Writing
Scholastic

What a Character!

For Students 4th - 7th Standards
How do you know what traits a character displays in a story? Learners select a character and find list three traits for this character, explaining why they chose each trait. They then put this information together into a paragraph or essay.
Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Exploring Character Development in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part Two: Final Draft of Analytical Essay

For Teachers 8th Standards
What's one way to make a good essay great? Revise! Scholars revise their drafts from a previous lesson plan to help write their final polished analytical essays about the universal refugee experience. They also practice properly citing...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 9

For Teachers 10th Standards
Having prepared for an analysis essay about one of the characters from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, tenth graders demonstrate their understanding in a mid-unit assessment. They focus on either Jing-Mei or Waverly in an informative...
Assessment
Curated OER

Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 4 ELA/Literacy)

For Students 4th Standards
Track the progress of your fourth graders' reading and writing skills with this practice Common Core assessment. Based on a collection of six reading passages that include narrative stories, poetry, and a series of...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 9

For Teachers 9th Standards
Find the central idea in an excerpt from Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a literary analysis lesson plan. As your class analyzes a section of the story, they determine how the author forms the central...
Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Out of the Dust

For Teachers 6th Standards
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
Organizer
2
2
Australian Centre For the Moving Image

Dreamworks Animation Character Design

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Dive into animation creation using Dreamworks® animated films. Compare and contrast characters, wonder and ponder why the plot is so important, and think of background and themes as your creativity unrolls onto paper.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 10

For Teachers 11th Standards
To write an essay or not to write an essay—that is the question! Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment based on their study of Hamlet. They write essays analyzing how Shakespeare develops Hamlet's character about other characters.
Activity
Fabius-Pompey School District

Paired Passage Practice and the Extended Response Question

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
How do pupils relate paired passages to each other? Here's a resource that helps! The lesson includes a short story and a poem as a set of paired reading passages, followed by some analysis questions. It also includes an essay template...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 14

For Teachers 10th Standards
A thorough unit on literary analysis and character development culminates in a final writing assessment. Prompted to compare the parent-child relationships in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, high...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 7

For Teachers 10th Standards
As a mid-unit assessment of a series of lessons that use Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief” as an anchor text, writers craft an in-class essay discussing how Hundert's character has developed throughout the text.
Lesson Plan
1
1
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 20

For Teachers 9th Standards
Oedipus' lack of literal and figurative vision does not mean he cannot see his guilt in the terrible fates of Laius, Jocasta, and all the lives touched by prophecy. Conclude a literary analysis unit on Sophocles' Oedipus the King with a...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 16

For Teachers 9th Standards
Prepare for the end-of-unit assessment in a unit focused on Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." As your class continues gathering evidence to support or argue against the success of Claudette's adaptation into...
Handout
Novelinks

The Tempest: Concept Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Use a handy concept analysis guide as you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. With character descriptions, literary themes, and anticipated affective issues, the guide can help those new to using The Tempest craft...
Organizer
1
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Southwest Career and Technical Academy

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story - Compare and Contrast

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
West Side Story, the modern retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, won ten Academy Awards for its rousing depiction of the tale of star-crossed lovers. But how closely does the plot align to its source material? Compare and...
Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Readers of Lord of the Flies examine the four main symbols William Golding develops in his novel: the island, the conch, the Lord of the Flies effigy, and fire. Partners select one of the major symbols and create an image by adding words...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 17

For Teachers 9th Standards
Eighth graders demonstrate their understanding with the final assessment in a literary analysis unit based on Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." Having prepared for the assessment in the last few...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 12

For Teachers 10th Standards
As the class concludes its close reading of “The Palace Thief,” groups consider how the narrator's character has changed throughout Ethan Canin’s short story.
Activity
Novelinks

The Martian Chronicles: Response Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before...
Worksheet
1
1
K12 Reader

If

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Rudyard Kipling's advice to his son in the poem "If" is a resounding message that echoes through generations. After reading the famous poem, middle schoolers work on analyzing specific lines, completing activities based on...
Assessment
Fluence Learning

Writing About Literature: Comparing and Contrasting Characters in Heidi

For Students 5th Standards
Scholars read excerpts from the story, Heidi, in a three-part assessment that focuses on comparing and contrasting characters. Each part contains three tasks that challenge learners to discuss, answer comprehension...
Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Classroom Activities for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

For Teachers 5th - 8th
A 16-page packet includes three activities for a unit study of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before beginning the novel, class members identify the factors in their lives that helped create their frame of reference,...
Unit Plan
Mr. Ambrose

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...