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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Early American English Lit Writing Assignment (Senior, Literature)

For Teachers 10th - 12th
To better understand early American literature, which was usually written by Puritans coming to the new world, learners pretend they have just landed on Mars. They compose a letter home describing their experiences, the new landscape,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The South, the North and the Great Migration: Blues and Literature

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Anonymous Patriots: Songs of the Revolution

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Give your class a deeper understanding of the context and meaning behind early American song lyrics. By reading the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" and  "Revolutionary Tea," high schoolers will practice analysis by examining the structure and...
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Unit Plan
Santa Ana Unified School District

Early American Poets

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Colonists Protest Song

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the role of protest songs. In this early American history lesson, students research the acts passed by the British that angered colonists. Students then listen to protest songs from contemporary American history prior to...
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Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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 own...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Mark Twain and American Humor

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native American Culture

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students read a variety of Native American Literature and discuss the main idea by answering critical thinking questions about the poem. Students use context clues to understand the feeling of the Native American culture about the Earth....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 1: Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
I love Faulkner, his experimental style and stream of consciousness are so exciting. Your learners can analyze William Faulkner and his novel, The Sound and the Fury by defining his place in American literary history and exploring his...
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Unit Plan
Santa Ana Unified School District

Getting to the Core: Early American Poets

For Teachers 11th Standards
How do poets convey emotion and represent their views of life? Pupils learn more about Whitman and Dickinson through the unit and analyze their bold reinvention of craft and style for poets to come. Looking at classic pieces such as...
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Lesson Plan
University of Southern California

Coming to America After the War

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
As part of their exploration of the American dream, class members examine primary source materials to compare immigrant experiences of those arriving early in our country's history to those arriving in the US after World War II. To...
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eBook
Library of Congress

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the best-known pieces of American literature. An eBook from the Library of Congress provides access to an early edition of the text. Original layout and illustrations are preserved within.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sharing Their Stories: Native American Literature and Culture in 19th Century America

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate Native American culture reading and writing about early Native American authors. They listen to an expert to extend their understanding of the culture.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

United States History and Geography: Growth and Conflict

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders analyze American literature from the antebellum era of Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. In this American literature lesson, 9th graders work in groups to read documents for the lesson....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Salem Witch Trials

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers consider the implications of the Salem Witch Trials. In this literature lesson, students read Arthur Miller's The Crucible and compare the witch trials to McCarthyism of the 1950's. High schoolers rewrite scenes from the...
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Unit Plan
Walden Woods Project

19th Century Lessons for 21st Century Lives

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...
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PPT
Curated OER

Introduction to the Romantic Age of English Literature

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Introduce your class to the elements of Romanticism with these slides. The foundations of the movement, the roles of imagination and nature, and the value of art are all highlighted. Features of Romanticism are explained such as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Literature and Thought of the American Colonies

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders analyze works by John Donne and Thomas Heriot. In this Colonial America lesson, 11th graders examine pieces of literature, documents, and video clips to identify the issues regarding religion in the colonies. Student...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

America Moves Out!

For Teachers 1st
First graders analyze the events of early American exploration. This is a unit resource for teachers in which there are six lessons about the American Western exploration and expansion. Within each lesson there are objectives, materials,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sharing African Culture

For Teachers Pre-K - 5th
Students investigate African American culture by reading aloud an African folk tale and illustrating the tale. They use their illustrations to create a book or a bulletin board that retells the folk tale.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

William Apess and the Mashpee "Revolt" of 1833

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Prompt your class with the following question: What was the status of American Indians in Massachusetts during Jackson's presidency? To answer this question, class members will read a series of primary source documents (attached),...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

History in Literature - The House of Dies Drear

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Hook your learners with a great project. They research the underground railroad and civil rights movement through literature, view the video The Underground Railroad: Escape from Slavery, and read the book House of Dies Drear in their...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Paul Revere's Ride and the American Revolution

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners analyze the cause, results, and critical historic figures and events of the American Revolution. In this American Revolution instructional activity, students review Paul Revere's significance and the Battles of Lexington and...