The work of Langston Hughes opens the door to research into the origin and legacy of the Harlem Renaissance and how the literature of the period can be viewed as a commentary on race relations in America. In addition, groups are assigned...

Students examine the concept of kindness to others. They define kindness, listen to various stories about random acts of kindness, and create an e-mail chain describing their own acts of kindness that is sent around the world.

High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a...

Students explore melodram as a form of theatre. They write about lucid and factual news accounts and about sensationalism. Students gain experience in relating one time period with another and with doing historical research.

Compile a promptbook with your young theater designers using a scene from Taming of the Shrew. The lesson outlines several activities, though it doesn't provide any examples of a promptbook or text from the play. Additionally, it...

A child breaks his arm while at daycare. Was the staff negligent? That is the question at the heart of the mock trial case, Shawn Wright v. Plan and Learn Childcare Center.

Class members are asked to consider how they would respond to situations faced by characters in Great Expectations. After completing one exercise as guided practice, individuals are presented with a second problematic situation and...

Students analyze Shakespeare's Macbeth by completing the creative activities. In this Macbeth lesson, students discuss the timeline for William Shakespeare and identify the characters for Macbeth. Students read Act One, Scenes i-v of...

Readers of Macbeth can use these study questions to keep track of key events in Act IV of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Consider adding interpretative and evaluative questions to encourage analysis and critical thinking skills.

Students research and promote one local action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their community through an integrated unit project. Students evaluate possible ways to reduce emissions and review major and local contributing factors....

Enrich your unit on Arthur Miller's The Crucible with a list of reading questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Kids answer questions and provide context for the knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and...

You might not be able to put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes but you can generate interest in A Midsummer’s Night Dream in that length of time. As an introduction to Shakespeare’s comedy, pairs of students assume the roles of...

Seventh graders write scripts for scenarios to be "re-solutioned". One re-solution scenario will be role played for whole class. They also identify what personal responsibility means and who is responsible in taking personal...

Young scholars research the social context of Elizabethan England for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". They identify cultural influences on the play focusing on the theme of revenge and then analyze and compare film interpretations of the play.

Here's a great game that will help your class review a book or unit before an exam. Three students act as judges while two teams take turns responding to your knowledge, interpretation, and judgement questions. Complete directions for...

Students discover how Shakespeare's play interprets Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge, as reflected in the structure of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy, one of the most popular forms of drama of that era. Students perform certain...

Sixth graders investigate peer pressure, gangs, drinking, and using drugs. In small groups, they conduct research, develop, edit, and write a three-minute script, and perform the script for the class.

Students edit scenes from Shakespeare's The Tempest in documentary fashion and perform their edited scripts. In this play analysis lesson, students read through Act 2 and 3 and discuss how and why to cut lines in a play. Students create...

Students study the process of creating an interview by role playing as a reporter who has the opportunity to interview one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster. They ask only five questions in this interview of a lifetime therefore...

Students watch various interpretations of Shakespeare's Macbeth in film. In groups, they examine the setting, characters, music and sequence. They compare and contrast the various films and discuss the differences. They write an essay on...

Young scholars write a news feature or editorial about students paying money to participate in high school athletics. Young scholars interview members of the school community to find out the situation in their school.

Students analyze piece of literature by looking at it from one perspective and then by re-evaluating what they have discovered when other layers of meaning are added.

Seventh graders discover how to make the best decisions given the information at hand. In groups, they role-play different roles in scenerios to help them deal with peer pressure. To end the lesson plan, they discuss why it is so hard...

Students analyze Shakespeare's Macbeth. In this Macbeth lesson plan, students read Act Two Scene iv and Act Three Scenes i-vi in the play and complete the test from the given link.