Journeying to Create

How was Edgar Allan Poe able to create "intriguing, memorable, and lasting literature"? To answer this question, learners analyze the syntax, diction, and characterizations in Poe's poems and short stories and compare the impact of these...

Japanese Internment and World war II are the focus of a KWHL strategy used to scaffold for a reading of Journey to Topaz,  Yoshiko Uchida's story of 11-year-old Yuki Sakane and her family. Complete directions for the activity and...

An exciting twist on the study of the classical hero and the heroic quest! Using film to explore modern-day tales of heroes, the resource contains complete, ready-to-use lesson plans for as many as twelve days of instruction. Throughout...

Conflict can be fun! Or at least it can be, if it forms the basis of a novel plot. This resource, part of a NaNoWriMo series of worksheets that prepares middle schoolers to write their own novel, presents the element of conflict. After...

To prepare for a reading of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, kids must prioritize a list of items to take with them on a journey to Texas.

Why are there tides? What caused the world to shift? Why are there valleys surrounded by mountains? The explanations for these phenomena are all found in the Norse myth of Thor's journey to Utgard.

Students read and discuss The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. In this literature lesson, students read the texts and examine the school experience long ago. Students create a profile of the history of their school.

How do writers use the interaction between elements like characterization and setting to create meaning? Readers of "A Worn Path" create a series of comic book-style graphics of Eudora Welty's short story and reflect on how Welty uses...

Viewers will love this engaging video, which is an adventure of its own! The narrator begins by relating the hero's journey to modern books, and then introduces Joseph Campbell and his thoughts about the process. As the narrator details...

Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...