Students discover the life and work of an American author, either Samuel Clemens or Louisa May Alcott. In this study of visual and written portraits lesson, students take a look at the authors through four different sources: a portrait,...

Students explore women and music in the 20th century. In this music lesson, students study the relationship between literature and music through The Color Purple and music by Ethel Waters, MA Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella...

Students express the meaning of the Star-Spangled Banner. In this American history instructional activity, students read through the national anthem and complete an activities from a list of choices. Some choices include: writing the...

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 discuss and define folklore, locate town of Sleepy Hollow, NY, on map, calculate distance from Sleepy Hollow to their school, if applicable, review vocabulary list from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, read story aloud, and write...

High schoolers analyze mood and voice in Emily Dickinson's poem, "There's a Certain Slant of Light." After the analysis, students write a poem of their own emulating the Dickinson poem, and then write a one-page essay describing what...

Students examine a poster of Brown v. Board of Education and discuss what the important details are. They read the story behind the poster and court case. They role play different sections of the case such as the court case or Linda...

Fifth graders participate in various activities related to the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson students understand the events and feelings of people during the Civil War by studying primary sources, journal writing, readings, viewing...

Students recognize how chromatic scales create tension and pentatonic scales create relaxation as compositional techniques used to create tonality. Also, students aurally recognize the use of mixed or alternating meter as a means of...

Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...

Students explore songs that tell stories over various decades and create a Garage band track for their voice.  In this story song instructional activity, students create a video for their song group.  Students present a...

Discover the world of American Literature when you visit this site. This resource offers lessons, units, genre studies and more.

This biography features Edgar Allan Poe who introduced the genre of horror and mystery to literature in the nineteenth century with stories such as "The Raven."

This unit features the rich oral tradition of Native Americans storytelling in various genres predating the introduction and influence of English writings, bringing three contemporary authors to light. RI.11-12.8 seminal U.S. texts,...

This workshop, which is divided into eight segments, teaches how to use primary source artifacts from a variety of genres to support the teaching and learning of specific pieces of literature. The genres include visual arts, political...

This is a phenomenal resource. It allows the user to create a reading list of quality children's literature based of choices such as reading level, type of book, genre, ethnicity, gender, etc. In addition, one can determine if a book won...

This chart features the six American Literary Time Periods: Puritan Times (to 1750), Rationalism/Age of Enlightenment (1750-1850), Romanticism (1800-1850), Realism (1850-1900), Modernism (1900-1950), and Contemporary/Postmodernism...

This site provides eleven short stories based on different Native American stories. Stories from different tribes such as Navajo and Lakota.

Feminist and modernist, Gertrude Stein is featured in this biography for her contributions of many literary genres as well as being a mentor to many twentieth century writers. See "Gertrude Stein Activities" for related materials.

Delve into the art of storytelling in this self-guided unit. Multiple topics are covered such as literary genres, the 7 elements of fiction, figurative language, theme, characterization, etc. At the end of the unit, write your own flash...

This Cambridge History of English and American Literature site examines the contributions of Washington Irving to the development of the American short story genre.

Lesson explores the genre of Gothic literature. Includes discussion of Frankenstein, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allen Poe among others.

This site is a professor's guide for students. This guide features information on how to distinguish between Poe and his narrators in his stories.