Introduce your young readers to fiction written by women authors. For each story, they explore the way these daughters discover and claim their own identities. Individually, class members use the literature to examine their role in their...

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.

Students read the book THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London and discuss the different elements in the book. They then write an essay on a theme providing examples backing up their main point of their essay.

Here is a great lesson on recognizing events and themes in a story. Students read chapters from a chosen book and then fill out a graphic organizer to further explore the purpose of the chapter. They write the events, themes, author's...

Have your class explore Buddhist Jataka Tales to compare and contrast them to European fables. After defining fables, Jataka tales, and the elements of each, learners identify themes and patterns for both types of narratives and the...

The Great Gatsby, The Jungle and study HRC's Teaching the American Twenties-The Dream Factory are the focus of this lesson, Your students will rewrite a small scene from the novel into a dramatic film scene and then create a modern...

A straightforward lesson about the themes in Ray Bradbury's short stories, this activity allows learners to first work independently and then share their analyses with the class. They read "The Other Foot" as well as another story from...

Pupils analyze song lyrics and discuss Faust theme in musical history. In this thematic lesson, students view a film clip and create a song lyric, poem or short story developed around the Faust theme. Pupils perform or present their...

Students view examples of Rembrandt's artistic works that include beggars and the unfortunate. They also read The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischmann. They use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the themes shared by each.

Jack London's heart for adventure has come to define the spirit of America and its frontier. Selected passages from the foreword The Cruise of the Snark take eighth graders through London's construction and voyage of his ship before...

Bring literature to life with your SMART board and this literary analysis lesson. While reading "User Friendly" by T. Ernesto Bethancourt (from the Holt Elements of Literature textbook by Kylene Beers), have your class discuss the theme...

After reading and discussing Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, pupils compare/contrast the concept/theme of love within several multiple pieces of literature. They must support their claims with textual evidence. In addition, they analyze...

Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...

Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...

Combine art and literature to teach greater themes and symbolic meaning. Using the plan outlined in this resource, expose your class to the story "Zebra" by Chaim Potok, conduct discussions about social issues and nicknames, and ask...

Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...

Moving to a new country isn't easy, as Shirley Temple Wong learns in In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord. A series of language arts activities carry readers through the novel, addressing the story's themes,...

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is difficult to read and difficult to teach. The novel is so highly regarded that it is one of most often listed as an option for the AP Literature and Composition exam. The materials in this packet from PBS...

Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...

Challenge young scholars with a counting-themed series of activities. Your counters will write invitations to a feast, create books about dinner parties and animals, design posters, draw pictures of their favorite peaceful places,...

Enjoy this thematic friendship unit compiled with ESL lessons to develop strong language development while listening, speaking, looking, and moving. Class members participate in activities covering topics like making friends, asking for...

Although this lesson plan covers the rather obscure topic of the Japanese "I-novel", it also includes a great deal of historical information and material for an in-depth discussion of universal literary concepts. Specifically, young...

Eighth graders identify figurative language and poetry in this literary analysis lesson. Using Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and a YouTube video for "The Walrus and the Carpenter," young readers complete a literary device...

Is the nature of humans inherently good or evil? That is the question scholars consider in the fourth lesson of the Lord of the Flies unit. In a Four Corners activity, they examine statements about human nature and stand by the poster...