My Hero Story Scramble

How can reading short stories benefit people? To conclude a unit study of this genre, class members script and film a public service announcement addressing this essential question.

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...

Who do the kids in your class look up to? Have them describe their heroes with a writing prompt. The prompt encourages kids to explain why this person is important to them, and what actions the hero has done that make him or her a...

Explore the motivations and personalities of the main characters from Willa Cather's My Ántonia. Once kids have finished Book One of the novel, have them work in groups to analyze Ántonia Shimerda, Jim Burden, Mr. Shimerda, Lena Lingard,...

There are some words out there that just make you say, "Wow!" Encourage your class to find and use these words in their writing to make their work more interesting and complex. This packet goes through the writing process, beginning with...

Get your writers composing their own short stories by following some or all of the ideas included here. You'll find short lessons and activities, handouts and assignment pages, sample paragraphs and sentences, and all sorts of great...

Young readers will retell and sequence a familiar story from a different culture. They listen to a story, retell it through pantomime, sequence the story, and discuss the beginning, middle, and end. They will learn about parts of a story...

Let's pretend! Ben Bova's short story "Moonwalk" is used as a mentor text in a unit that shows kids how to create their own imaginative narratives. A great resource that deserves a special place in your curriculum library.

Here is a well-designed lesson inviting learners to consider the qualities of a hero. They describe the lives and deeds of national, state, and/or local heroes. This is a thoughtful lesson, which is part of a sequential group on heroes....

Using The Odyssey in your classroom? Then this resource is for you. After listening to a reading of a portion of Book 9 of The Odyssey and watching a PowerPoint about Greek heroes, partners complete a "Think Pair Share" chart...