"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

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...

Students participate in cross-curricular activities and readings to become familiar with the works of Brian Jacques. In this heroes lesson, students discuss the character traits of legends and how their characters develop through events...

Students research and read about the lives of some famous American heroes. They examine the qualities that make or made these people heroes and how the time period they lived in influenced their images as heroes.

Students use print and nonprint sources of different heroic myths to generate a definition of the word "hero." They conduct a character study on three mythological heroes and formulate a definition of the word "hero" based on...

Review the elements of tall tales with your class. Take a look at their genesis and purpose. Different types of figurative language found in tall tales are included such as hyperbole, simile, and metaphor. Before reading an American tall...

In this New York State Testing Program English Language Arts worksheet, students read several passages and two poems and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then write an essay response to one of the passages. 

What is your idea of paradise? Middle and high schoolers share their visions of paradise on earth in this lesson, in which they view a video segment about Shangri-La. Your high schoolers can discuss and then write about their ideas in a...

Children in foster care face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. A guide for the novel One for the Murphys introduces a main character, Carley, who is thrust into the foster care system. Chapter-by-chapter questions cover key...

Learners use video and the Internet to research the life of Nellie Bly, a famous female reporter from the 19th century. They research a writer and present their information to the class in the style of a news reporter.

The Odyssey is the core text in this unit study of the hero's journey motif. Along the way, kids research Greek and Roman history, mythology, art, and epic poetry. The 104-page packet is perfect for homeschool or classroom situations and...

Young scholars investigate slavery in America circa the American Revolution. They will examine point- of view and perspective as they research a variety of informational resources. While this is designed to be used with the PBS video...

A reading of Beowulf: Dragon Slayer, Rosemary Sutcliff's retelling of the classic epic poem, launches an exploration of what it means to be a hero, a noble leader, and a great warrior. A great way to introduce middle schoolers to...

Students create a slogan. In this heroes lesson plan, students identify traits from hero stories that match traits of real life heroes. They discuss what lessons they can learn from heroes about courage and come up with a one line slogan...

These words are very confusing for non-native English speakers because they sound very similar, but they have different meanings. Quiz your English language learners on their knowledge of various homophones with this 20-question quiz. 

Looking for materials to accompany your study of Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes? Look no further! Included here is everything you need to go alongside your unit: worksheets, graphic organizers, writing assignments, an assessment,...

As part of the introduction to Edward Bloor's Tangerine, class members generate a KWHL chart listing what they know, what they want find out, how they plan to find this information, and what they have learned or still want to learn.

Epics, like the Odyssey, were told over the span of several days and drew quite a crowd. Before starting the famous work with your class, review this presentation to gain some insight into the structure and history of epic poems. 

Students participate in a collaboration activity. For this My Hero Project lesson, students discover what a hero is to someone halfway around the world and themselves. Over the 16-week session, circles, made up of between 6-9 classes...

Students create a new super hero based on their knowledge of root words. For this word roots and origins lesson, students choose a Latin or Green root word to use as part of their super here name, then create a drawing and description...

Middle schoolers explore the humane treatment of animals. In this character development and civic responsibility instructional activity, students define "hero" and brainstorm related attributes. Middle schoolers complete an action plan...

Learners use the My Hero website to help them develop their reading skills. They create a KWL chart for the hero of their choice.

Students prepare to write summaries of heroes. In this note-taking instructional activity, students listen to a guest speaker discuss the attributes of unsung heroes and take Cornell method notes.

As a before reading strategy, class members select a tale from mythology, examine several picture book versions of the myth, and fill out part of a Venn diagram with observations about the hero in particular and the myth in...