National Endowment for the Humanities
Scottsboro Boys and "To Kill a Mockingbird": Two Trials for the Common Core
Here's a must-have resource for anyone reading To Kill A Mockingbird or using Harper Lee's award-winning novel in a classroom. The packet contains Miss Hollace Ransdall's first-hand, factual account of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys,...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment: Text to Film Comparison
Scholars work on an end-of-unit assessment to put all of their learning together. They complete short answer questions about gist, multiple choice questions about A Midsummer Night's Dream, and complete graphic organizers comparing film...
Curated OER
Examining Secondary Sources: The American Revolution
Learners who have a grasp on the events of the Revolutionary war view clips from five different films as secondary sources. They take notes on each clip thinking about historic inaccuracies. They then view parts of the film The Patriot...
EngageNY
Text Comparisons: Comparing Text Structures and Text Types (Chapter 9)
Scholars revisit the comparisons they made in the previous lesson of "Incident" and To Kill A Mockingbird. They talk with their discussion appointment partners about the structure of a narrative and use a Compare and Contrast Note...
Curated OER
Learning From World War II and Connecting It to the Present
Compare and contrast World War II to the modern Iraq war with this instructional activity. After watching a film, learners use supporting evidence to support their point of view of the conflicts. Using the internet, they create a...
Albert Shanker Institute
Making the Case for Equality: A Comparison
Martin Luther King Jr's " I Have a Dream" speech and Atticus Finch's closing argument during the trial of Tom Robinson both address the societal need to overcome racism. After examining the rhetorical devices and figurative language used...
EngageNY
Mid Unit 2 Assessment: Text to Film and Perspective Comparison of to Kill a Mockingbird (Chapter 18 and One Scene from Chapter 19)
Have you ever heard someone say the movie is not like the book? Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment to compare scenes from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to the movie version. The assessment contains short answers, multiple choice,...
The New York Times
The Horror! The Horror!
Gear up for Halloween by studying the horror genre with your class and analyzing films and texts to uncover the genre's traditional conventions.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film
Young scholars research the social context of Elizabethan England for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". They identify cultural influences on the play focusing on the theme of revenge and then analyze and compare film interpretations of the play.
Media Smarts
Violence on Film: The Ratings Game
Learn about film and TV ratings systems in Canada (includes a comparison to the MPAA system) and how they influence appropriate viewing for youths. A detailed commentary about the film Seven pointed at revealing flaws in ratings systems...
Ohio Literacy Resource Center
Compare & Contrast Essay
Comparing two texts can build a greater understanding of the texts and themes of the works. Take some time to follow the steps here to guide your pupils through the process of composing compare-and-contrast essays.
Penguin Books
A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Mary Shelley ’s Frankenstein
Contrary to popular belief, the monster's name in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is not Frankenstein. A teacher's guide for the novel helps readers make sense of key details in the text, define vocabulary words, and discuss prominent...
EngageNY
Text to Film Comparison: Bottom’s Transformation
Scholars meet in a drama circle to discuss what they remember from reading A Midsummer Night's Dream Act III, Scene 1 in the last activity. They then take turns reading the scene aloud, stopping to answer questions as they read. Learners...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Night to Life is Beautiful
After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...
Curated OER
Shakespeare 2000
Young thespians can try their hand at writing a script and acting out a scene, while gaining a deeper understanding of the universal topics presented in Shakespeare's wide array of plays. Begin the lesson by conducting a compare and...
Prestwick House
Analyzing Multiple Interpretations of Literature
There is a reason why an Oscar is given each year for the Best Adaptation Screenplay. Adaptations are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare a work of literature with a least one adaptation of the work into a...
Channel Islands Film
The Legendary King
After viewing two documentaries about the history of the Channel islands, individuals craft an essay in which they compare the lives of Juana Maria, the Lone Woman San Nicolar Island, to Lester Holt and his family featured in the...
EngageNY
Text to Film Comparison: Bottom the Fool
Pretty ugly, jumbo shrimp. Oxymorons are awfully good! Scholars reread Act I, scene 2 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream while participating in a drama circle. Next, they begin working on anchor charts to dissect Shakespeare's...
Random House
Teacher's Guide: The Hobbit: The Enchanting Prelude to Lord of the Rings
The Odyssey, Star Wars, The Hunger Games. Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen. Add The Hobbit and Bilbo Baggins to these lists, and you have a unit examining classic and contemporary myths, legends, and folktales with hero and...
EngageNY
Text to Film Comparison: Taking a Stand at the Jailhouse (Chapters 14-15)
Readers look closely at Scout in chapter 15 of To Kill A Mockingbird. Learners use turn and talk and Analyzing Scout's and the Reader's Perspectives Note-catcher to compare their perspectives to Scout's. They then make a comparison to...
Curated OER
Lesson Ideas for Comparing and Contrasting Content
Here are three lesson ideas to help students learn how to compare and contrast information in any content area
Curated OER
Plagiarism Workshop
What do George Harrison, Vanilla Ice, and Steven Ambrose all have in common? The Warner Brothers’ films Batman Forever and The Devil’s Advocate? All are guilty of plagiarism. And if you are considering a research project and want to...
Mr. Roughton
Late Middle Ages Dossiers
Young detectives are given the "clues" to investigate whether King John should be remembered as a poor ruler of England, particularly in comparison in King Richard. They analyze historical informational texts and work in groups to...
Curated OER
Fairy Tales
Class groups examine fairy tales from a feminist and a Marxist perspective, identifying how these tales present gender roles and class/power systems. The groups then script and perform their own tale that uses one of these lenses.