Massive storms, shipwrecks, survivors stranded on an island ruled by an aging magician, and strange creatures—Shakespeare's The Tempest appeals to today's middle schoolers. For this unit, seventh graders read selections from an...

The second module in a series for high school seniors focuses on tracking the central idea of a text across genres and from multiple author and character perspectives. Twelfth graders read a speech by Benazir Bhutto entitled "Ideas Live...

Aladdin, Disney's Broadway musical comedy, is a magic carpet ride. Prepare your class for a field trip to the show with a study guide that is a treasure trove of activities, cultural connections, and background information.

Students research activities on a festive/seasonal theme. They work on speaking activities like Christmas wishes. They analyze a cross cultural comparison of two festive/seasonal themes. Students include topics like Christmas and pets,...

How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...

Students explore three major dramatic concepts using Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. In this dramatic concepts lesson, students research the concepts of universal theme, characterization, and dialogue using the given text. Students...

Students practice dramatic 'living' through various drama activities. In this drama lesson, students define drama, view examples of dramatic elements in Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne, define characterization within the dramas, study the...

Students use the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" to identify and analyze drama vocabulary, literary terms and elements of fiction. They write an original version of scenes from the play and develop a character analysis for the lead.

Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.

This two-page PDF provides a list and brief explanation of the "Elements of Drama" based on the structure of Greek Drama as outlined by Aristotle. These include: Thought, Theme, Ideas; Action, Plot; Characters, Language, Music, and...

This expansive self-guided unit hits on many objectives such as analyzing literature for author's purpose, figuring out the main idea/theme, understanding historical criticism, comparing and contrasting works from major historical...

This introduction to contemporary drama focuses on the elements or characteristics of drama and the theme of the American Dream. It features the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, which is set in the 1950s.

This lesson focuses on the characteristics of a drama including the four elements of a play: characters, dialogue, action, and gesture. It features a presentation of characterisics of drama, a Wikipedia article "Drama," and Quizlet:...

Twenty-six half hour videos on literary analysis for high school students that feature authors, scholars, actors and noted critics. Topics include The Art of the Essay, Setting and Character in Short Fiction, Responding to Literature and...

This lesson is an introduction to The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare. It features a list of essential questions for the unit.