Not all news in a newspaper comes in the form of a traditional article; photographs, charts, and even editorial cartoons help spread important information, too. A civics-based unit describes the parts of the newspaper as tools for...

"Eneke the bird says since men have learnt to shoot without missing, he has learnt to fly without perching." As part of their study of Things Fall Apart, class members read Paul Hernadi and Francis Steen's essay, "The Tropical Landscapes...

High schoolers deconstruct advertising messages by analyzing parody ads and exploring the purpose of satire. Then they create their own parodies based on real ads discussed in class. A creative activity to extend any study of media,...

Middle and high schoolers look at historical photos and written materials, and they develop questions which they use to interview an elder in their community. Learners are divided into groups and given sets of historical family photos...

Analyze various excerpts from Hamlet and read articles to develop an argument about his sanity. Middle and high schoolers write an argument essay defending whether or not they believe Hamlet is insane. You could modify this assignment...

Are you working on an Outsiders unit? Use this list of activities to deepen your middle schoolers' understanding of the novel. After reading S.E. Hinton's novel, young readers work on three required activities, including participating in...

Foster your high schoolers' creativity - and generosity - with this writing lesson. After reading the article "Homemade Holiday Gifts" by Frances Janisch (from the GALE Student Resource Center - Gold), pupils meet in groups to brainstorm...

Prepare your high schoolers for upcoming testing with this reading comprehension practice! Learners will read the passage entitled "Fried," and then they will answer the questions that follow. Most questions focus on defining vocabulary...

Help your young writers produce high-quality topic and thesis statements that go beyond basic wording and really illustrate complex ideas and critical thinking skills. From however and compound sentence statements to using...

The beauty in this resource is the lengthy list of highly charged, controversial-issue research topics. Categories include issues of race, politics, law, environment, education, athletics, gender, and technology. After selecting a topic,...

Prepare for any writing assignment with a series of prewriting activities. The resource includes instruction sheets, graphic organizers for brainstormng, and sample writing prompts.

Is this any way to treat a Greek Myth? By all means, turn the tale of Orpheus into a reader's theatre exercise.

How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...

Shakespeare's plays may be old, but they still have relevant lessons for today's world! A collection of lesson plans uses examples from The Merchant of Venice and District Merchants to teach about bravery. In addition to learning...

Some say there is no place like home. Jane, a character in Jane Eyre, is thankful no other place is like the terrible home of her aunt. Jane is thankful that her mean aunt is convinced to send Jane off to school. Readers learn of the ups...

Animal testing: cruel and inhumane, or innovative and life-saving? Scholars explore the topic and form their own opinions with help from the highly informative website. Pupils read a comprehensive overview of the topic, including...

Learners explore artistic design by creating pin wheel models in class. In this modern art lesson, students examine historic art work of Van Gogh, O'Keeffe and Mondrian before emulating their work on construction paper. Learners utilize...

Students create their own landscapes based on the topography of their region after studying the artwork of Cincinnati-based artist William Sonntag and other "Hudson River School" artists.

Encourage your writers to use sob instead of cry loudly to trade in adverbs for strong verbs. Improve your middle and high schoolers' writing with this humorously written lesson which demonstrates how to remove excessive adverbs. 

Middle and high schoolers check their writing for pronoun-antecedent agreement. After identifying the pronouns in their writing, they then complete a table with the pronouns and corresponding antecedents, making revisions as necessary.

Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...

Art in one form can inspire art in another. Use images to inspire writing in your English class. The lesson described here is not detailed; however, the idea is strong. An engaging way to get class members interested in writing, the...

What rights are guaranteed to students? Do they align with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was approved by the United Nations in 1948? Middle and high schoolers present persuasive arguments about the rights they believe...

Keep your kids reading throughout the summer with a wonderful list of books! Youngsters can choose from 25 different titles, each of which is paired with publication information so that their parents, guardians, or librarians can...