Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.

Introduce your class to "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe with this series of activities, exercises, and worksheets. Class members examine an image, analyze a movie trailer, read a prose version of the poem, look up vocabulary, and pick out...

Introduce middle schoolers to free verse poetry with a lesson that has young poets read two free verse poems and list the common characteristics of the form. They then read a passage from Cesar Chavez's biography and a free verse poem...

The Navajo would disagree with Shakespeare that the naming of things is irrelevant. Navajo people have to earn their names. Middle schoolers learn about the cultural significance of Navajo names in a lesson that uses a video and reading...

Young scholars examine the experience of the middle passage of slaves. They review slave songs and discuss their common themes. They develop a monologue in which they integrate a fragment of an actual slave song into a poem they have...

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

Imagine being a child forced from your home and into a concentration camp during World War II. Scholars prepare for a visit to the United States Holocaust Museum by researching the children of the horrible event. They analyze...

Students identify the main ideas in a passage from literature, and in a painting, and justify their conclusions using logic and language arts skills.

Ever felt stuck in the middle? Some characters do. Scholars choose a novel or play and write essays describing how a character is stuck between cultures. Writers also analyze the techniques used in a passage from We Were the Mulvaneys...

Middle schoolers are asked to identify the alliteration used in John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, Emily Dickinson's "May-Flower," and a passage from Robert Lewis Stevenson's Kidnapped.

Explore ancient warfare through a dramatic reading of select portions of The Iliad with your class. They will identify the major characters in The Iliad and explain the strategies, external forces, and alliances of the Trojan War

Telling time can confuse some students. This packet includes a straight forward explanation of how to tell time, a poem about telling time, two practice sheets, and an answer key. Note: The reading passage may be too difficult for 1st...

Students explore reasons that people immigrate to the United States. In this Statue of Liberty lesson, students read a handout regarding immigration, analyze the poem, "The New Colossus," and complete the provided worksheet activities.

In this youth and old age dictation worksheet, learners take dictation on a passage containing various terms associated with youth and old age.

Third graders, through six lessons, study tales of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Aladdin and the Lamp from The Arabian Nights.

In this author's purpose worksheet, students read a few sentences about a book and then answer short answer questions about the author's purpose. Students complete 12 questions.

Students break into groups of 4 or 5 and choose an option to demonstrate a different cultural perspective in a fairy tale or other folklore that they are familiar. Possible choices are: PowerPoint presentation, video, digital...

Students analyze House on Mango Street. In this House on Mango Street lesson, students complete a pre-reading activity for vignettes from the story. Students follow with lessons about self definition and identity, friendships,...

A interpretation of "Middle Passage" by many different authors.

For an overview of the life and work of Robert Hayden (1913-1980 CE), go to this website. The biography provides details about his childhood, education, awards he has won, and the typical themes of his poems.