For high school students, this presentation defining the correct use of pronouns, might be invaluable. Many students have trouble knowing when to use them in a sentence. By engaging in this presentation, learners can start to explore the...

If you have a favorite author, you probably recognize their style. Conduct a close read of the text, marking it up as they go. Collaborative sharing time and a summary writing prompt follow the main activity.

Barbie has been an iconic figure in the lives of girls since the 1950s, but her existence has been full of controversy. A lesson plan on style, format, and genre explores that controversy by looking at three texts with different...

“. . . one of the great challenges to humanity is acknowledging and overcoming a natural tendency to think less of and discriminate against people who are different from us . . .” Launch an examination of competition and cooperation, of...

Never Forget. As part of a study of the Holocaust, class members watch a PowerPoint about Terezin, read selections from I Never Saw Another Butterfly, Children's Drawings, and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, then craft their...

Poetry analysis need not be a lugubrious exercise for young learners. The approach used with Denise Levertov's poem, "The Metier of Blossoming" is one of close observation, of noticing and reflecting on the words, phrases, and images the...

Arthur Sze's poem "Crisscross" launches a lesson that asks scholars to use their observation skills. They first draw an image that reflects what crisscross means to them. They then examine a photograph of a lightning strike and list what...

What do the myth of the phoenix bird and Ada Limón's poem "Instructions on Not Giving Up" have in common? Young scholars create a list of what they notice about both the myth and poem, then consider what the similarities might indicate...

Scholars engage in a role-play exercise, compare their demonstration to a time-lapse video, and to a poem by E.E. Cummings. The ensuing discussion asks learners to consider the similarities among the three.

A free write, an image of magnolia leaves, and the Ed Roberson's poem "Once the Magnolia has Blossomed" ask scholars to use their noticing skills to reflect on the lesson beauty teaches about loss and grief.

William Wordsworth's poem "Lines Written in Early Spring" lets learners sharpen their observation skills. Class members first closely examine the image "Flowers in Front of an Abandoned House in Demerino, Russia," listing what they...

Round, flat, static, dynamic. As part of a characterization study, scholars review the different types of characters and create a slide show demonstrating how a dynamic character in a story they have read changes throughout the tale.

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is, among other things, the study of a ruler's ambitions. Young scholars watch videos, read articles, and keep a Commonplace Book while studying the play. At the end of Act III, pupils stage the play that...

Claudia Rankine's poem "From Citizen, VI [On the Train the Woman Standing]," asks readers to consider direct and more subtle forms of prejudice. After discussing the format of the poem, its tone, and the emotions expressed, class members...

Read it, hear it, see it, do it! Young poets experience Edward Hirsch's memory poem, "Cotton Candy," by first closely reading the poem silently, then aloud, watching a video of the poet reading it, and crafting their memory poem of an...

Young engineers turn poets with a hands-on activity that challenges them to apply the concept of rhythm to crafting a poem.

To conclude their study of the letters of Abigail Adams, class members engage in a Socratic seminar where they discuss her writings and what her letters reveal about her.

The 10th lesson in this series has researchers examining a packet of letters from Abigail Adams to her sisters. Scholars note examples of the themes that appear throughout the letters.

Childbirth has never been easy and is not without risk, even in the 21st century. Young historians gain insight into the travails of 18th-century childbirth as they read letters between Abigail Adams and her husband about their loss of a...

Young historians examine a 1778 letter from Abigail Adams to John Thaxter and another from Abigail to her husband John Adams, written in 1776, that reveal her views on the perceived role of women and the laws that governed women's roles....

Lesson five in the series asks scholars to examine letters Abigail Adams wrote about her experiences during American Revolutionary War battles, her thoughts on slavery, and her concerns for her husband.

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.

Remember this lady! Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States, and the mother of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams, was much more than a wife and mother. This prolific letter writer is the...

Learners gain insight into how songs and poems express feelings of injustice. They also learn about literary devices and types of poems and make a personal connection when they write their own free verse poems about injustice.