Curated OER
Historical Fiction - Based on facts or purely fiction?
Students, after reading an Accelerated Reader historical fiction book, research the actual historical time period portrayed in the book. Then, working in a cooperative learning group, they create a HyperStudio presentation.
Absolute Shakespeare
Absolute Shakespeare: "Julius Caesar" Character Analysis
William Hazlitt's critical essay on the characters in "Julius Caesar" is presented here, including lengthy quotations from the text of the play.
Other
Homework Online: Lord of the Flies, Character Analysis
Brief essays on the major characters in William Golding's novel, "Lord of the Flies." Includes complete descriptions of Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon, Samneric (Sam and Eric), Roger, and the Littluns.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Research Essay for the Turn of the Screw
This PDF lesson plan is for students to write a 5-7 page essay which uses research to support their stance on a topic. For this essay, the students will argue whether they believe the character of the Governess, from Henry James' The...
Other
The Poe Decoder: "Fall of the House of Usher"
Site from The Poe Decoder offers a link to the complete text of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, along with criticisms and essays about themes, imagery, character analysis and more.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Analyzing Characterization
This lesson introduces the elements of character analysis and uses Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" for an example. RL.9-10.3 Analyzing Characters
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Teaching the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
For this self-directed study involving research, composition, and presentation, students analyze Chaucer's characters of The Canterbury Tales as presented in the Prologue. Each student casts a modern personality in the role of one of the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Cliffs Notes: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
CliffsNotes offers a comprehensive overview of the novel by Harper Lee entitled "To Kill a Mockingbird." Here you can find chapter summaries, character analyses, study help, a biography of the author, and more.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Literary Visions
Twenty-six half hour videos on literary analysis for high school students that feature authors, scholars, actors and noted critics. Topics include The Art of the Essay, Setting and Character in Short Fiction, Responding to Literature and...
Other
Library of America: Story of the Week
Weekly posting of a work of fiction, poem, character sketch, or essay written by a notable American author. Readers can choose to subscribe to the weekly stories or look through and read stories from a list of previous postings.
Absolute Shakespeare
Absolute Shakespeare: The Tempest Study Guide
This site provides a complete study guide for William Shakespeare's comedy The Tempest including a plot summary of each act, commentary, a review of the characters, a character analysis, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous essay on The...
Universal Teacher
Moore's Teacher Resources: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
An excellent site from the UK. Includes biographical information on Chaucer, historical context, and in-depth information on the Wife of Bath, complete with the relationship between the prologue and tale, character analysis, and essay...
SparkNotes
Spark Notes: Mythology by Edith Hamilton
This site offers all you need to read and study Mythology by Edith Hamilton. It includes an overview, a character list, an introduction to classical mythology, the themes, motifs, and symbols, a summary and analysis, the full text, a...
BBC
Bbc: Gcse Bitesize: "Much Ado About Nothing"
A detailed synopsis and assessment of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", made specifically for students preparing for the GCSE test. Site includes links to context, plot, character, dramatic effect, themes and language. With sample...