Students create an autobiography. In this autobiography lesson, students create a digital autobiography using photographs and captions about their lives. Students will publish their autobiography on the class blog page, as well...

Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.

Define and write proverbs! Learners define proverbs, use the Internet to find weather-related proverbs, and talk with their parents to learn other proverbs. There's a well-structured worksheet included here. 

Give young scholars a chance to practice making inferences after reading the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. They confirm whether or not their conclusions are true, have a class discussion, and then independently complete an...

Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...

Students research their family's heritage. They follow a guide, document their family's history and put it together in report form.

After reading an excerpt from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, The Fun of It, learners explore various nonfiction resources about her life and write a short newspaper article on a specific event. They then develop a longer piece of...

Students evaluate nonfiction text. In this evaluating nonfiction lesson students read two pieces of nonfiction text and respond with a short free-writing piece. Students discuss the content and focus on the accuracy.

Students read excerpts of autobiographies from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. After listening to excerpts of an oral reading of Frederick Douglass' book, they discuss the ways African Americans were treated on plantations. ...

 In this genre study PowerPoint presentation, students read the definitions and characteristics of each literary genre. There are 17 genres that the PowerPoint presentation addresses, such as science fiction, tall tales and poetry.

Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Last Day of Slavery. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer...

Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. In this figurative language lesson plan, students first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc. Learners...

In this history worksheet, students read a one page biography about Frederick Douglass. Students then answer 15 short essay questions about the text.

Students are introduced to the idea of traditional oral narratives and divide them into genres. They explore the genres of context, motifs and variants. Each student finds oral narratives in their own lives and practice retelling them in...

Students listen to a story, then use the same format to write a class book.

A reader's theater script for Eleanor Coerr's book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, a biography about Sadako Sasaki, is provided on these pages. Speaking parts for all students in a classroom are available in this activity.

Five primary source materials on African American history: I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr., My Bondage and Freedom by Frederick Douglass, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, Up From...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will learn the difference between biography and autobiography with these resources. PowerPoint lessons, biographical paragraphs, and autobiographical paragraphs are provided.

This article provides extensive excerpts from "The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass." This is a lot of information about the great abolitionist and orator written by himself.

In this 3-lesson unit, students will read Douglass's narrative. They will analyze Douglass's vivid first-hand accounts of the lives of slaves and the behavior of slave owners to see how he successfully contrasts reality with romanticism...

Read about George Seldes (1890-1995), a muckraker and press critic. Read some of his writings from his column "In Fact." Read his autobiography and a brief biography. There are links to other sites about George Seldes. Site by Brass Check.

Enhance your reading of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" by Ernest Gaines with the help of an author biography, novel introduction, vocabulary lists, and reading-response exercises. After completing the novel, write about the...