High schoolers explore the American dream. For this contemporary music lesson, students analyze the lyrics of songs by Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and David Massengill. High schoolers create 3-D representations of the American dream...

Students read a variety of biographies to gain insight on the experiences of an African-American's life. Individually, they try to determine the time period it was written and compare the event with ones that occured in their own lives....

The Great Gatsby, The Jungle and study HRC's Teaching the American Twenties-The Dream Factory are the focus of this lesson, Your learners will rewrite a small scene from the novel into a dramatic film scene and then create a modern...

Discuss a Nero Wolfe mystery on brining criminals to justice. Secondary students will read the book A Nero Wolfe Mystery: The Doorbell Rang. They then will watch the movie depicting this story and answer discussion questions. There are...

Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...

Focusing on Doppo's "Unforgettable People" and late nineteenth century Japanese literature, this resource also leads to discussions of form being dictated by content. Explore the development of new literary styles first-hand by...

Students explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Young scholars study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two...

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...

Students gain insight into human behavior from the study of literature. They read a poem and respond by creating a poem of their own. After a lecture/demo, students utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan to help them compose an...

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.

Students research the life of Henry Luce, Time Magazine's founder, and examine the impact his magazine has had on the way American's see the world. They create a photo-essay, magazine or video to present their research.

Students analyze the Declaration of Independence and primary sources to explain civil rights. Then, students write a Declaration of Change to express the grievances of African Americans, and their desire to participate fully in the...

The first in a series of three resources designed to accompany a reading of Kate Chopin's The Awakening provides readers with background information about Chopin, Creole culture, literary realism, and women's suffrage.

Students use Internet links to plan a 3-day tour of France. They role-play a typical encounter that may be experienced during their trip.

Students examine the poem To Walt Whitman by Angela de Hoyos. They divide into groups. Each group creates a poem written from one of two perspectives: to Walt Whitman or to de Hoyos from Whitman.

Students explore the life and times of Robert Frost. Using a fact worksheet imbedded students access websites to gather information about the life and writings of Robert Frost.

Students analyze modernist poetry in depth and detail. The several historical, social, and cultural forces that prompted the modernist movement and its effects are examined in this lesson.

Students create an art piece that expresses their opinions while circumventing hypothetical government restrictions in this instructional activity on art and government censorship. Emphasis is placed upon historical instances of...

Ninth graders examine a character from the short story, John Steinbeck's, "Flight." students respond to questions about the story and illustrate the character's journey.

Students examine the epic poem Beowulf. In this analyzing poetry lesson, student compare listen to the Will Smith song "Wild, Wild West" and read Beowulf. Students analyze the song and the poem. Students then research an influential...

This lesson focuses on American Literature literary time periods and a timeline including: Puritanism, Rationalism, Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. A link to a chart of the time periods and the characteristics of each. It also...

This site presents the full text of the "Simonds History of American Literature." This detailed reference book explores the literature in early colonial times, the eighteenth century, the beginning of the nineteenth century, the New...