Use this multidisciplinary lesson to delve into these subjects: English language arts, math, science, drama, and character education. After reading, discussing, and making interpretations about Go To Sleep, Gecko!: A Balinese...

Great Expectations can prove to be a challenge for instructors who choose to use Dickens's novel as required reading. Here's a curriculum guide that includes lessons that address some of these challenges. The first lesson in critical...

Connect with the text using helpful annotation strategies. As your class reads the first section of Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," they note important passages that establish character...

Discussion doesn't always need to be spoken. Before you begin The Tempest by William Shakespeare, have kids connect their ideas and experiences to central questions of the play with a silent discussion activity. Once they have...

Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource...

Use a handy concept analysis guide as you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. With character descriptions, literary themes, and anticipated affective issues, the guide can help those new to using The Tempest craft...

Groups plan their escape carefully. Three three-tiered puzzles help a story character escape their situation, each involving integer sequences, transformations, and geometric constructions. The teacher resource includes...

Even for one of the most accomplished men in American history, there was room for improvement. Challenge high schoolers to use Benjamin Franklin's Project for Moral Perfection to analyze text, make inferences, connect to historical...

Archetypes help readers connect literature to the world around them. A lesson plan uses elements of pop culture to teach about archetypal traits of common characters  and discuss issues of perception and other literary devices. At...

Is progress progressing too fast? So believes the Lorax, the eponymous character from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. Young environmental science young scholars read the book and debate the arguments of the Lorax and the Once-ler regarding...

Eric Liu's formula "power plus character equals citizenship" and his three strategies to making change happen model for high schoolers how to develop citizen power, how to get involved and participate to make democracy work. Class...

A lesson encourages mini scholars in setting goals. Peers share their hopes and dreams and discuss how each one adds to everyone's unique character. Class members draw themselves in a scene achieving a goal. A follow-up meeting allows...

Keeping readers focused during literature discussion circles can sometimes be a challenge. Check out this worksheet that ensures accountability by establishing six very specific, very different roles for group members: facilitator,...

Prophecy and blindness often go hand in hand, as in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Explore Oedipus' thoughts about prophecy, fate, and responsibility with an activity focused on the discussion between Creon and Oedipus regarding the murder...

Students choose two characters in Hamlet and symbolize the characters with an object, or find an object that the characters might carry. In this Hamlet lesson, students find an object to represent each character they choose. The object...

Eighth graders use comprehension strategies after reading to reflect on, consolidate, and extend meaning. They show various attributes of the pioneers through character sketches.

Students explore philanthropy through literature. In this service learning instructional activity, students consider character traits as they read Seedfolks. Students record their notes regarding the characters in the story of a...

Learners compare and contrast likenesses and differences to others by creating a life-size picture of themselves. In this character building instructional activity, students dictate a sentence about comments on sharing and display them...

How would Jean-Etiénne Liotard paint the characters from "The Little Mermaid?" What would the main character from "The Little Match Girl" look like from Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes' point of view? After examining various paintings...

Dora, Buzz Lightyear, Mufasa. Swiper, Dr. Porkchop, Scar. The six lessons in this unit packet focus on how good and evil, and violence, are portrayed in children's animation. The lessons encourage kids to consider how violence is...

Fourth graders read stories and pick one with characters they find interesting. Then students create a dialogue of writing a letter from one character to another. The letter must relate to the original story in some way that can easily...

Students write a character sketch and present it in first person.  In this historical heroes and character sketches lesson plan, students "meet" Harriet Tubman (played by their teacher) and discuss her contributions. ...

Students listen to the story Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon and discuss the way each character interacts with the others. They role play pares of the story to practice showing compassion, and how to positively interact with their peers.

Students connect photographic images with the literary texts of Eudora Welty and William Faulkner. They identify and distinguish narrators and protagonists of literary works. Students recognize patterns of social class as a literary...