Khaled Hosseini’s video “Using Real People and Events” motivates learners to reflect on their own experiences and to use those experiences as the basis of a graphic novel that expresses a universal truth. The richly detailed plan...

Students, after reading a novel, utilize geographic skills to map out the places described in the novel. They collect data, envision spatial features and then design a map to work off of to complete their assignment. Each student also...

The reviews for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin were as divisive as the novel itself. High schoolers finish the novel unit with an evaluation of the book's initial reviews, its characters' dreams and fears of...

Explore the history of the American novel in the contexts of literature and US history. How does a novel or piece of writing from a particular time showcase the mood during that historical period? After conducting research and discussing...

Students read a novel to gain insight into a different region of the world. Using a graphic organizer, they share the information they have already gathered about Ethiopia. They draw an outline map of Africa and read the opening pages of...

Teach the importance of context and perspective with a unit focused on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first lesson considers the role of female characters and readers, including the gender expectations of the time. The...

The artistic choices Art Spiegelman made in his graphic novel, Maus, are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare classic comic book forms with Spiegelman’s panels and frames. Directed to specific pages and guided by a...

Your 11th and 12th graders are ready to critique society! Channel that inclination by studying a novel that offers social criticism of other eras (book recommendations included). This resource presents a well-thought-out overview of such...

Students read a short novel while filling in a graphic organizer for problem and solution.  In this sociology instructional activity, students use a prior knowledge and relate the text to theirselves and to think...

Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...

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...

If your class is reading the historical fiction novel, Out of the Dust, then you are in luck. Here are a few slides that will help you provide historical context for the book, as well as define main characters, setting, symbolism, and...

High schoolers are introduced to Chinua Achebe's first novel and to his views on the role of the writer in his or her society. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the related lesson Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...

A lot of secrecy shrouded the creation of the atomic bomb. Readers uncover some of that secrecy using an educator's guide for the novel The Green Glass Sea. Three weeks of lesson plans feature discussion questions and reading...

Books can help teens understand complex global issues. A helpful educator's guide introduces readers to what it's like to be a refugee. Lesson components for the novel Shades of Gray include an anticipation guide and writing and...

It's hard to imagine that life on Alcatraz could be dull. A series of intriguing lessons take readers through the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts. Pre-reading questions introduce the text and a range of suggestions, from comic strips to...

Students select a novel of their choice and complete assignments that are self-assigned. Students display responsibility in completing self-assigned projects and meet deadlines.

Fifth graders read a historical novel. In groups they reenact chapters of the novel.

Complex, disturbing, and challenging, Beloved is the focus of a lesson that provides three activities to guide a close reading of Toni Morrison's novel. Readers create chapter titles based on key plot elements or themes,...

Students write a context paper.  In this teaching the novel in context lesson, students view a primary sources to recreate the cultural and historical context of the novel.  Students make the connection between the literary...

The battle between code makers and code breakers has been going on for centuries and is a key tool of warfare. The contributions of the Native American Code Talkers of World Wars I and II are celebrated in a lesson that features a...

Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...

Through a careful reading and examination of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, scholars take part in grand conversations about the novel's contents, slavery, and the impact the book had on it. Furthermore,...