This lesson focuses on the parts of effective speeches: introduction, body, conclusion and analyzing a contemporary speech. It discusses types of introductions, types of effective conclusions, and the steps to writing a good speech. It...

This is a 14-page PDF article concerning audience analysis for a persuasive speech. It includes the importance of understanding your audience, methods used to analyze a specific audience, and the five layer of any given audience alalysis.

This lesson focuses on the effects of TV and media and the importance of researching both sides of an issue. It features links to the articles Buzzle: "Negative Effects of Television" and Slate: "The Benefits of Bozo." It also asks...

This lesson focuses on students reading nonfiction works including excerpts from: Night by Elie Wiesel, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, and Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, and "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin...

This is the 20-page PDF "Choosing Nonfiction Sources." It provides informatation about various types of nonfiction: primary and secondary sources, reference works, databases, newspapers and periodicals, and nonfiction books; it also...

This lesson focuses on satire and parody. Students read the text of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and its parody "Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch" by Weird Al Yankovic and compare/contrast the two. The audio of Weird Al's...

This is a five-page PDF article "Closing Arguments: Strategy, Technique & Style" by Gary Guichard. The article is about how to write a closing argument for a trial; however, these same techniques help students to write effective...

This is a nine-page PDF entitled "How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay" which explains in detail the parts of a literary analysis and how to write them.

This is a three-page PDF of the "Stages of the Writing Process" including prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. W.11-12.5 Writing Process

This lesson focuses on various types of phrases including: Prepositional, Appositive, Participial, Gerund, and Infinitive. It defines each and provides examples; these are followed by a self-assessment identifying the different types of...

This unit focuses on the "Journey Motif" using the following works: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, "Shooting An Elephant" by George Orwell, "Journey" by Edna St. Vincent Millay,"Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats, "The...

This is a unit on comparative and contemporary mythology which discusses how the myths from various cultures have similar themes, linguistics, structure, and/or psychological forces. It also discusses the influences of mythology on...

This lesson focuses on reading The Tempest particularly Acts IV-V. I provides various links to the text: Speak the Speech: The Tempest text and audio, Open Source Shakespeare: The Tempest text, and No Fear Shakespeare: The Tempest.

This is an introduction to a unit on the political allegory Animal Farm by George Orwell, in which he uses animals to symbolize political leaders in the Russian Revolution.

This lesson focuses on the story of the beginning of Greek Mythology. It tells the story of Uranus (Father Heaven) and his wife Gaea (Mother Earth) and their childen the Titans and the monsters. It follow the story through Zeus and the...

This lesson focuses on the Prologue of the epic poem Beowulf and the character Grendel, a monster of a giant race. It features links to several translations of Boewulf, cpmplete text, audio, and abridged versions. This lesson focuses on...

This is a 12-page PDF of "The Nun's Priest's Tale" from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

This lesson focuses on the characteristics of science fiction including the three types of science fiction, a list of characteristics from National Geographic. It features links to Fact Monster: "Science Fiction," Goodreads: "Popular...

This lesson focuses on the allegorical representations of characters in Animal Farm and literary terms. It provides a link to an activity matching the characters from the story to their political counterparts and an interactive crossword...

This is a crossword puzzle a crossword puzzle about Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

This lesson on grammar and writing focuses on clauses including dependent and independent clauses and run-on and comma splice sentences. It features links to "Purdue OWL: Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses," "Purdue OWL:...

This is a multi-page PDF list of logical fallacies to avoid when writing. These include a detailed list includes fallacies in relevance, reasoning, omission, and ambiguity; and discusses the logic tool "Occam's Razor." This list of...

This two-page PDF is the article "No News from Auschwitz" by A. M. Rosenthal, written after his visit to Auschwitz, the site of the Nazi concentration camp. It was published in The New York Times in 1958. RI.11-12.10b Text Complexity

This lesson focuses on The Restoration and John Dryden and his works. It features a discussion of the period, a link to a biography of John Dryden, an example of his use of the heroic couplet, and links to "The History of the Royal...