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Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Instructors expect great things from a good teacher's guide, and this one delivers. The 48-page guide to Charles Dickens's Great Expectations provides information about plot developments and new characters and places introduced in each...
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher's Guide to Lord of the Flies by William Golding

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Many critics consider William Golding's Lord of the Flies as one of the best English language novels of the 20th century! It is also one of the 100 most challenged books taught in schools! Instructors willing to accept the challenge of...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Robert Hayden's poem "Those Winter Sundays" serves as the anchor text in a five-part instructional activity that takes the mystery out of poetry analysis by modeling explicit strategies for pupils to employ to conduct a close reading of...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As class...
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Organizer
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Waunakee Community School District

Identifying Themes in Literature

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
If your language arts learners have a hard time determining the universal theme of a written work, use a straightforward worksheet to help them find it. After reviewing a list of common themes, kids note the title, character, plot, point...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Shopping Spree

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Mastering the Mighty Melville

For Teachers 11th - 12th
“Bartleby the Scrivner” as an existential forerunner to The Office? Dense and often dark, Herman Melville’s stories abound with Biblical allusions and complex symbols. If you are considering using Melville’s novels or short stories with...
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Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Allusion (English II Reading)

For Students 10th Standards
The eighth lesson in a series of reading interactives focuses on allusions and what these literary devices add to a text. Readers examine examples of four types of allusions: mythological, religious, historical, and literary. They then...
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Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Allusion (English III Reading)

For Students 11th
An interactive lesson introduces readers to allusions, the literary device writers use to add depth to their work. Users record notes on the provided graphic organizer as they identify the allusions in poems by Walt Whitman, Langston...
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Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Close Reading of Poetry: Practice 3 (English II Reading)

For Students 10th Standards
Poems by Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, Jean Toomer, Maya Angelou, and others offer users of the final interactive in a ten-part set to demonstrate what they have learned about how writers use imagery, metaphors, allusions, and...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: Catalog Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
After conducting a close reading of Billy Collin's poem "Forgetfulness" and responding to questions on a worksheet, young poets craft catalog poems and share their work with a partner. The lesson plan ends with the partner using the...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Abigail and John in Love

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The second lesson in the series asks groups to analyze an exchange of love letters between Abigail and John Adams. Scholars identify the many allusions and references in the letters and consider what they can infer about the writers.
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

An Educator Guide to Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
Call Us By What We Carry, a poetry collection by Nation Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, is the focus of a 10-page teacher's guide. 
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

The Discussion Guide to the Inaugural Poem: The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb," featured at the 2021 inauguration of President Joseph Biden, is the focus of a six-page guide. The guide includes before reading, during reading, and after reading...
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Unit Plan
Trinity University

Framing Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The big idea in this poetry unit plan is that structure and content work together to create meaning. Class members learn how to identify and mark the metrical patterns and line lengths used in poems. They study the structure of various...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

Narrative Voice in Moby Dick

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Call him a reliable narrator! Ishmael is the focus of a lesson plan that asks readers to analyze the complex character of Herman Melville's narrator as he is introduced in the first chapter of Moby Dick.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Making History” by Marilyn Nelson

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
What makes an event newsworthy, worth a reference in a news magazine or textbook? Who decides? These are questions Marilyn Nelson asks readers of her poem "Making History" to consider. To begin, class members list details they notice in...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "A Place in the Country" by Toi Derricotte

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Build young scholars' confidence in analyzing art and poetry with a lesson that first asks pupils to list details they notice in Edouard Vuillard's painting "Garden at Vaucresson" and then to describe how the painting makes them feel....
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Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Classroom Activities for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

For Teachers 5th - 8th
A 16-page packet includes three activities for a unit study of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before beginning the novel, class members identify the factors in their lives that helped create their frame of reference,...
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Activity
1
1
Livaudais-Baker English Classroom

Literature Circles

For Students 9th Standards
Keeping readers focused during literature discussion circles can sometimes be a challenge. Check out this worksheet that ensures accountability by establishing six very specific, very different roles for group members: facilitator,...
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PPT
1
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Livaudais-Baker English Classroom

Lord of the Flies

For Students 9th
What do The Simpsons, Survivor, Sponge Bob Square Pants, and Nine Inch Nails all have in common? They all include allusions to Lord of the Flies. Strange but true! An 18-slide presentation introduces viewers to the many layers of William...
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Unit Plan
1
1
Livaudais-Baker English Classroom

Lord of the Flies

For Teachers 9th Standards
Packed with activities, projects, and assessments, first-time instructors and seasoned veterans will find much to like in this overview of a nine-part unit based on William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
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Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Classroom Activities for The Odyssey by Homer

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A 15-page packet details three activities designed to engage scholars in Homer's The Odyssey. As they read, pupils use a graphic organizer to record examples of several literary terms found in The Odyssey and contemporary culture. Groups...
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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...