Use literacy tools to select precise vocabulary. High schoolers respond to discussion questions that require them to consider the denotation and connotation of words. They then read non-fiction passages and identify words in the passages...

Remember when everything was Fantastic! Fabulous! Awesome! Iconic! A series of activities encourages young writers to move beyond these overused descriptors and instead choose a more precise language.

High schoolers unearth multiple meanings based on connotation and cadence. After defining denotation, connotation, and cadence, readers evaluate similar words to compare connotations. They then play with how cadence affects meaning by...

High schoolers assess persuasive techniques in propaganda. They identify and critique rhetorical devices in primary source documents (sources are not specified, but links to sites that contain various documents are included). Groups make...

People who pen poetry positively need to know basic tenets and terms of poetry, like alliteration and consonance, for example. These and other terms are define and illustrated. Then viewers are given an object and asked to craft a...

Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...

Three activities are designed for readers of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. First, class members research and create posters that reflect the setting of the novel. Next, groups create posters with images that represent each chapter...

A 16-page packet includes three activities for a unit study of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before beginning the novel, class members identify the factors in their lives that helped create their frame of reference,...

Prepare your learners to identify figurative language in poetry. Tips for reading poetry and what to look for are listed on these slides. Rhetorical devices are defined and plenty of examples are given. 

Readers examine the rhetorical devices Haley uses in chapter 8 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, paying particular attention to the diction and syntax and how these choices reveal changes in Malcolm X's point of view.

Contrary to the popular saying, words can hurt. Words matter! Tweens and teens can reflect on how words impact others even if the intent wasn't how the words were perceived. After examining an Instagram post where Lizzo apologized for...

Poetry is all about sound and rhythm. The sound of the words, the rhythm of the lines, and the emotional atmosphere created by these elements and the literary devices poets use, compress whole stories into a few stanzas. The specialized...

What do you think of when you hear the word adult? Or friend? Learners brainstorm with a group of peers to list the words they think of when they hear seven words from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.

Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...

Students use words with similar meanings to analyze implied meanings. In this word connotation lesson, the teacher introduces the activity by asking students whether a new product should be advertised as "newfangled" or "cutting-edge." ...

Have everything you need to know about the elements of poetry with a nine-page handout. Split into four categories—word sounds, meanings, arrangement, and imagery—budding poets may reference terms, read definitions, descriptions, and...

The poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the focus of a unit that asks readers to consider how an artist's life and changes in society influences his or her work. After careful study of Whitman's and Dickinson's perspectives on...

Study word choice and connotation in advertising. Readers examine campaign ads, both negative and positive, from the 2006 mid-term election before discussing an article and analyze a campaign of any candidate they choose. Finally,...

View Byzantine architecture from the comfort of your classroom. A PowerPoint presentation introduces important vocabulary terms and examples of Byzantine architecture in the ninth activity of the 11-part series. A Jeopardy game reviews...

Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...

Jump back into the 90s with Alannis Morissette's song "You Learn." After hearing the song, small groups analyze the lyrics and write an essay about a mistake they've learned from. Use the example sentences to identify the denotative and...

Students prepare for the reading of iam Golding's novel, The Lord of the Flies, by exploring the theme through a discussion and sentence starter activity.

"Timid, scared, terrified." High school scholars examine words, their denotations and connotations, in a series of exercises that use lines from Shakespeare to explore figurative language and word relationships. Participants then...

Sixth graders review literary devices. They use both fiction and nonfiction texts to review metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism and personification. This lesson has a scripted guide for the teacher to follow.