A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...

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...

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

The big idea in this poetry unit plan is that structure and content work together to create meaning. Class members learn how to identify and mark the metrical patterns and line lengths used in poems. They study the structure of various...

Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...

Imagine linking poetry to technology! Thirty-three lessons comprise a 6-week "Women in Poetry" unit for high schoolers. Class members research women poets, learn how to respond electronically to discussions, write their poems, create web...

Students analyze and appreciate various types of poetry. In this poetry unit, students read classic and contemporary works to discover ways in which poetry expresses strong feelings. Students identify key vocabulary used to analyze...

Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.

These animated shorts introduce or review literary elements and techniques like theme, setting, figurative language, characterization, and conflict. They can be used when students are just learning how to identify the most commonly used...

Explore the difference between tone and mood in this animated video [2:28] from WNET through definitions and examples from poetry and prose. Discussion questions below help students to further apply their understanding before analyzing a...

Twenty-six half hour videos on literary analysis for high school students that feature authors, scholars, actors and noted critics. Topics include The Art of the Essay, Setting and Character in Short Fiction, Responding to Literature and...

Discover how literary techniques like figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the overall meaning of a poem. Explore how a poet establishes and builds on a theme and the difference between tone and mood. Through a close...

OnTRACK English II Reading, Module 3, Lessons 1-12, and Practice Lessons 1-3. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry, drama, fiction, and literary non-fiction, and provide...

A series of 24 instructional videos, each about 30 minutes in length, designed to teach literary analysis. Topics include Responding to Literature, The Elements of Short Fiction, Tone and Style in Short fiction, The Elements of Poetry,...

This expansive self-guided unit hits on many objectives such as analyzing literature for author's purpose, figuring out the main idea/theme, understanding historical criticism, comparing and contrasting works from major historical...