Curated OER
Hanging Out with Stories
Help your class listen and respond to a fictional story by creating a story structure mobile illustrating the main characters, setting, plot, problem, story events, and solution. Using a coat hanger, they will create an artistic element...
ReadWriteThink
Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments
A speaker, a message, an audience. After analyzing these elements in Queen Elizabeth's speech to the troops at Tilbury, groups analyze how other speakers use an awareness of events, and their audience to craft their arguments....
Curated OER
How To Read A Movie
Ninth graders respond to films they have seen using literary, dramatic, and cinematic terms. They reevaluate their role as a moviegoer. Students analyze their favorite film in order to discover what good films have in common.
Curated OER
Spring Fling
Students take part in a number of activities that center around a spring theme. They draw the steps to show process of growing seeds.
Curated OER
Groundhog Day: Find All Words
In this Groundhog Day terminology/key terms worksheet, students define, review and discuss the nine key terms associated with Groundhog Day.
Curated OER
Spring: Find All Words
In this spring terminology/key terminology worksheet, students define, review and discuss the eleven key terms associated with spring.
Curated OER
Symbolism
Students engage in a lesson about symbolism while reviewing the work of Edgar Allen Poe. They review the definition of symbolism and use it to list the symbols in his work. They write a journal about how the author uses many literary...
Curated OER
Debating Iraq
Students analyze the main themes of President Bush's UN Speech and discussion of the NewsHour report on the Iraq Debate. In this debate instructional activity, students answer pre-listening questions and view a transcript of the speech....
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Hard Times, Soft Sell
Students analyze art to determine themes for the Great Depression Era. In this Great Depression lesson, students identify themes for the era and research evidence for the themes to present to the class. Students interview family members...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
High schoolers analyze modernist poetry and the role of speaker in example poems. Learners study modernist poems from the Romanticism and Victorian periods as well as Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Using a...
Curated OER
Book Project Lesson Plans
Long term book projects can help engage students and enhance their critical thinking skills .
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye
Ninth graders engage in the reading of literature in order to focus upon some of the basic literary elements while examining "The Catcher In The Rye". They use the experience of reading and literary analysis in order to help develop an...
Curated OER
Show Don't Tell
Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.
Curated OER
"Theseus and the Minotaur"
Young scholars analyze the features of myths and legends. They read the myths "Theseus and the Minotaur" and "Orpheus and Eurydice," identify the myth story elements, evaluate each story for the overall theme, describe the characters,...
Curated OER
Middle East Related
Eighth graders find a current event related to the Middle East. In this current event instructional activity students write a brief summary of a new story related to the Middle East. They give their opinion and tell how it affects their...
Curated OER
School Sleuths Treasure Map
Students are explained how a grid and compass work. They are also explained that archaeologists use grids as a record of the exact location of artifacts. Students define the term datum as a point of reference on grids from which all...
Curated OER
A Christmas Carol Exploration
Seventh graders explore the history of Christmas by researching classic literature. In this holiday activity, 7th graders read the story A Christmas Carol and discuss the tone of Charles Dickens' classic literary work. Students answer...
Curated OER
Computer Basics
Students review basic terminology that they would use to reference computers in media arts. In this computer terminology lesson plan, students use terms frequently.
Curated OER
Resistance Poetry
Students create a definition for the term resistance. Once a definition has been created, they create a visual image to correlate with their definition. Working in groups, students read several different resistance poems and classify...
Curated OER
Teaching Imagery
Students review the terms idyll and imagery. They read "A Winter Idyll" from "Snowbound" as a class. They break into groups of 5 and respond/react to their lines to make connections to the text.
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Hyperbole
Students define the term hyperbole and determine when it is appropriate to use hyperboles in writing. They work in pairs to develop short stories and poems with examples of hyperboles.
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Irony
What are the three types of irony? High schoolers engage in a lesson about the use of irony while reading O.Henry's short story "Gift of the Magi." They'll discuss rising action, climax, and resolution in the text before highlighting the...
Curated OER
Use of Personification and Imagery in Poetry
A reading of Theodore Roethke’s dark "Root Cellar" and Sylvia Plath’s more abstract "Mirror" launches a discussion of imagery and personification in poetry. After finding examples of personification in the poems, class members...
Curated OER
Parts of the Plot: Constructing a Plot Diagram
Sixth graders conduct a plot diagram for a short story. They identify the problem, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. Students are able to sequence events in a story, and identify the parts of the plot...