Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ghost Boys, wanted to bring the historical legacy of Emmett Till and the current topic of racial prejudice into today's young readers' mindsets. Use a reading guide and set of discussion questions to...

Jack the Ripper terrorized London in the late 1800s. An educator's guide for the novel The Name of the Star places the historical figure in a modern context. Readers complete a pre-reading activity before answering a series of discussion...

Students study the relationship between Cold War politics, the people who were affected by it, and the artists who examined it. They create their own "walls" using a spray paint graffiti procedure.

Robert Frost's "Choose Something Like a Star" and John Keats' "Bright Star" provide the text for a two-part instructional activity in which class members analyze the effects of style on meaning in poetry. Randall Thompson's song cycle...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" provides the text for an activity that asks readers to select specific passages from the story, identify the aspect of American Romanticism the passage exemplifies, and then provide an...

High schoolers play a ball game to reinforce vocabulary words. In this vocabulary lesson plan, 1 student throws a ball to another student and states a vocabulary word. The receiving student has to define the word. If they do, they get to...

Howdy partner! After discussion and teacher model reading of Slaveships, scholars pair up for a partner reading of the poem. They then use equity sticks to discuss their thoughts of the poem with the class. Readers talk about allusion,...

Ninth graders read the story, "The Gift of the Magi" and identify examples of allusion and situational irony. They define and give examples of situational irony. Students plot sequence, structure, define allusion and give examples.

Students discuss connotative language, hyperbole, allusion, and rhetorical question. In small groups, they read one section of the "Speech to the Virginia Convention" and analyze these devices. Groups present their results to the class.

Eighth graders review literary elements such as simile, metaphor, allusion, plot sequence, allusion, situational irony, and theme. As the class begins, 8th graders discuss childhood memories. Students write a story about their...

Students are exposed to two different works of poetry in order to complete a task of comparing and contrasting them. They analyze the poem and identify the juxtaposition. The analysis is compiled by them to make a class report of it.

Students investigate historical context by reading poetry.  In this language arts lesson, students discover the work of Michael Longley and examine his poem "Ceasefire."  Students identify the sonnets used in the piece and...

Learners examine the themes of loneliness and frustrated love in the work of Carson McCullers. In this theme analysis instructional activity, students complete a comparison of patterns in the novels of McCullers as a part of a theme...

Jump back into expository writing and analysis at the start of a new school year! Start with a review of an authors' stylistic choices in diction, syntax, treatment of subject matter, and figurative language. Writers choose a text to...

Eleventh graders examine political, cultural, and social movements through music. In this 1960s American history lesson, 11th graders explore the music of the decade in order to better understand the complexity of the time period....

Call him a reliable narrator! Ishmael is the focus of a instructional activity that asks readers to analyze the complex character of Herman Melville's narrator as he is introduced in the first chapter of Moby Dick.

Scholars use a Story Impressions Note-catcher to capture their first impressions of words or phrases from To Kill a Mockingbird. They then listen to a reading of the first six pages of the novel before the teacher asks questions to check...

Beowulf, the Old English epic hero, comes alive again in the activities found in a teacher's guide designed to accompany a reading of the classic poem.

Students study selected poetry to gain an understanding of influences on values and personal identity. They explore language terms such as personification, imagery metaphors and allusion. After reading a poem and discussing it,...

Students discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization instructional activity, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. Students then describe a family member...

Students interpret proverbs as part of an analysis of the book The Witch of Goingsnake. In this literary analysis activity, students interpret a proverb and complete a KWL chart for the proverb. Students then research the proverb and...

Tenth graders read the poem "Still I Rise" and discuss the different ways it can be told and read and brought to life. In this poetry lesson plan, 10th graders read aloud and silently, and compare different works of poetry.

Ninth graders read, "The Gift of the Magi," discuss the multiple themes of the story and situational irony. Individually, 9th graders review questions from the study guide, explore the simile, metaphor, and allusion. Students prepare...

Ninth graders study Greek Mythology, focusing on Gods and Goddesses. They compare the modern day hero with the classical hero and examine how individual characters are based on their own personal odysseys.