Discuss a Nero Wolfe mystery on brining criminals to justice. Secondary students will read the book A Nero Wolfe Mystery: The Doorbell Rang. They then will watch the movie depicting this story and answer discussion questions. There are...

Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...

Students read and discuss an article about Olga Loya, a modern storyteller. They watch a videotaped performance of a story and then create a storytelling experience for a story of their choice to share with the class.

Focusing on Doppo's "Unforgettable People" and late nineteenth century Japanese literature, this resource also leads to discussions of form being dictated by content. Explore the development of new literary styles first-hand by...

Young scholars explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Students develop imagery in literary and art works. They discuss Jacob Lawrence's painting, the "Tombstones, 1942", which conveyed overcrowded tenements and families living in Harlem (New York, New York). They design picture stories...

In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 15 multiple choice questions about Chaim Potok's The Chosen. Students may submit their answers to be scored.

"Life is like a box of chocolates. . ." "Barack is a Mac, Hillary is a PC." Literal and figurative analogies are featured in a presentation that models how to use analogies to bolster arguments.

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...

The first in a series of three resources designed to accompany a reading of Kate Chopin's The Awakening provides readers with background information about Chopin, Creole culture, literary realism, and women's suffrage.

How are short stories from South Africa connected to issues of civil rights in the United States? A unit plan uses South African short stories to discuss issues such as apartheid, colonization, and civil rights. Questions and activities...

Students use Internet links to plan a 3-day tour of France. They role-play a typical encounter that may be experienced during their trip.

Students become familiar with the ways slaves reacted to educating themselves.  In this postbellum and freeman lesson, students complete readings from chapters in the book Up From Slavery.  Students write about the...

Learners analyze modernist poetry in depth and detail. The several historical, social, and cultural forces that prompted the modernist movement and its effects are examined in this lesson.

Young scholars create an art piece that expresses their opinions while circumventing hypothetical government restrictions in this lesson on art and government censorship. Emphasis is placed upon historical instances of censorship around...

Third graders gain an appreciation for writing, analyzing, reading and listening to poetry, viewing poems as a motivation for studying Japanese culture and tradition. They study and create their own haiku and tanka poems with illustrations.

Students appreciate the sacrifices that people from across the country made to ensure that all citizens could exercise their constitutional right to vote. They access excellent websites and documents imbedded in this plan to guide their...

This lesson focuses on American Literature literary time periods and a timeline including: Puritanism, Rationalism, Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. A link to a chart of the time periods and the characteristics of each. It also...

This site presents the full text of the "Simonds History of American Literature." This detailed reference book explores the literature in early colonial times, the eighteenth century, the beginning of the nineteenth century, the New...

This website provides an outline of American literature beginning in 1776.

Trudier Harris, Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explains the role of tricksters in African American literature.

This lesson focuses on William Carlos Williams and his poems using images of everyday life including "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "This is Just to Say."