Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: It Doesn't Have to End That Way

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Literary response and prediction are the focus of this lesson plan. Knowing story structure is an important skill for literary analysis, and this gives teachers a way to help learners develop this skill. Includes links to web resources,...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Flying to Freedom: Tar Beach & the People Could Fly

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Comparing and contrasting works and looking for underlying themes and messages are at the heart of this multicultural lesson plan. Provides links to several background resources, and suggestions for assessment.
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
Critical thinking, comprehension and analysis skills are the focus of this physical activity. Good beginning to teaching different ways of looking at things.
Activity
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Robert Frost (1874 1963)

For Students 9th - 10th
Critical analysis of numerous Frost poems by foremost literary critics like William Pritchard. This is a great resource for students learning how to analyze Frost's poetry.
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Introduction to Ap Literature and Composition

For Students 9th - 10th
This an introduction to an AP Literature and Composition online course; it explains the advantages to taking an AP class and the rigor involved. It provides links to the AP Literature Course Description and practice tests, Registering...
Website
Other

War, Literature & the Arts

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This international journal covers film, literature, and visual art. Click on current issue to see what's available. Back issues are not hyperlinked to text. The journal is indexed in the American Humanities Index, Literary Criticism...
Website
Other

War, Literature & the Arts

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This international journal covers film, literature, and visual art. Click on current issue to see what's available. Back issues are not hyperlinked to text. The journal is indexed in the American Humanities Index, Literary Criticism...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: So What Do You Think? Writing a Review

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Contains plans for four lessons that ask students to write critical literature reviews after reading reviews of movies, music, restaurants, and books. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to...
Handout
University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin Madison: Writing Center: How to Write Critical Reviews

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site provides the viewer with a step-by-step guide to writing critical reviews for non-fiction works. Its steps include analyzing the assignment as well as writing a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Links to other writing...
Lesson Plan
British Library

British Library: Robert Browning: Creative Writing

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Looking at three of Robert Browning's poems, students will be encouraged to think critically and create compositions that explore complex themes.[PDF]
Handout
University of Toronto (Canada)

University of Toronto: Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Aimed particularly towards writing about non-fiction, this site describes ways to think about what you read so you can write more clearly. Focuses on analyzing the "ways of thinking" that an author uses so you can evaluate the validity...
Unit Plan
Cengage Learning

Houghton Mifflin: Emerson's Major Themes

For Students 9th - 10th
Houghton Mifflin site has an entry that discusses major themes, historical issues, writing style, audience, and literary criticism for Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). Contains discussion/study questions and a bibliography.
Handout
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Writing About Literature: Additional Resources

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is "'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow': An Allegory for a Young America," an exceptional student example of literary analysis as well as an explanation to the main body of her paper. A link to the MLA website is also provided.
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Modeling Academic Writing

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Students prepare an already published scholarly article for presentation, with an emphasis on identification of the author's thesis and argument structure.
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Corduroy Lesson Plan

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
This ReadWriteThink lesson features an opportunity for young scholars to respond to literature through writing journals about "Corduroy," by Don Freeman. This idea could be used with other books as well.
Handout
Bartleby

Bartleby.com: Cambridge History of Eng and Am Lit: The Romantic Revival Byron

For Students 9th - 10th
Information on the life and works of Byron and several other Romantic-era writers is offered at this site, with links to critical analyses of these works.
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Critical and Analytical Thinking About Literary Characters

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Contains plans for four lessons that use the short story "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry to teach about characterization using word maps. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat"

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Contains plans for seven lessons that use Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat" to teach the literary elements of plot, theme, and character to high school students. It also teaches about psychoanalytic criticism concepts such as the Id, Ego,...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: What Makes Poetry? Exploring Line Breaks

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
This lesson explains how analyzing poetry is a many-layered process. This lesson introduces the special characteristics of poetry and leads young scholars through a look at how poems are structured and why. Includes links to poems and...
Lesson Plan
Other

Teaching Heart: Fairy Tale Lessons & Ideas

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Geared toward grades K-3--offers objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions and evaluations. Online lesson plans for introducing and teaching basic literary criticism skills.
Website
Sonnet Central

Sonnet Central

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A comprehensive site dedicated to the English sonnet. Site includes numerous pages grouped by country of origin and historic period. Also included is literary criticism of various sonnets and advice on how to write a sonnet. Click on the...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Mining Literature for Deeper Meanings

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Writing a great English paper can be tough because literature doesn't always reveal its deeper meanings immediately. Amy E. Harter offers a few tips on how to read and write more critically and thoughtfully. [4:12]
Primary
University of Toronto (Canada)

University of Toronto: Selected Poetry of Oliver Wendell Holmes

For Students 9th - 10th
From the University of Toronto Representative Poetry On-Line site, this page contains a brief discussion of the life and works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, American writer and physician. Contains links to electronic text versions of ten...
Website
Other

On "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For Students 9th - 10th
Acclaimed literary critic Dana Gioia analyzes Longfellow's classic narrative poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," encouraging readers to see beyond the story into the rationale for the structure and style of the poem.