High schoolers explore Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this analysis lesson, students recognize the use of poetic conventions as a principle of dramatic structure after analyzing the sonnetShakespeare created for the first meeting...

Seventh graders complete political analysis activities. For this political analysis lesson, 7th graders discuss party platforms and research party issues for their party's candidate's positions. Students complete an issues organizer and...

Social Studies and role-playing can go hand in hand. Learners use supporting evidence found in primary and secondary source material to develop a character from the Five Points neighborhood in the 1850s. Each student takes on the role of...

Help young readers learn to read and interpret complex text independently. Teach young children to ask interpretive questions and use the text itself to answer them. Use art, word play and drama to provide a deeper understanding of...

The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets...

Students analyze text and utilize outside resources to determine Iago's fate, which is not addressed by Shakespeare in Othello; students present their findings in an organized trial scenario.

Pupils investigate historical context by reading poetry.  In this language arts lesson, students discover the work of Michael Longley and examine his poem "Ceasefire."  Pupils identify the sonnets used in the piece and discuss...

Students research marriage customs of the Renaissance, discuss and debate the issues raised by Claudio repudiating Hero at the altar in the Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing, and then stage a mock trial accusing Claudio of...

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

High schoolers discover the ideas of enlightenment by reading historical poetry. In this philosophical lesson plan, students read poems by Sir Walter Scott and Sergeant Joyce Kilmer while discussing the themes of the writing with...