Curated OER
The Railroads and Settlement of the Great Plains
Enhance your American literature unit with this resource, in which readers access the Nebraska Studies website and read about "Railroads and Settlement." They search for a photograph of some aspect of the railroad from the Prairie...
Dream of a Nation
Writing Interdisciplinary Essay
The Grapes of Wrath. The Jungle. Native Son. The Things They Carried. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. To address a current social, political, economic, or environmental issue, class groups pair the reading of a classic...
Curated OER
Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...
Curated OER
Poet James Whitcomb Riley: Famous in His Own Day
An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...
Curated OER
Lord of the Flies Introduction
Twelfth graders, as an introduction to a unit on The Lord of the Flies, participate in an activity in which they demonstrate how good people can do things that they know are wrong. They discuss peer pressure and "why good people do bad...
Curated OER
Night by Elie Wiesel Chapter One
Students participate in a layered curriculum unit with varied difficulty activities like this one: Write a brief narrative (300 words) Discuss your answers to the following questions: What do you know about the Holocaust? Where did you...
Curated OER
Letters from Emily Dickinson: Letters and Poems
Students analyze how Emily Dickinson perceived herself as a poet. Students read correspondence between Dickinson and her preceptor, Mr. Higginson to determine the depths of their relationship. Students interpret several of her poems.
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 12
Class members compare the final 30 minutes of Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with Act V of Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope and consider how the choice of media influences viewers' impression of the...
Curated OER
Mock Trial
Students, after the traditional read and discussion of BEOWULF, put one of the the main characters on trial.
Curated OER
Introduction to the Monomyth, an Initiation Theme
Students analyze the archetypal hero called the monomyth. In this archetypes instructional activity, students discuss the topic and view a chart of hero figures with related details. Students analyze the monomyth process diagram, read...
Curated OER
Incorporating Thoreau And Theatre
High schoolers investigate the writings of Thoreau. They read passages orally and look for words of imagery in the text. Students also answer a series of questions and they convert passages of writing into theatrical presentations in...
Curated OER
Modern American Poetry
Students identify different types of literary terms in poems. They read different poems and create a packet summarizing them. They write a poem of their own and a biography of one of their favorite poets.