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Lesson Exchange: Introduction to Research Papers (Senior, Literature)
Although unlikely in today's English classroom, this instructional activity focuses on introducing research papers to seniors in high school. It briefly reviews the parts of an essay, and mentions showing learners example essays, but no...
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Children's Literature and African American Culture
Third graders examine various stories and poems and identify characteristics that make each individual unique. After analyzing the readings, they create their own personality poems to accompany self-portrait drawings. The poems and...
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Langston Hughes
Students identify similarities between Hughes' poetry and music (jazz and the blues).
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Art and National Identity: Analyzing Painting and Literature from the Era of Manifest Destiny
Students begin the lesson by discussing the causes and effects of the movement west. Using primary sources, they develop their own definition for manifest destiny. In groups, they view examples of paintings and read poems on the topic. ...
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Life in Plymouth - Pilgrim Study Unit
Students write a timeline showing significant events in the Plymouth Colony that occurred between 1621 and 1628. They define and illustrate key vocabulary words which are imbedded in this lesson plan. This simple activity is designed to...
Smithsonian Institution
Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon
How do barns serve as a window to a community's past? Here are a series of lessons on the symbolism and historical context of barns throughout American history. Topics include community-building, in-depth primary and secondary source...
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Similes, Metaphors, and Personification
Eighth graders explore figurative language, specifically focusing on similes, metaphors and personification. They work on the web to identify poems that demonstrate simile, metaphor, and personification, then analyze how it enhances...
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In A Station Of The Metro And A Pact
Middle schoolers are exposed to two different works of poetry in order to complete a task of comparing and contrasting them. They analyze the poem and identify the juxtaposition. The analysis is compiled by them to make a class report of...
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Searching For The American Dream
Ninth graders explore the meaning of the American dream and how it has been explained in various forms. After reading various immigrant accounts, 9th graders use poetry and writing to explain how different cultures view the American...
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Outer Space Creature
Learners read poems by Shel Silverstein about planets and outer space. As a class, they compare and contrast his descriptions to actual facts which have been discovered through explorations. They write a description of an outer space...
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Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
Fifth graders read a rewritten version of the Declaration of Independence, create a set of pictures illustrating the Preamble of the Constitution and create a version of the Declaration of Independence in the form of a song, a poem,...
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Autobiographical Writing
In this unique lesson on autobiographical writing, students compare and contrast three types of writing: narrative, poetry and newspaper. Students prepare to produce a short autobiographical writing based on the framework of one of the...
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Science Fiction
Students complete compare and contrast activities for two stories about racism and tolerance in the science fiction genre. For this literary analysis lesson, students read a Ray Bradbury short story and Walter Mosley poem, watch a...
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The "Write" Stuff: Third Grade Strategies and Conventions
Students analyze the writing process through the ten lessons of this unit. The expository lessons address topic and detail sentences, paragraph organization and development, note taking, reports and letter writing.
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Teaching Poetic Devices
Young scholars identify and analyze the poetic devices of alliteration, metaphors, onomatopoeia, personification, rhyme, and similes. They identify examples of each poetic device in songs, complete a worksheet, and teach the devices to...
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Where in the World is Flat Stanley?
Second graders analyze the proper form of a friendly letter and send flat Stanley letters all over the United States. In this letter writing instructional activity, 2nd graders read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and create their...
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Native American Culture
Students research Native American culture. In this Native Americans instructional activity, students read the folk tale, The Strongest One and identify the natural resources in the poem. Students participate in a discussion of how Native...
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Parallel Studies in American/Afro-American Literature, Part II -- Black and White Images in Alienation
Students begin the lesson with a review of the elements of poetry. Individually, they read a variety of poems and literature one white and one black author focusing on decay, sterility and alienation. They identify these images within...
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A Peaceful World
Young scholars investigate children's' rights. They examine what the rights mean, how they are violate and what actions students can take to protect those rights. They read and discuss a poem before investigating the United Nations and...
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Traveling the Transcontinental from Yesterday to Today
Students examine the impact of the train on the physical landscape and spatial organization of America. They read and analyze various poems, analyze maps, and develop a list of the positive and negative changes brought by the...
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History and Geography: Making a New Nation
Fifth graders examine the contributions of the different groups that built the American Nation. They identify the successive waves of new immigration, explain their attraction to America, and study the importance of Ellis Island.
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The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
Students read and analyze a poem about a speaker's posthumous view of war, assess the purpose of an author's note and evaluate the effect of the point of view on the reader's response. They work in groups to discuss and analyze the poem.
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Backward Lesson
Pupils view a copy of the painting "Last Moment of John Brown (1884). They discuss the content and composition of the painting. Important questions to be answered during the discussion are included with the lesson. They write an analysis...
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Ideas and Commodities Cross Cultural Regions
High schoolers compare and contrast how commodities native to certain countries have impacted the economies of other nations. After gathering information regarding how commodities are grown and traded, students use their information to...