Use Langston Hughes's poem, "Words Like Freedom," to explore the concepts of freedom and liberty. Learners read the poem, determine the theme, and use the provided graphic organizer to examine the connotative and denotative meanings of...

Guide high schoolers through the most successful and efficient ways to address a text with a literary analysis instructional activity. As learners find examples of alliteration in Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepard to His...

The manipulation of time is one of the most essential elements in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As your language arts class participates in a jigsaw discussion activity, they work together to analyze the play's plot structure and...

What are the qualities of a strong written response to a prompt? Class members use the provided text analysis rubric to self-assess their responses to their homework assignments to prepare for the mid-unit assessment.

If it's true that preparation is the key to success, the English Language Arts Examination handout should help pupils ace their exams. Scholars read several texts and answer multiple-choice questions. Then, they write source-based...

Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment by analyzing a narrative text, In the Middle of the Storm. Learners determine the gist of the text, identify synonyms, make inferences, and answer text-dependent questions to demonstrate...

Young historians practice in-depth, quality analysis of primary source texts in this three-lesson unit, which examines excerpts from the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Caleb...

An interactive resource teaches readers how to annotate all kinds of texts. After reading an introduction that stresses the benefits of text annotations, users examine several models and then demonstrate what they have learned by...

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb," featured at the 2021 inauguration of President Joseph Biden, is the focus of a six-page guide. The guide includes before reading, during reading, and after reading...

As an introduction to Sharon Creexh's Walk Two Moons, a volunteer dons a pair of boots and walks about the classroom.Observers then ponder the axiom, Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his...

Support your eleventh graders with a practice assessment for the Common Core tests. The practice test features a series of literary and informational passages and related multiple choice and essay questions. An online version is also...

Class members watch the clip of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in which Benvolio persuades Romeo to go with him to the Capulet ball to see Rosaline. Pairs then examine Act 1, scene 3, lines 64–100, and consider how Shakespeare develops...

Readers examine the conversation between Friar Laurence and Romeo in Act 3, scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and consider how Shakespeare's word choices impact the development of Romeo's character.

Assist your pupils with literary analysis by discussing and exploring theme. This plan, the twelfth in a series of fourteen, builds in some time to explore theme as a class. Learners also blog about the main event in their stories and...

A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...

Students read London's "To Build a Fire" and Crane's "The Open Boat" and compare and contrast the authors' style as they explore the genre known as American literary naturalism.

Considering using Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry for book circles or whole-class study? First time teachers, and those who have used the text before, will find some interesting tidbits in this overview.

High schoolers discuss the characteristics of the literary genre known as "Southern Gothic". They write an analysis of the short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor.

The whys and wherefores of anticipation guides are detailed in a resource that models how to craft statements for this reading strategy.

An informative installment of the Writing for Specific Fields series helps readers learn how to interpret and write about fiction. The website details nine easy steps for writing a literary analysis—a useful method for all readers!

Acronyms can help learners remember facts and analyze poetry. This resource includes graphic organizers for TP-CASTT, SOAPS, SOAPSTone, and DIDLS. Class members can try out one or all of these strategies to assist with that difficult job...

Support a class reading of the novel Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor with this series of discussion questions. Covering a variety of topics from character and setting to historical accuracy and symbolism, these questions...

Designed for teachers who use Tangerine in the classroom, this resource provides background information on the novel, issues raised by the story, and literary devices Bloor employs. A good addition to your curriculum library.

New to using Tuesdays with Morrie? Check out this five-page resource that provides an overview Mitch Albom's book, its features, themes, and literary devices. The packet also includes suggestions for research projects.