that the speaker of "Digging" expresses his attitudes by comparing his pen positively to a gun, and then later, his pen both positively and negatively to a shovel or spade. Encourage students to use, as Heaney does, specific, vivid images to support the comparison they make.

Have students compare and contrast two views of the Holocaust from different authors. Have students first read both Night and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Then, have them look at the similarities and differences between these two accounts of Holocaust events. Ask students the following questions, using a Venn diagram to record responses during your discussion. If you prefer, students can work in small groups to create their own Venn diagrams using the ReadWriteThink Interactive.

• How are the two authors similar and different?
• How did their experiences during the Second World War differ? How were their situations similar?
• Did Anne Frank and Wiesel's main character share similar feelings?
• How did the formats of these two texts differ?
• What were the differences between the endings? Were there any similarities?

Extend students' study of the Holocaust by having them research stories of other survivors who may or may not have published books. Have students create a presentation highlighting the person they select.

Note Franklin's service as Postmaster General by setting up your own classroom postal service. First, have students investigate the roles and duties of the USPS Postmaster General and Franklin's role in particular. Discuss Franklin's contributions to postal history, then have students set up their own mail delivery service.

• First, have the class nominate (by show of hands or ballot) and select a Postmaster General, who will organize your postal service.
• Set up mailboxes, such as mail pouches attached to student desks, shoeboxes with slotted lids, shelves, decorated coffee cans, etc. Then choose a frequency of delivery-daily? Morning and afternoon?
• Finally, have the Postmaster General organize a group of "mail carriers" to collect and deliver mail from and to mailboxes. You may wish to have all students take turns along with other classroom jobs, or accept volunteers who can be scheduled for mail duty on a rotating basis.
• Students can use the interactive Letter Generator to write letters to their classmates. Be sure students understand that their letters should be appropriate for the classroom, and that everyone should be included. More tips are  available for use with the Letter Generator.

A Modest Proposal is considered to be one of the best examples of satire ever written. Have students explore the elements of satire and parody using the lessons below. Then, have them extend that exploration by surveying instances of satire and parody in television and film, advertising, and journalism. Begin by dividing students into three groups and assigning each to either television and film, journalism, or advertising.

• Have each group explore their assigned topic, looking for examples of satire or parody. As they find examples, encourage students to locate concrete examples they can bring in for a class display. Examples might include a DVD case or movie review, a magazine advertisement, a newspaper editorial, a book or book jacket, etc.
• Working as a group, have students create an exhibit that highlights their findings. As part of the display, students should describe how each item is an example of satire or parody, what satirical technique is being used, and other related information.

Celebrate the publication of Webster's Dictionary using a variation of the board game Balderdash. Divide students into groups of five or six, and provide each group with a dictionary and some blank paper cut into strips:

• One student scans the dictionary to find a word that he or she believes no one has ever heard before, reads it aloud, and spells it. The other students write down either a real or made-up definition of the word.
  
  
• The student with the dictionary writes the real definition and then collects the other definitions. The leader reads all of the definitions and the students in the group then individually choose which of the definitions they believe is real.
  
  
• Two points are awarded for selecting the correct definition and one point to each student whose definition is selected. Points are totalled and the next person in the circle selects a new word.

When Eleanor Roosevelt learned that Marian Anderson had been denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, she decided to resign her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Show your students her resignation letter, along with the letter from Mrs. Henry M. Robert, Jr., president general of the DAR, responding to Roosevelt's resignation (pages one and two). Students may have difficulty reading the handwritten text so, after viewing the original documents, you may want to transcribe them.

Ask your students to write a letter to a newspaper editor explaining their feelings about a present-day social injustice. Invite your students to compose their letters with the Letter Generator.

In celebration of Earth Day, have your students research some environmentalists who have made major contributions to our planet. A good starting point would be to view the people listed on the Ecology Hall of Fame. Have each student choose one person.

After researching the person's achievements, students can then write letters to the environmentalists asking for their opinions on a current environmental issue or to share ideas on how to protect the earth. Students can write a friendly or business letter using the Letter Generator. After printing the letters, have students turn their letters into letter poems using the Letter Poem Creator, which will help them change their letters into poetic form.

Once the poems are finished, host an Earth Day poetry reading-outdoors if possible.

In Black Beauty, Anna Sewell tackled one of the contemporary issues of her time, the cruel treatment of horses, many of them abused by their owners. Her work made readers aware of the need for laws to protect animals from harsh and abusive treatment.

After exploring the cruelty to animals in Sewell's novel, extend the discussion to current events. Divide students into pairs or small groups and ask them to conduct some research into the use of animals in testing drugs, cosmetics, and other products. Be sure to have online as well as traditional print resources available. Student groups should compile and present the information for and against using animals to test various substances.