National Endowment for the Humanities
Narrative Voice in Moby Dick
Call him a reliable narrator! Ishmael is the focus of a instructional activity that asks readers to analyze the complex character of Herman Melville's narrator as he is introduced in the first chapter of Moby Dick.
Facing History and Ourselves
Hardship and Hope: Teaching Amanda Gorman's "New Day's Lyric"
Class members come together to study Amanda Gorman's poem "New Day's Lyric." After a close reading of the poem, learners watch a video of Gorman reading her poem, and then craft additional lines for the poem where they offer suggestions...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Theme Analysis in A Christmas Carol
Why does Charles Dickens have Ebenezer go from scrooge to light-hearted and generous? From "Bah, humbug!" to "God Bless Us, Every One!" After rereading Dickens' preface to A Christmas Carol, learners analyze quotations from the tale that...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Scrooge as He is Revealed during the Ghostly Experiences
Readers learn how to use both direct and indirect characterization clues provided by Charles Dickens to understand the complexity of Ebenezer Scrooge's character. Scholars collect evidence of comments Scrooge hears, how he responds to...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Language Analysis Based on Stave 1
Class members meet the original scrooge, the Dickens character whose name has become synonymous with a cold-hearted, tight-fisted, miser. Using the provided worksheet, readers closely examine context clues to determine the meanings of...
Weber County Library
Weber Reads: The Adventures of Huckleberry FInn
A 32-page instructional pack contains eight lesson plans for use with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Lessons include an examination of the role of superstition in the novel, Twain's use of satire, and a discussion of the...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
An 18-page curriculum guide for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice consists of five lessons. The first plan asks readers to compare the manners, social behaviors, and class issues in Austen's novel to today's. Next, pupils examine a...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
An 11-page packet contains three activities designed for readers of Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience. In one exercise, groups debate whether Thoreau would today be considered liberal or conservative. For another,...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
A 20-page curriculum guide for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince includes five lessons and related worksheets. For background, class members research and create travel brochures for Florence, Italy, in 1500. Next, they analyze...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations can prove to be a challenge for instructors who choose to use Dickens's novel as required reading. Here's a curriculum guide that includes lessons that address some of these challenges. The first lesson in critical...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Eight lessons and worksheets comprise a curriculum guide for Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Class members create a timeline that includes world-historical events as well as events in the novel. They analyze the speaking styles of...
PBS
Discuss 22-year-old Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb”
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...
PBS
Exploring the Drive to Create in Frankenstein
Is it hubris that drives the creative process? Is it the desire to be remembered long past death? An interactive asks readers of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Percy Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" to consider what this wife and...
PBS
Symbolism and the Use of “New Language” in The Handmaid’s Tale
Words matter. Words frame thought. Words are symbolic. Readers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale examine how the words In Gilead's "New Language" reinforce the power of the government and provided insight into the symbolic level...
PBS
Their Eyes Were Watching God: Socratic Seminar
A Socratic seminar wraps-up a study of Zora Neale Hurston' Their Eyes were Watching God. Using the text and their notes, scholars focus on how characters in the novel accept or reject the societal norms of the times.
PBS
Satire, Parody, and Humor in Catch-22
Laughter is the heart of dark comedy. It makes the unbearable bearable. Joseph Heller crafted his dark comedy Catch-22 to enable readers to laugh at the painful realities and underscore the absurdities of a war where people you...
PBS
Catch-22: Satirize This!
Some assignments are great, some can become great, and some have greatness thrust upon them. This one is great. After completing Joseph Heller's classic satire, Catch-22, groups craft and present their own political satire.
PBS
Their Eyes Were Watching God: The Impact of Language
Author, filmmaker, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston was also a dialectologist. The dialogue of the characters in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God reveals her fascination with accents and dialects. A short video from the Great...
PBS
Catch-22: What It Means to Be a(n Anti)Hero
Catch-22, Joseph Heller's send-up of military organizational bureaucracy, provides readers with an opportunity to consider the importance of the anti-hero. Class members fill out a worksheet comparing and contrasting the qualities...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 9
Change for the better. Scholars continue their study of the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" by looking at paragraph eight. They study how Du Bois continues to develop his ideas by describing the changes after the passing of the...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 4
What exactly is consciousness? Readers look at paragraph three of the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" and discuss how Du Bois introduces the ideas of double consciousness and true self-consciousness. Scholars track the development...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 2
Scholars read paragraphs one and two of the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" and search for ideas. Readers analyze how Du Bois introduces and develops an idea throughout the text. They complete the Idea Tracking Tool and discuss two...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 6
How did the women's rights movement create a ripple effect, improving the lives of future generations? Scholars read and analyze paragraphs 11-12 of "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton," in which the author emphasizes the importance of...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 5
Elizabeth Cady Stanton compares sins to monsters, using a metaphor to make a point about morality. Using the fifth of 14 lessons from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series, learners analyze paragraphs 8-10 of "An Address by Elizabeth...