National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read: Longfellow: Poetry

Immerse yourself in the beautiful, twisted world of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. A detailed lesson plan provides important details about the writing, stagecraft, music, and literary elements of the famous musical,...

What was Shakespeare's intent? That is the question at the heart of a summer assignment designed for AP English Literature. Class members focus on five scenes from The Tempest and compare the interactions of Prospero, Caliban,...

Direct readers' thinking with a DRTA activity that asks them to make predictions about The Book Thief based on an examination of the cover of Markus Zusak's novel and a reading of the prologue.

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...

Guide to Naguib Mahfouz's The Thief and the Dogs, including historical background, author biography, discussion questions, and a ten-lesson unit with project ideas and essay topics. A radio show, with transcripts, features excerpts from...

Guide to Henry James's novel Washington Square provides historical context, author biography, questions, and a collection of resources for teachers, including a ten-lesson unit, projects, and essay topics.

Guide to Edith Wharton's, The Age of Innocence, with historical information, author biography, discussion questions, and a ten-lesson unit of study including discussion activities, homework assignments, project ideas, and essay topics.

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...

Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...

Explore San Francisco's Chinatown in a lesson about the first few chapters of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Kids research Chinatown on the Internet and create a virtual tour of the neighborhood, including the foods, cultural events,...