Avoid the horror of readers straining to recall details of Joseph Conrad's complex Heart of Darkness. Instead provide scholars with a frame for their note taking. As they read, class members record evidence to support their responses to...

Close reading is key to the analysis and interpretation of literature. A close reading of the title and the epigraph of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” offers readers an opportunity to examine how even single words or names can...

Does the world shape a person's character? Scholars choose a novel or play, take a close look, and write essays about how surroundings affect a character. Writers also analyze literary elements in an excerpt from a novel and poetic...

The second module in a series for high school seniors focuses on tracking the central idea of a text across genres and from multiple author and character perspectives. Twelfth graders read a speech by Benazir Bhutto entitled "Ideas Live...

Students complete a unit of lessons on families. They read and analyze various stories, label a map, assemble sentences, write letters to grandparents, analyze character traits, and write and illustrate a sheet for a class book.

Students investigate bullying and discrimination and draw pictures of a personal response to being bullied. They read Thank You, Mr. Falkner by Patricia Polacco, to determine the philosophic act that the main character performs. They...

Should identifying a tragic hero be based on a universal definition or a definition based on the morals and values of a specific culture? As part of a study of Things Fall Apart, class members read Sylvia Plath's "Colossus" and then...

Students participate in an environmental action letter-writing campaign. They conduct Internet research on the Global Response website, discuss various successful Global Response campaigns, select a campaign they are interested in, and...

Learners read The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark and view A Debt to Honor to identify ways that Christians helped the Jewish people during the Holocaust.  For this Holocaust lesson, students discuss...

Eleventh graders engage in the reading of the novel "The Scarlet Letter" while choosing a topic to write a literature response. They search the novel for textual evidence to include in writing a paper that supports a well thought...

Fifth graders determine how freedom comes with rights and responsibilities through literature and poetry about World War II. In this World War II lesson, 5th graders use the letters in the word "infamy" to write an acrostic poem. They...

Some money, a pocketknife, a ball of cord, and some flint and steel ... is that enough for a 14-year-old to survive alone in the wilderness? Scholars explore the topic of survival with the novel study for My Side of the Mountain....

Wyoming has the lowest population of all 50 states. Using the novel study for Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner, pupils create brochures to attract visitors to the state, which is the setting for the novel. Additionally, they answer...

A million things to do, a ton of homework ... hyperbole sure does help get the point across! With the novel study for Jerry Spinelli's Third Grade Angels, scholars practice writing their own exaggerated sentences. Additionally, they...

Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons,...

Teach learners to reflect on their reading with a lesson about double-entry journals. As they read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, class members note interesting passages from the text on the left side of their...

A teacher's guide for Kindred provides instructors with a wealth of materials to enrich either a full-class reading or independent study of Octavia E. Butler's popular science fiction novel. The activities are designed to...

Life isn't always sweet in Alabama. A study guide for the novel Gone Crazy in Alabama introduces readers to life in the rural South and explores one character's experiences there. In addition to answering basic reading comprehension...

Go with your gut! Scholars read excerpts from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and record their initial feeling from the reading as strong positive, positive, neutral, negative, or strong negative. They then discuss how their responses...

Bring this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet to your unit on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Middle schoolers respond to nine essay questions based on the novel. They may also access an online quiz on the selection...

Natasha Wing's story The Night Before Thanksgiving is a great way to incorporate rhyme and literature into the Thanksgiving season. Learners make text-to-self connections, recall main events, and choose post-reading activities...

Support your instruction of The Cay by Theodore Taylor with this extensive unit of materials. Provided here are prereading activities, worksheets and discussion questions for the entire book, and reading quizzes that you can use to check...

Explore a variety of fables to learn life's lessons through engaging stories. Add rigor to the learning process with activities that include matching a a fable to the story's moral, short answer exit slips, and a three-column graphic...

Compare and contrast Frederick Douglass's and the National Women's Suffrage Association's stances on equal rights and suffrage with a series of documents and worksheets. Learners work together or independently to complete the packet, and...