British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: King Lear: The Disintegration of the Social Structure
These activities encourage students to examine the tensions that characterized the political and social landscape of the early 17th century and to compare these with fears about the disintegration of the social structure expressed in...
TES Global
Tes: Commedia Dell'arte Character Introduction
[Free Registration/Login Required] This slide show introduces the major stock characters in Commedia Dell'Arte, a form of theatre characterized by masked "types," improvised dialogue, and a cast of colorful stock characters which began...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Aphra Behn, the Rover: Carnival
These activities allow students to explore how Aphra Behn uses character types and tropes associated with carnival in "The Rover". Students can relate this to the play's context of production, and comic theories relating to the...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Macbeth: Lady Macbeth
This varied series of activities is designed to encourage learners to exercise independence of thought when exploring the presentation of Lady Macbeth throughout the play. The tasks draw learners' attention to the varied ways in which...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Othello: Critical Approaches
This activity allows students to consider how different critical approaches can influence a reading of the play. Students will work in groups to explore different attitudes to Othello by looking at a range of texts from the past,...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Much Ado About Nothing: Comedy and Tragedy
Engaging with these sources will encourage students to examine the way Shakespeare approached his work, as well as examples of contemporary texts with similar themes, some of which are challenging. Included are discussion questions,...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Measure for Measure: A Problem Play?
What is Measure for Measure's problem? The play confronts us with questions about sex, morality, and power, which challenge us as readers and audiences. In these activities, students will debate why the play is so problematic, through...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Earthquakes Living Lab: Epicenters and Magnitudes
Students learn how engineers characterize earthquakes through seismic data. Acting as engineers, they use real-world seismograph data to locate earthquake epicenters via triangulation and determine earthquake magnitudes.
New York Times
New York Times: Batman's Evolution
Audio slideshow explains differences in Batman characterizations that have evolved over time as the superhero, first created in 1939, moved across media formats from print, to television, to film. An interesting overview of a favorite...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Hamlet: Ophelia, Gender and Madness
In his portrayal of Hamlet and Ophelia, Shakespeare raises troubling questions about gender and madness. These activities encourage students to compare these two central characters, and how they have been used to reflect changing views...
TES Global
Tes: Commedia Dell'arte and Stock Characters
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a slide show lesson on Commedia Dell'Arte and stock characters including a close activity on Commedia Dell'Arte, a definition of stock characters with examples, modern day stock characters, and...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Critical and Analytical Thinking About Literary Characters
Contains plans for four lessons that use the short story "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry to teach about characterization using word maps. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement:narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost
Using Frost's famous poem, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" as an example of narrative poetry, students explore the artistry and significance of the narrative poem. In addition, this lesson plan provides suggestions for writing...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write Literary Text That Develops Interesting Characters
A learning module that teaches students how to write an literary text with good characterization in four lessons: Introduction, Two Types of Characterization and Two Types of Characters, Choosing Your Characters, and Your Turn.
TES Global
Tes: Commedia Dell'arte: Prompt Cards for Practical Work
[Free Registration/Login Required] Two slideshows on Commedia Dell'Arte. Includes character cards, each with a picture of the character and a short description, and dramatic form cardss, also with pictures and explanations. The latter...
US Geological Survey
U.s. Geological Survey: Introduction to Soils
This unit teaches students how soils develop and provides links between soils, climate, vegetation, and geology. It includes a field exercise where students can sample and characterize their local soil and relate different soil processes...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Great Depression: Creating Narrative Through Photography
This video [4:15] segment from the American Masters film Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning provides a documentary photographer's perspective of the severe economic despair and difficult living conditions that characterized the...
British Library
British Library: Wilde's the Importance of Being Earnest: A Close Reading
For this lesson, students will consider several aspects of Oscar Wilde's most popular of comedies, "The Importance of Being Earnest". The success of this play is in part due to its examination of moral principles - in this case, the...
British Library
British Library: Bronte's Jane Eyre: The Figure of Bertha Mason
This activity will encourage students to explore the character of Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester's first wife, through the lens of medical history. They will compare Charlotte Bronte's presentation of the character with the perspectives...
British Library
British Library: Bronte's Wuthering Heights: Who Is Heathcliff?
This activity involves an exploration of the notoriously multifaceted character of Heathcliff, drawing on a range of sources that include the visual, literary, and historical. Students will reflect on Emily Bronte's depiction of...
British Library
British Library: Bronte's Wuthering Heights: Fantasy and Realism
Students will consider the two elements of fantasy and realism that combine to create the compelling narrative in Wuthering Heights (1847). In this activity, students will explore the significance of nature within the narrative, its...
British Library
British Library: Dickens's Great Expectations: The Gothic, the Uncanny
This activity will introduce the idea of the uncanny and explore its expression within the narrative form of Charles Dickens's novel "Great Expectations".
British Library
British Library: Dickens's Great Expectations: Social Mobility
This instructional activity will explore this theme of social mobility through a reading of extracts from Samuel Smiles's Self-Help (1859), the handbook that many young men in 19th-century Britain turned to in seeking advice as to how to...
British Library
British Library: Dickens's a Christmas Carol: Poverty, Money and Miserliness
In this activity, students will consider the economic and political context that informs Charles Dickens's famous novella, A Christmas Carol.