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Lesson Plan
PBS

Discuss 22-year-old Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb”

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Two poems by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman are spotlighted in a PBS lesson. Young scholars conduct a close reading and watch videos of Gorman reading her inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb" and "The Miracle of Morning." They...
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Unit Plan
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Are You My Mother? An Opinion Writing Unit

For Teachers 2nd Standards
During a five-day lesson, scholars analyze written and visual art—primarily the poem, Mother to Son by Langston Hughes— identify facts, and write opinions. Learners read the poem several times, discuss, write, compare and contrast, and...
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Activity
Digital Public Library of America

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A set of 14 primary sources provides background for a study of Lorraine Hansberry's drama, A Raisin in the Sun. Featured are images from stage productions of the play, white supremacy protests, a clip from a television interview, and...
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Activity
PBS

Presidential Leadership and the Goal to Unify | America’s Great Divide: From Obama to Trump

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Traditionally, a United States President's Inaugural Address establishes the tone and vision for his presidency. It has stressed the goal to unify the country and bring the political parties together after what are often divisive...
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Lesson Plan
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1
Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Legal Action: The Supreme Court

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A social justice lesson focuses on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans. The lesson begins with class members examining a photograph of...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Homelessness and Poverty

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Photos can capture a complete story in a single image. Class members closely examine a photo of a homeless camp and attempt to read the story told by the picture. They then read the caption for the photograph and compare their notes with...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Gender Bias

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young sociologists are asked to read two photographs, identifying how the photographer uses point of view, color, pose, light, and shadow to express a stereotype of women or to challenge those stereotypes. Partners then create their own...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Language Analysis: “I Have a Dream”

For Teachers 8th Standards
Middle schoolers look closely at Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech and use a language analysis sheet to determine if King's sentences use active or passive voice. They then move their attention back to A Mighty Long Way to...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing an Author’s Craft: Carlotta’s Journey to Justice

For Teachers 8th Standards
Find your voice. Readers look at a passage from A Mighty Long Way and discuss what it means for Carlotta to find her voice. After discussing figurative language and idioms, learners listen to the song "This Little Light of Mine" and...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Different Mediums: Advantages and Disadvantages

For Teachers 8th Standards
How do authors play to people's moods? After briefly reviewing mood using a Conditional and Subjunctive Mood handout, learners practice identifying conditional and subjunctive sentences in the Montgomery Bus Boycott speech before reading...
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Lesson Plan
Sargent Art

Warhol­-like Color Study

For Teachers 10th
The lithographs of pop artist Andy Warhol inspire a lesson that asks young artists to try their hand at creating a study that demonstrates the effect color has on design. After drawing a self-portrait, participants paint their image in...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing a Thematic Concept: Becoming Visible after Captivity

For Teachers 8th Standards
Have some dignity. Readers describe the word dignity using a word web and then sort Louie's actions into categories of reconnecting or dignity with a Visibility Double Arrow graphic organizer. They then use all of their ideas and...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Informational Essay Planning: Essay Rubric and Planner

For Teachers 8th Standards
Pupils walk through the process of writing essays for their final assessment of Unbroken. They begin by reviewing the rubric using Rubric Criteria strips that assign a portion of the rubric to each pair of learners. They then participate...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Author’s Craft: Analyzing Hillenbrand’s Language Techniques

For Teachers 8th Standards
Young readers take a look at the conditional and subjunctive moods authors use. The Conditional and Subjunctive Mood handout defines the types of moods and gives them examples and practice. They then work with partners to identify...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Analysis of Language Techniques

For Students 8th Standards
Watch your language! Scholars work on an end-of-unit assessment in which they demonstrate the language skills they learned. Questions ask readers to work with different types of verbs and moods all about the text in Unbroken.
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Lesson Plan
Common Sense Media

The Masque of the Red Death

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Poe goes high tech with a lesson that asks high schoolers to use the internet and various apps as they read and analyze "The Masque of the Red Death." In addition to responding to comprehension questions in Quizlet, they use Minecraft to...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 4: Unit 2, Lesson 5

For Teachers 10th Standards
When Macbeth says, "Nature seems dead," he uses personification. Using the resource, scholars complete a Quick Write to analyze the impact of figurative language on the mood of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Pupils also participate in an...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 4: Unit 2, Lesson 6

For Teachers 10th Standards
What decisions might an author make about the structure of a play? Pupils participate in an evidence-based discussion about Shakespeare's choices in Macbeth. Next, scholars analyze the effect of Shakespeare's structural choices in Act 2,...
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Lesson Plan
Pace University

Short Stories

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
A reading of Kevin Lamb's short story "Lost in the Woods" launches a study of how writers use elements such as foreshadowing, mood, character development, setting, and conflict to engage readers. Class members then demonstrate what they...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Using Video to Create Setting and Mood

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Writers have long used words, the sound of words, and the images created by their words to describe the setting and establish the mood of their stories. To gain a more in depth understanding of how settings can be used to develop a...
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Lesson Plan
Lafayette Parrish School System

Teaching Tone and Mood

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Tone and Mood are not synonymous! Introduce young readers to these literary devices with a series of exercises that not only point out the significant differences between the terms but also shows them how to identify both the tone and...
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PPT
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District 186 Springfield Public Schools

Tone, Mood, Theme, and Motif

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
It's all well and good when you're asked to identify a speaker's tone using his or her body language, facial expression, and pitch and emphasis. Identifying the tone of a written passage is another challenge entirely. Check out an...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Brigham Young University

Understanding Design, Composition, and Color

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...
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Unit Plan
Honors College at Scholar Commons

From Start to Strike: A Lesson Plan for the Whole Theatre Experience

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Introduce young thespians to all aspects of the theater. A syllabus for a one-semester drama course provides lessons that take learners from the history of drama to the many facets of play production.