How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this lesson to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear America" or "My...

High schoolers analyze a character of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to catch a glimpse of a family and the changes they, and the Old South, undergo. The use of time as it relates to the structure of the plot is covered in this...

Learners analyze people's choices from different points of view. They read different scenarios and explain how they would react personally in that situation. Then they analyze what they would do in another character's position and...

Should Internet users who send data-heavy content pay higher fees than those who are involved in activities, like sending an email, that have less content? This question is at the heart of the Net Neutrality debate. After watching a PBS...

Plankton: so much more than just a SpongeBob character. Three different activities have kids looking at both phytoplankton and zooplankton in pictures, as well as collecting their own samples (depending on your access to a saltwater...

"Love it or leave it." "You're either for us or against us." Rhetoric and it's polarizing effects are the focus of a lesson plan that uses John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry as an exemplar. Groups examine primary source documents,...

Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The instructional...

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...

Women were in the workplace long before Rosie the Riveter pushed up her sleeve. Learn about the working options available to women during the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, and the Great Depression with a lesson that...

The works of Jacqueline Woodson introduce readers to diverse characters and themes. A guide covers many of the author's best-known books such as Brown Girl Dreaming and Locomotion. Dive & Discuss and Explore & Extend activities...

Encourage scholars to become a productive community member with a kite-themed instructional activity. Following a review and discussion, learners complete a Venn diagram that displays the connection between character traits needed to...

Decisions, decisions. Scholars take a close look at making decisions by discussing the character Sam in chapters one through eight of Frightful’s Mountain. Partners discuss whether Sam should interact with Frightful and then...

Students examine various careers and character traits. They create an Affinity Chart using career survey results, compare/contrast personality traits and character traits, and discuss why character traits are important for jobs.

Third graders read The First Strawberries and complete a character chart. In this writing a tale lesson, 3rd graders discuss viewpoints and identify character traits. Students complete character charts and write their own tale about...

Students examine American humor and character through analysis of works by Mark Twain. In this cross curricular lesson, students develop a definition of American humor and determine how and why some consider Twain the 'first truly...

Students read the novel, Out of the Dust, and complete a cause and effect chart and a character chart. When the book is completed, they answer review questions.

Students are exposed to literature and create an Academy award for their piece of literature. They play an author or a character and present themselves, a category, and each of the nominees in that category to gain awareness of...

Students work in small groups and prepare an analysis of a short story to be presented to their peers. They research the story and create a handout or a visual aid that cites sources of information and summarizes the main points of the...

Seventh graders collaboratively research the life and times of Charles Dickens as it relates to a character from the story, and write and present a first-person character analysis.

Students write a character sketch on a television character who they feel is a stereotype.  For this propaganda/stereotype lesson, students discuss the definition of the terms and ways that the media uses both.  Students relate...

Students complete chapter analysis activities for Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.In this chapter analysis lesson, students read the preface and chapter 1 and complete vocabulary activities, journal activities, and use the...

Students complete a variety of language arts based activities based on the book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling. After reading each chapter, they complete worksheets related to multiple meanings, character...

Students read short stories that are related to adolescent issues and behaviors. In groups, they review the elements of a short story and vocabulary they might need while reading. To end the lesson, they read "Sir Tatton Sykes"...

Students discover how writers put their feelings into language. They identify words of emotion and imagery and see their experience as an important base for language use and writing skills. They use colorful words when describing a...