If you've ever wished you could respond to an author's message, an instructional activity that connects three poems with the same concept will appeal to you. Based on the first few lessons' focus on Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate...

What exactly does make life worth living? In preparation for a fishbowl discussion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, readers of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel highlight sections that show a character grieving, coping, or suffering...

Whether the planks hide the beating of a hideous heart or they break away to the madness beneath, their presence makes itself known in the final instructional activity of a literary analysis unit. Having gathered textual evidence from...

Plants prefer classical music to rock and roll. That's one of the claims in an informational passage that makes up part of a set of standardized assessment questions. The set is part of a larger collection of English language arts tests...

How do Supreme Court justices interpret amendments to the Constitution? The resource helps answer that question by discussing how people use explicit and implicit language to interpret the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Learners...

The capitalization rules are strict and inflexible—until you experience the fluid beauty of an Emily Dickinson poem. Ninth graders test their existing knowledge of language arts conventions with the many bent grammar rules in "I Felt a...

This idiom instructional activity will give your reluctant grammarians a change of heart about figurative language. Scholars read 15 sentences and then write the meaning of the idiom and the sentence in the space provided.

Reading and comprehending a poem is a lot different than doing the same for a piece of fiction or an informational text. As part of a sample English language arts examination, readers put their skills to the test by reading passages in...

Lady Macduff uses a metaphor to suggest that her husband does not possess the courage of even a tiny, short-winged bird—ouch! Using the resource, pupils discover Act 4.2 of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Using reading, writing, and discussion,...

Elizabeth Cady Stanton compares sins to monsters, using a metaphor to make a point about morality. Using the fifth of 14 lessons from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series, learners analyze paragraphs 8-10 of "An Address by Elizabeth...

What are you implying? Scholars look at paragraphs eight and nine of the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" to determine the implications of Du Bois's use of metaphors. In groups, readers discuss the use of metaphors and add their...

Learners work on the Internet to listen, read, and practice writing in a foreign language. They focus on the use of idiom and humor in other languages.

It is difficult to articulate how growing up feels as accurately and beautifully as Sandra Cisneros does in her short story "Eleven." After seventh graders read the story and note the author's use of figurative language, they respond to...

Build procedural text comprehension skills by having your class follow a set of instructions, first with, then without visual aids. They work through each step to create a pop up card. They also learn a bit about themselves as learners...

Everyone loves food! Help your English language learners pick up some vocabulary with a series of activities based around cognates and food. Pupils practice each word and focus on the words in-depth by filling out Frayer model...

Poetic language is abundant in Natalie Babbitt's beautiful novel, Tuck Everlasting. Learners note the examples of similes, metaphors, and personification they find as they read, and illustrate how the language creates a sensory...

Anansi is a tricky character, but can he realize he's wrong and write an apology letter? Learners use Anansi and the Pot of Beans to practice writing, art, and figurative language. A series of activities are engaging for both...

Does identity come from within, or do external forces shape it? Explore the complex identity concept with a two-unit module for 12th-grade language arts. The first unit uses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and "A Daily Joy...

Young scholars work with word cards to define and identify synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. Participants listen to instruction, read word cards, discuss their new-found knowledge, and put it into action by creating sentences and...

How to paraphrase, when to paraphrase, and the difference between paraphrasing and quoting is the focus of a 23-slide, color-coded presentation that not only instructs viewers but also asks them to demonstrate their understanding of the...

What is the best way to compare and contrast viewpoints on the same topic? A persuasive writing unit plan addresses targeted skills, vocabulary, instructional strategies, and suggested resources that would be perfect for developing writers.

To demonstrate their understanding of figurative language, middle schoolers use a guided reading worksheet to find examples of figurative language in a text, identify the technique being used, and to explain how they were able...

In order to read and respond to Toni Morrison's A Mercy in this figurative-language lesson, students discuss the differences between a literal and a figurative interpretation of a text.  They explore figures of speech using a...

Throw down with a fun language arts game! Armed with a hand of writing-themed cards, learners craft arguments based on the strategies written on the cards, dropping cards as they discuss their claims further until there are no strategies...