Introduce young thespians to all aspects of the theater. A syllabus for a one-semester drama course provides lessons that take learners from the history of drama to the many facets of play production.

Shakespeare's plays may be old, but they still have relevant lessons for today's world! A collection of lesson plans uses examples from The Merchant of Venice and District Merchants to teach about bravery. In addition to learning...

Clothes might not make the man but they certainly do help an actor create a character. How costume designers employ the same elements of design found in sets (line, color, texture, shape) to realize a character is the focus of a lesson...

Researching the characters, setting, and background history of a work of literature enhances interest and improves reading comprehension. An interactive website contains a wealth of resources related to Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering...

To conclude a unit study of Jason Reynold's Ghost, class members examine how Castle's feeling about his bedroom change over the course of the novel. Groups use the provided graphic organizer to identify the plot of the novel and then use...

What makes heroes and villains? A six-part unit plan asks young scholars to explore the concept of heroism and the characteristics they consider heroic and unheroic. Groups create character maps that focus on how characters are shaped by...

A set of 14 primary sources provides background for a study of Lorraine Hansberry's drama, A Raisin in the Sun. Featured are images from stage productions of the play, white supremacy protests, a clip from a television interview, and...

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...

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...

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the focus of three activities designed for readers of the autobiography.  First, class members deconstruct the title to understand Douglass's purpose in writing. Next, scholars...

A curriculum guide for Jane Eyre focuses on Charlotte Bronte's portrayal of women. Readers engage in three activities that prepare them for an essay in which they argue whether the novel is a work of female rebellion or affirms...

Spoiler Alert! An 18-slide presentation includes information about author William Golding, his experiences reflected in Lord of the Flies, a summary of the story, the political and religious allegorical levels of the novel, and the themes.

Readers of Lord of the Flies take on the persona of one of the characters in William Golding's novel and craft a postcard to send home describing their adventures. On one side, they create an image of the island, and on the other, they...

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...

Assess readers' comprehension of William Golding's Lord of the Flies with an exam that includes matching, true/false, and multiple-choice questions.

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,...

A Tale of Two Cities is the core text for five lessons in a Curriculum Guide for Charles Dickens' famous novel. To begin, scholars examine Dickens' use of anaphora in the first line of the novel. Next, they compare the point of view in a...

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is the featured text in three classroom activities. The first activity asks readers to analyze the description of Edmond Dantes in Chapter XVII, paying particular attention to Dumas' word...

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...

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the anchor text for a lesson that teaches readers how to distinguish between a literary topic and a literary theme. Using the provided worksheets, groups first chart some themes and propose a...

Call him a reliable narrator! Ishmael is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to analyze the complex character of Herman Melville's narrator as he is introduced in the first chapter of Moby Dick.

Pain and suffering do not have to be inevitable in a study of Crime and Punishment. A carefully scaffolded lesson introduces readers to the divided natures of the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's complex novel. Groups use the...

Ordinary and extraordinary readers will find much to contemplate in a activity on Crime and Punishment as they examine the dichotomies in Dostoevsky's novel. Scholars reflect on Raskolnikov's theory that extraordinary individuals are not...

Double, double scholars' appreciation of the Scottish Play with a guide that adds a rich brew of pre-reading background information, chapter discussion questions, activities, and writing prompts to provide readers with a "firm and good"...