Four lessons make up a poetry unit that introduces high schoolers to spoken and written poetry. Class members also examine poems as social commentary and connect these poems to various novels and plays. A great way to incorporate poetry...

Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...

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. 

Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is controversial. Like many other Angelou books, it is frequently challenged or banned from schools. In fact, Angelou is one of the most frequently banned authors in the United States. An...

Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is a bit of a puzzle. Critics have long debated Montresor's motives for killing Fortunato. Young scholars examine examples of the three types of irony (verbal, dramatic, and...

What three readily available things would you grab in case of an emergency? That's the question that launches a unit study of William Golding's The Lord of the Flies. After sharing their choices, class members read Golding's rationale...

We carry memories of where we're from; tweens and teens can capture these memories by first listening to several memory poems and then crafting their own. They analyze literary devices other poets use, brainstorm a list of images they...

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech provides the text for a instructional activity that introduces scholars to the significance of syntax. After examining several types of clauses, phrases, and structures, class members...

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.

Students investigate the quality of writing while focusing on the use of sensory words to convey meaning and ideas. The power of similes and metaphors is emphasized while they create and edit works of writing. The skill of descriptive...

Learners examine the impact of sound devices in poetry. In this poetry lesson, students read the listed poems and identify uses of hyperbole, simile, metaphor, imagery, and personification. Learners discuss how sound devices enhance poetry.

Learners read nursery rhymes and advertisements to identify examples of figurative language. As a class, students discuss the use of figurative language and its effectiveness in advertising, children's books, rhymes, poetry, etc. ...

Learners study and explore the portrayal and development of a major character in a novel from the novel, "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens. They identify words and phrases that effectively describe the main character in this novel....

Middle and high schoolers remember their most memorable experiences, and then connect their own narrative with an exposition about the topic associated with their experience. This New York Times lesson would be a great addition to...

When is a staple remover a fanged monster? In your ELA classroom when you're teaching this fun figurative language instructional activity, of course! Get your young writers using figurative language by making a game of it. Give groups a...

Aspiring writers complete and discuss fill-in-the-blank cliché expressions, define cliché as a form of predictable writing, take cliché expressions and turn them into new, unpredictable ones, read poetry that illustrates writer's use of...

Learners explore the parts of the cell. In this cell lesson, students use foods to create cell models that represent the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, mitochondria, ribosomes, vacuoles, endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi bodies...

After reading The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a homework assignment your class will complete a literary analysis.  Learners will analyze important element of the story and take notes to help support their...

Poetry Soup, a reading and writing unit constructed by the Petrified Forest National Park, will have scholars hungry to learn about nature. The cross-content unit contains topics related to history, science, and language arts. Content...

Students find examples of figurative language in "First Rain" in Out of the Dust.  In this Out of the Dust lesson plan, students takes notes on various type of figurative language and identify examples of each type in the poem.

Learners read the poem, Still I rise, by Maya Angelou. They examine how language, poetic devices, and format contribute to the poet's message. They identify poetic devices used in the poem.

Students compose an original rap. They discuss the career and music of Kanye West, discuss their pre-writing worksheet, and write an original rap using a Final Draft Worksheet.

High schoolers select vocabulary words from their reading each week then complete a card for each word which includes definition, source and a sample sentence. They share their cards with the class and complete vocabulary building cards...

Young scholars write a free-verse poem and utilize the skill of providing detailed instructions. identify opportunities to create poems from simple, everyday verbal or written instructions. They study everyday language that has merit as...