Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 6
Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club brings together the central ideas of identity, ambition, expectations, and relationships. As high schoolers read an excerpt from the chapter "Two Kinds," they note how Jing-Mei's connection to music relates to...
California Department of Education
Call the Tune: Music in Literature
I am dancing to the music in my head. Scholars learn to listen for music in their heads as they read literature and poems. After they identify and analyze poetic devices that relate to music, they create their own musical poems.
Syracuse University
Women's Suffrage Movement
Women gained the right to vote in the twentieth century, but the fight for equality dates back centuries. Using an invitation to an 1874 suffrage convention, eager historians consider the motivations behind supporters of the suffrage...
Curated OER
Where is the Science?: Design as an Introduction to the Scientific Method
Students work to create a design that will protect an egg from being dropped from a one story floor. They test their prototype after it is completed. They write clear instructions and link aspects of the design process to the scientific...
Curated OER
Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
Youth & Children’s Ministry
Lent
For each week of Lent, focus on a specific gospel passage, theme, and guiding question with your class members. Your pupils will engage in a variety of hands-on activities, discussion points, and worksheets following Jesus'...
EngageNY
Introducing Module 4B: “Water Is Life”
Learners take a gallery walk around the classroom to view various images and quotes. As they walk, they write down what they notice and wonder about what they see. After discussing their notice and wonder notes, they read the...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 13
Readers examine the conversation between Friar Laurence and Romeo in Act 3, scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and consider how Shakespeare's word choices impact the development of Romeo's character.
K20 LEARN
The Monkey's Paw - Be Careful What You Wish For: Foreshadowing
W. W. Jacobs' horror story, "The Monkey's Paw," is used to introduce foreshadowing. As they advance through the story, young readers make predictions about what might happen next and how the story might end. Pairs work through the...
Curated OER
Springfield Wiki Lesson - Literature Circles
Using a variety of novels about survival, such as Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, pupils create author's studies using wikis. First, learners are placed in groups to study a particular novel. Then, they create a page...
New York City Department of Education
What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue: How Did Jazz Influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...
Curated OER
Plan Your Unexpected Journey
Leave your hobbit hole and start an adventure with J. R. R. Tolkien's timeless tale of dwarves, dragons, and hobbits.
Curated OER
"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare
Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis...
Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency
Who Were the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free?
Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time Travel Adventure is the core text in a interdisciplinary unit study of immigration at the turn of the century.
Curated OER
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
A thorough instructional activity introduces learners to Hans Christian Andersen, the nineteenth-century author who created wonderful tales. They read the original texts of several of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The...
Curated OER
Analyzing Sonnets
Model for your class how to craft an analysis of a sonnet by examining the literary techniques used, the background of the poet, and critical reviews of the poem. As guided practice, learners are assigned a sonnet, complete a preliminary...
Curated OER
Cyrano De Bergerac: Understanding Drama Through Characterization and Dialogue
Students explore three major dramatic concepts using Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. In this dramatic concepts lesson, students research the concepts of universal theme, characterization, and dialogue using the given text. Students...
Curated OER
Literary Odyssey
Students read and compare excerpts from The Odyssey and The Adventures of Telemachus. In this literary comparison lesson, students read the two stories and discuss the characters Telemachus and Eucharis. Students view an image by David...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 17: Obituary
The Cay has been criticized by groups such as the Council on Interracial Books for Children because of the way race is portrayed. Explore the argument against the book while taking the author's perspective into account. Class members...
Curated OER
1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
High schoolers examine the United States at the turn of the century. Using primary source documents, they interpret them within a specific historical context. Using this information, they write a poem with metaphors and a specific meter...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 8-9 Worksheet
Find out how much your learners picked up from a couple of chapters of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Pupils answer six plot and character analysis questions and tackle similes. The worksheet is adaptable; assign it in class...
Curated OER
School Newspaper
Fifth graders run a school newspaper on a school website and discover how to use various literary forms as they relate to the writing process. In this school newspaper instructional activity, 5th graders synthesize information from...
Curated OER
Poetry Group Activity
In this Romeo and Juliet learning exercise, students complete a group project by creating a poem on an assigned topic relating to themes found in Romeo and Juliet.