The Mandela Effect–A Research Lesson That’ll Make Their Heads Explode!

Posted by Oct 2, 2023 Accessible ELA Lesson Plans , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m always thinking about high-engagement topics for teaching students to conduct research and tackle informational texts. I was talking to some of my juniors and seniors about the Mandela Effect, and they were super interested. We’re getting ready to delve into research essays, and I wanted to create a lesson that would grab their attention and get them excited about nonfiction reading and note-taking.

It’s a bonus that they’ll have to learn who Nelson Mandela was. History. Sneaky.

Introduce the idea of summarizing and paraphrasing sources in order to support a stance with this fun, 90-minute lesson about the Mandela Effect. Students will learn about the Mandela effect by engaging in a whole-class activity/game to lead in to the concept before completing by a guided research into three famous Mandela Effect cases: Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980s, Darth Vader said “Luke, I am Your Father” in Star Wars, and Britney Spears’s skirt in the Baby, One More Time music video.

Streamlined features make this lesson quick and simple:

  • Embedded links to news articles saved to Google Drive; no hearing “this link is expired.”
  • Articles are formatted to be easy to read–no ads or popups!
  • Accompaniment YouTube videos are linked as sources right in the lesson plan document.
  • Intro game can be downloaded as a PDF or accessed in Canva. Either way, all you have to do is open it and go–even if you didn’t look at it before class!
  • Research lesson is ALL ON ONE GOOGLE DOC. Live links for students make sources simple and easy to locate.
  • Graphic organizers help even struggling students navigate the lesson and take effective notes.

I think this will be the perfect lesson for a stand-alone 90-minute block class. Check out the resource, including a preview of the whole thing on TpT!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/E2E-Mandela-Effect-Intro-to-Research-Game-Organizer-90-Minute-ELA-Lesson-Plan-10274928

Keywords: E2E, enraged2engaged, Mandela Effect, research intro, informational text, nonfiction text, evaluate text evidence, note taking organizer, graphic organizer, secondary ELA, high school English, accommodations, modifications, high engagement lesson, 90-minute ELA lesson, google docs, google drive

About sara

I have spent the last 18 years in various classrooms, most of them in alternative education working with criminal, at-risk, or behavior-disordered students. I am just a regular teacher like you, who learned a lot of quality information the hard way. Currently, I work with students, families, and teachers to formulate effective and creative plans for helping students change problematic behaviors into productive ones as we work together to reintegrate students back into a general education high school setting.
View all posts by sara »

Leave a Reply