Paired reading passages frequently appear on standardized exams, but finding text sets to use in the classroom is sometimes a challenge. A lesson plan on using paired texts includes a selection of passages and a graphic organizer for...

Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...

War affects much more than just soldiers. Lily and Albert in Lily's Crossing know that better than anyone as World War II affects both of them in different ways. Scholars use vocabulary words, answer questions, and work with literary...

A timely and provocative lesson plan inspires high schoolers to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis. They analyze a compelling photo essay before discussing and writing about it.

High schoolers analyze the multiple voices in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this multiple voices lesson plan, students explore the use of symbolism with the narrative voices of the text. High schoolers write a detailed profile of...

Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...

High school artists observe and research the illustrations and techniques of N.C. Wyeth. They read (and reread) stories and illustrate the texts using methods inspired by Wyeth's practice. Includes detailed instructional plan and useful...

Learners analyze this letter of complaint to the city council by answering nine short-answer questions. They examine author's purpose, word choice, claims, rhetorical questions, and general observations. There is a focus on constructive...

High schoolers explore world literature through completing several varied exercises. In this compare and contrast lesson students compare and contrast stories and how time and culture impacts the stories.

Personal correspondence in the form of letters is not as common as it once was. This resource presents an opportunity for you to introduce your class to letter writing and cover topics in social studies. Learners read a letter written in...

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a play about star-crossed lovers, resonates deeply with teenagers. The study packet contains study questions for each act of the play. Learners use a graphic organizer to analyze whether characters...

Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores were both born in 1858, and both came to the Dakota territory in 1883, but they influenced the developing country of America in different ways. Elementary and middle schoolers apply written and...

The Odyssey is the core text in this unit study of the hero's journey motif. Along the way, kids research Greek and Roman history, mythology, art, and epic poetry. The 104-page packet is perfect for homeschool or classroom situations and...

What is a haibun? With this interesting instructional activity, writers will experience the Japanese writing form haibun, identify elements important to Japanese writing styles, analyze a haibun, and compose their own. Different from the...

A great way to learn to understand people and their environment is to study their folktales. Stories from China, Vietnam, India, Iran, Persia, and Palestine offer an opportunity for readers to investigate the cultures of Asia. A list of...

The emotional and spiritual oppression of slavery in the African-American experience is the focus of this lesson. Middle schoolers analyze various texts by Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou related to freedom and oppression....

Literary theories are lenses through which a text may be analyzed. The question in this lesson plan is how a particular literary lens can influence the reader's view of the text.

Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...

Included here are step-by-step instructions for conducting a close reading of The Voice That Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman. After an individual and class reading, class members read carefully through the text excerpt,...

A talkative old man? A naïve believer in Human Perfectibility? A Sage? Who is this guy, anyway? The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin launches a study of the way Franklin uses structure, style, and purpose, as well as different...

Students examine the Japanese writing form of Haibun. They identify the elements of Japanese prose and poetry, analyze a haibun for writing devices, complete a graphic organizer, and compose an original haibun as a form of journal keeping.

Full truth, or an exaggeration? How can you tell when a storyteller is exaggerating a story? Readers analyze a story told by Hortensia, and identify the exaggerative language she uses. Then, learners write their own narrative story using...

In this editing worksheet, 5th graders read, analyze and proofread/edit the text "Shanghai: Old meets New". Students correct all the errors they find within the text.

Ninth graders analyze connections between Asia and Europe in the pre-Renaissance period. They identify and analyze elements of Japanese and Chinese culture similiar to that of feudal Europe.