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,...

Is it possible to regain trust? Scholars put much thought into the subject of trust after reading Shakespeare's Macbeth. Readers work together to analyze how the character relationships develop the a message about trust. They then...

Readers take part in three activities after reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. To understand the importance of diction, class members analyze Stevenson's characters' language to denote their social status. After...

Provide readers of Othello with information that will support their study of Shakespeare's tragedy. The 36 slides include background information about the themes, plot, characters, setting, and literary terms and devices used.

Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...

Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac has enjoyed popularity since its debut in 1897 due in large part to the themes it addresses. Instructors planning on using the play with their classes will find much to like in this teaching guide. The...

To end the unit, groups use the Honeycomb Harvest strategy to show connections among a character, symbols, and themes in the novel and then create an Anchor Chart for the character that includes a symbol that best represents him. They...

Scholars complete their study of the collective fear in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" by conducting a mock trial to determine how many witches are in the class. Groups then analyze sections of the play for the literary devices used and...

People deal with grief in different ways. The series of Abigail Adams' letters in this lesson reveals how she dealt with losing her mother, father, and community members. The included worksheet helps young scholars identify the tone and...

The eighth lesson in a series of reading interactives focuses on allusions and what these literary devices add to a text. Readers examine examples of four types of allusions: mythological, religious, historical, and literary. They then...

What is the best way to determine the theme of a text? Pupils analyze how central ideas emerge in Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. They work in small groups and engage in a whole-class discussion to discuss the play's plot. Finally,...

How does the theme of gender inequality develop in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Shakespeare's Hamlet? Pupils craft a multi-paragraph response to analyze the relationship between the texts. They use evidence from both works to...

How do the narrative and play versions of the myth "Pyramus and Thisbe" affect meaning? Scholars reread Act 5, Scene 1 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and compare its structure to "Pyramus and Thisbe." Next, they use a...

Readers complete a word web-based on the word dignity. They use their Understanding Invisibility note catcher to discuss how dignity relates to the theme of invisibility. After group discussion comparing invisibility and loss of dignity,...

Moving on up ... Scholars take a look at how the author of the model essay Elements of Mythology and Theme of Cronus moved up in the writing process from a graphic organizer to an essay. After walking through the writing process of the...

Fourth time is a charm. Learners complete multiple reads of Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew. On the fourth read, they make notes about each page on sticky notes. They then complete a think-pair-share activity with a partner to determine the...

Complete a puzzle one piece at a time. Scholars gather in triads to complete jigsaw activities over a monologue from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies. They read as a group and independently and use sticky notes to identify the gist of...

Let's get creative! As part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars create a piece of artwork illustrating the theme from Laurence Yep's novel, Dragonwings. Additionally, pupils use a graphic organizer to identify figurative language in...

Explore idioms with a chicken theme! Consider doing these activities prior to Thanksgiving, as there's a section about wishbones! First your youngsters will match a short list of idioms with their meanings. Then, give each learner the...

Pupils define 3 vocabulary words, define 1 literary term, and respond to 10 short-answer questions pertaining to chapter 9 of A Separate Peace by John Knowles. These activities are designed to help them better understand the novel and...

To better understand the work of Black Panther logo artist Emory Douglas, learners define literary devices. They define a series of words such as metaphor, simile, and assonance, then place an example of that device found in Emory...

After reading "The King of Mazy May" by Jack London, learners reinforce their literary analysis skills in this SMART board activity. The provided SMART board file allows themto define elements of a short story, and then add it to the...

Explore the paradox of the universe - or, at least, of popular music - with this lesson. Using the songs "Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson and "She" by Green Day, your class will complete a graphic organizer to help them understand...

Covering vocabulary, literary analysis, and grammar, this worksheet would be a great study guide or homework assignment for an eighth-grade Language Arts class. Though the five stories by Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry, and Oscar Wilde are...