Curated OER
Historical Context: Discovering a Painting
Young scholars analyze a work of art. In this historical context lesson, students research the time period in which the art they observed was created. Young scholars consider differing opinions about a work of art.
Curated OER
Science Meets Artistry: the Work of Cai Guo-Qiang
Students discuss and examine the work of artist Cai Guo-Qiang. In this art lesson, students analyze how cultural and historical factors impact the visual arts.
Curated OER
Learning about a Culture from Objects
Students examine and interpret possible functions of several traditional cultural objects. In this learning about a culture from objects lesson, students identify how environment impacts a culture and the role of animals and plants...
Small Planet Communications
Planet Book Club: Number the Stars
Planning a novel study of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars? Then look no further. A 16-lesson unit guides students through a reading of this awarding-winning novel. Complete with a synopsis of the novel, analysis of its literary themes,...
NC State University
Scribbling Women: "A Whisper in the Dark": Synopsis and Interpretations
This site provided by Scribbling Women offers a wealth of information that helps in understanding Louisa May Alcott's work "A Whisper in the Dark." A synopsis, literary interpretation, historical and literary contexts, a biography, and...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments
This multi-session lesson features the opportunity to analyze a variety of famous speeches. Students will look carefully at tone, rhetoric, propaganda techniques, and historical context as they write an analysis paper....
University of Iowa
Bringing History Home: My History at School
This unit introduces children to the concept of history as a story. By focusing on their experiences at school, students connect history concepts with personal experience and learn history using primary sources from their own lives. This...
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks
A rich resource, this site offers biographical, critical and historical information related to Brooks and her work.
Cornell University
Cornell University: Library: Rare and Manuscript Collections: Gettysburg Address
See a copy of the only privately held copy of the Gettysburg Address and read contemporary newspaper reviews of Lincoln's stirring speech.
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: The Revolutionary Americas
Find relationships among primary and secondary sources of information that identify where information from different sources converges and where it differs.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
Critical analysis of both the historical documents and the literary texts connected with the Salem trials is key to this lesson, which includes a number of activities and some wonderful resources.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Using Historic Digital Newspapers for National History Day
In this lesson plan, learners will consider "Using Historic Digital Newspapers for National History Day." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
Stanford University
Stanford: Great Expectations Historical Context
A helpful resource concerning the historical and cultural context of Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, both within the setting of the novel itself (1812-1840), and the novel's publication (1860-1861).
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: Analyze History [Pdf]
This graphic organizer will help students analyze a historical event. Students will carefully analyze the historical event's context and then determine the causes and their effects.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and the Dystopian Tradition
Professor Brians shares the text of this talk about the historical and literary context of Bradbury's novel and other dystopian works.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad
In the novel "Heart of Darkness," Marlow travels up the Congo River on behalf of a Belgian trading company. Once he is far upriver he encounters the mysterious Kurtz, a man who has set himself up as a god amongst the natives. Selected...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
In this novel, Louise dreams of leaving her tiny island home in Chesapeake Bay, but first she must escape the shadow of her twin sister who seems to rob her of everything. Selected (11) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "Jacob...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Social Conflict Theory in an Historical Context
This five-question quiz is based on the passage "Social Conflict Theory in an Historical Context."
Other
Florida Gulf Coast University: Young Goodman Brown
Florida Gulf Coast University's research and analysis of the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is a comprehensive overview of his work.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Elements of Literature: Historical/biographical Analysis Chart [Pdf]
A short graphic organizer which allows students to assess the historical and biographical influence on a piece of literature.