Is Luke Skywalker the archetype of a literary hero? Follow the path of the Hero's Journey with an engaging lesson that details the plot structure, applies it to Star Wars: A New Hope, and invites class members to choose their own...

Students sketch characters they create. In this character instructional activity, students then describe their character's appearance, family members, personality, interests and beliefs. Students then write a short story using their...

Learners will create a list of short vowel sound words and participate in computer phonics activities to practice. They will read an interactive storybook online. Next, they will complete words in order to better understand short vowel...

Bring the fun and creativity of children's stories to your language arts class. Middle schoolers write, revise, and publish an original student book which incorporates the elements of a short story. They put their story in the form of a...

Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.

Personal narratives are powerful things. Whether told from the first-person or third-person point of view, whether in the form of an essay, a short story, novel, or video, whether fiction or fact, they capture readers and give them...

What was it like to enlist as a soldier in the Civil War? By using enlistment papers, young scholars consider this question. After they've looked at the primary source and discussed it, they create a short story of a fictional soldier to...

Learners develop skills needed to write short stories. They pick out an object in the room and describe it without saying what it is. They describe their hand and the lines on their hand without using words "Line, finger,skin or vein"

Tenth graders write an original story using a picture of a scene inspiration. For this short story lesson, 10th graders write short stories using a picture.

Young scholars explore life as a pioneer in the late 1890's. In this appreciation of history lesson, students read excerpts from My Antonia. Young scholars create presentations about life and culture in Nebraska.  Students write an...

Students examine short stories to determine how clues are planted in story stories of the mystery genre. They look at how Edgar Allan Poe planted clues in "The Purloined Letter." They write an original short story in which they plant...

Students apply vocabulary activities to two short stories in order to increase their comprehension skills. They complete three lessons in which they examine irony, examine how it is used in text, and design an ironic skit. Also, the look...

Refuse to alienate your scientific-minded young scholars during your creative writing unit. Learners explore how literary writing can reflect observable fact, and be based in actual science. The links include examples of fiction and...

Examine the differences between totalitarianism and democracy in this writing activity. Using the same format and theme from Great Expectations, young writers work in pairs to compose their own short stories. They follow guidelines for...

A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...

Combine math, creative writing, and leprechauns in a fun St. Patrick's Day activity! Using a bag of gold coins and marshmallows, kids write a math story about a leprechaun that includes a multi-step equation to solve.

Two versions of movie trailers for the film Mary Poppins launch a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious lesson plan about how mood and tone impact a reader's experience of work. Using the provided list, readers identify the words that...

They expected good soil and hearty crops ... but they found buffalo chips and grasshopper plagues. Using an advertisement encouraging famers to go west, budding historians examine primary sources including letters, photographs, and...

Is there value in preserving indigenous languages that are almost extinct? That's the question posed to viewers of a short film about the attempt of one Native American woman who is creating a dictionary for Wakchumni, the language of...

Students read a short story and answer questions.  In this comprehension activity, students read a short story and complete a worksheet answering comprehension questions and identifying the parts of a story. Students create their...

Young scholars read a short story, The Tell-Tale Heart and create a story map identifying the elements of a short story included in the selection. Students complete an Accelerated Reader test on the selection.

Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...

Students read Abe Lincoln's Hat and use a plot diagram to identify the sequence of the story. They use plot diagrams to write their own stories from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln's hat.

As a culminating assignment for a unit study of heroes that uses The Hobbit as the core text, class members engage in a multi-genre writing project.