Curated OER
Shakespearean Comedy on Film
This lesson will focus on the aspects of Shakespeare's comedy that become more evident in performance. By viewing clips of the same Shakespeare scene in different film versions, high schoolers have the opportunity to engage in a close...
Curated OER
Act It Out!
An effective way to demonstrate understanding is by synthesizing one's own work. Use a creative lesson designed for a unit on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for small groups to show what they know about the play,...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Chraisma by Jeanne Ryan
Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
Curated OER
The Memory Play in American Drama
Students take a closer look at a memory play. In this American drama instructional activity, students read Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie and analyze it as a memory play. Students discuss the linear and non-linear aspects of...
Curated OER
Analysis of Character in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine a character from the short story, John Steinbeck's, "Flight." students respond to questions about the story and illustrate the character's journey.
Curated OER
Music and Interdisciplinary Connections
Students examine the interconnectedness of different art forms. They listen to music and watch a video while determining the similarities of the themes. They make connections between books, movies, opera, dance, and music.
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
Curated OER
Focus on Figurative Language
Using the poems "First Snow" by Ted Kooser and "Eating Alone" by Yi-Young Lee (or other suggested poems by Robert Frost or Sara Teasdale), middle schoolers search for examples of figurative language. Guide your learners by discussing...
Curated OER
Exploring A Streetcar Named Desire
Students investigate the dramatic elements of a Streetcar Named Desire. In this drama lesson plan, students explore the theme of the Tennessee Williams play as they read the play and watch performances of some of the acts. Students then...
Curated OER
Arthur Miller and The Crucible
Students investigate the dramatic elements of The Crucible. For this drama lesson, students explore the elements and themes of the Arthur Miller play as they read the play and watch performances of some of the acts. Students then...
Curated OER
Literature: War-Themed Poetry and Drama
Eleventh graders examine Arthur Miller's play, "All My Sons" to discover major dramatic elements. After reading several war-themed poems, they connect the concepts presented in them back to a major character in Miller's play. ...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Using Literary Elements to Compare Fiction Texts
Students explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. In this fiction writing lesson, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with the story and...
Curated OER
A Fish Skit
Students work together to create and perform a skit with a fish theme. After viewing a performance of another children's play, they discuss the basic elements to be found within a play. They perform their play in front of the class and...
Curated OER
Southern Puritanism and Tennessee Williams
Learners write an essay comparing Arthur Mille's The Crucible and one of Tennessee Williams' plays. In this Tennessee Williams lesson, students discuss the influence of Puritanism on modern American drama. Lesson includes...
Curated OER
Focus On Figurative Language in Prose
High schoolers examine the use of literary prose in the story, "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed." In this literary prose lesson plan, students investigate the use of imagery, metaphor, and simile in the story. They tell how author's...
Curated OER
Empathy/Fairness
Students explore empathy and fairness. They examine the importance of being able to empathize with people who are different from themselves. Students explore ways of resolving conflict and they recognize the concerns of others.
Curated OER
The Crucible
Twelfth graders use an Internet scavenger hunt, vocabulary, sample essay questions, and short answer questions suitable for study and review of the play, The Crucible.
Curated OER
Focus on Figurative Language in Prose and Poetry
Students place emphasis on the use of figurative language when analyzing prose and poetry. In this figurative language lesson, students explore the tone of a story and its imagery. Students read and discuss how the author uses imagery in...
Curated OER
Summarizing Key Information
Imagine the surprise when small groups present their Evidence Charts to the class and discover that each group has studied a different version of the Cinderella story. Irish, Ojibwa, Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Mexican, and...
Curated OER
Shange's Novel Betsey Brown & Jazz
Students read a work of fiction and investigate literary values and structure of the work. They demonstrate understanding of the family values, cultural and historical context of the novel;
Curated OER
Poetic Analysis
Students write a poetic analysis on a poem by Carl Sandburg. They take their previous knowledge of poetic devices and apply them to a piece of writing that displays their knowledge on a specific poem. They explain what they know about a...
Curated OER
Developing Open-Ended Questions
Learners work in groups of two to develop questions and sample answers that are relevant, accurate and use higher level of thinking skills about a literary unit. Students present their questions and answers to the class as a review of...
Curated OER
In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning
Young scholars explore poetry by completing a webquest in which they hear poets reading their own work. Later, they examine the dramatic impact of reading poetry out loud. Finally, they practice reading poetry aloud and performing.