For Teachers
For educators, facilitators, and organizers – here is a list of curricular ideas developed by teachers for how to put the Turn it Around! Flashcards to work in a classroom. They include lesson plans for elementary, middle, and secondary programs, as well as ESL (English as a Second Language), EFL (English as a Foreign Language), and ELD (English Language Development) contexts.
If you’re an educator developing your own Turn it Around! curriculum, share it with us and we will include it here for others to use as we work together to Turn it Around!
LESSON PLANS
What Are the Issues?
| Grade Level/ Group Size | Elementary / Small Groups 3-5 Students |
| Brief Description | Using the Turn it Around Cards, students will group and categorize issues refining their understanding of what the card authors are sharing. |
| Subject(s) | Language Arts, Social Studies, Problem Solving, Collaboration Skills |
| Length of Lesson | 30 minutes approx. may have more than one session |
| Lesson Objective | Students will read for comprehension and use the text and their understanding to categorize issues in cohesive groups that can be justified and agreed upon by the small group. |
What Does This Artwork Say to Me?
| Grade Level/ Group Size | Open/ 3-5 in small groups |
| Brief Description | Artwork of Turn It Around cards will be used to reflect on meaning and message of artworks in preparation for creating a Turn It Around card |
| Subject(s) | Language Arts, Social Studies, Art Appreciation, Art |
| Length of Lesson | 30 minutes may have multiple sessions |
| Lesson Objective | Students will examine artwork, respond to the artwork through writing and compare their response to the artist’s stated purpose in creating the art. |
What Speaks to You?
| Grade Level/ Group Size. | Elementary/ 3-5 in small groups |
| Brief Description | Students take time to react and empathize with issues others have considered are needful and that can “Turn Around” to a positive. |
| Subject(s) | Language Arts, Social Studies, Environmental Studies, Human Resources |
| Length of Lesson | 30 minutes approx. may have more than one session |
| Lesson Objective | Students will identify with an issue and solution from a card and make a plan to assist with the solution on the card or plan another solution and share with peers. |
Letter to your City, County, State, and National Officials
| Grade Level/ Group Size | 4-12 grade / 25-35 students |
| Brief Description | Students will use the Turn It Around Cards to identify a topic that they are passionate about to write a letter to an elected official. |
| Subject(s) | Literacy, Environmental Science, Policy, Social Studies, Civics |
| Length of Lesson | 2 hours |
| Lesson Objective | Write one letter to a County, State, or National Official. Identify formal letter elements. |
Nature Note Card
| Grade Level/ Group Size | K-4 / up to 100 students |
| Brief Description | In this lesson, students will walk to different locations in nature to connect with the environment. Students will move in a group and stop at two different locations. Students will have one note card with a writing implement and clipboard. Students will use grade level appropriate spelling, math concepts, and science concepts to complete the lesson. At each location, students will be guided by an instructor to observe the environment using their senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing) to write a question to nature and create a picture and/or description of the environment around them. |
| Subject(s) | Math, Science, Literacy, Environmental Science, Environmental Literacy |
| Length of Lesson | Approximately 1 Hour |
| Lesson Objective | Write at least one question to the environment they are observing. Draw at least one picture about the environment they are observing. |
Environmental Haiku
| Grade Level/ Group Size | 7-12 / 25 students |
| Brief Description | Teaching poetry (Haiku writing) and raising Environmental Awareness through composing Haiku poems about the environment. The Turn it Around Cards are used as prompts to stimulate discussion, prompt imagination and extract environment vocabulary. This lesson can be conducted individually or with the students organized in groups or even pairs. |
| Subject(s) | Writing, English, Literature and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) |
| Length of Lesson | 45-60 minutes |
The Earth is a Gift
| Grade Level/ Group Size | 5 / 25 students |
| Brief Description | The Context is based on mutual relationship of the elements of nature for sustainability. I love to teach the theme from the poem and make learners aware about their responsibility towards the earth. By the end of the lesson they come to know the significance of our nature hood and how should we behave as human, how should we treat the nature. |
| Subject(s) | English Language Learning Class |
| Length of Lesson | 40 minutes |
Our Planet Asks for Help
| Grade Level/ Group Size | High School / 36 students |
| Brief Description | This activity encourages students to reflect on climate changes and future happenings on our planet. It will use the Jigsaw Methodology and is divided into three parts: discussion in specialist groups, presentation of the specialist group for heterogeneous groups and grammar points discussion. For vocabulary, we will present words and expressions present in which group of cards. We intend to engage students in social skills when working in a group, summarize skills when presenting to others, and language skills when they are presenting, discussing, and checking grammar points. |
| Subject(s) | English as a Foreign Language |
| Length of Lesson | 120 minutes |
Can You Turn it Around?
| Grade Level/ Group Size | Grade 11-12 (then pass on to 6-10th grade heads of year to adapt and use with their students) / up to 250 students |
| Brief Description | Present the ideas and images to the students, to make them think. Really highlighting the ages of the students and places that they are from. With the students’ privilege and opportunities to go out into the world to affect change, I want to highlight what other students, from elsewhere in the world, often younger, believe and think. Follow up later with discussion in form period with form tutors in following week, discussing what they would put on a card, and discuss some other statements not mentioned in the assembly. |
| Subject(s) | Pastoral assembly for both year groups |
| Length of Lesson | 15 minutes |
Multiplication of Fractions with Whole Numbers
| Grade Level/ Group Size | 4-6 / 30 students |
| Brief Description | In this lesson, students learn how to multiply fractions with whole numbers using word problems with themes of climate change and saving the Mother Earth. Turn-It-Around cards are used as springboard to motivate and elicit thinking among learners about the lesson. |
| Subject(s) | Mathematics |
| Length of Lesson | 60 mins |
Turn it Around: Making a Change in Your Own Community
| Grade Level/ Group Size | EFL Intermediate level (B1-B2)/ Up to 30 (To be developed in groups or individually) |
| Brief Description | This lesson follows the 21st Century Learning Skills Framework, more specifically the 4C’s of learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Although the 4Cs are presented in the lesson separately, they integrate with each other throughout the whole lesson. Students’ prior knowledge guides the work and throughout the lesson, they have opportunities to broaden Global Awareness and think, plan and engage in actions for change. Students have also the opportunity to practice specific vocabulary, reading, listening, and speaking skills in the EFL Classroom. |
| Subject(s) | English as a Foreign Language |
| Length of Lesson | 2-4 hours |