Curated OER
Just Lookin' For a Home
What is a boll weevil? Your class can find out that and more by following the activities included here. Pupils read an article, sing a boll weevil song, add to the song with their own original lyrics, illustrate the song, study the...
Library of Congress
Loc: How to Find a Novel,etc. Without Knowing Its Title or Author
Use this guide to help identify a literary work when they know only its plot or subject, or other textual information such as a character's name, a line of poetry, or a unique word or phrase. Trusted databases, library catalogs, and more...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Internet Classics Archive: Metamorphoses, by Ovid
The text for the first fourteen books of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Includes links to share recommended related sites among users.
University of South Florida
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Lit2 Go
Find stories, novels, and poems from more than one hundred authors. Download select works as MP3 files or read or listen to them online. Available selections span a wide range of literature, from nursery rhymes to the philosophy of...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Exploring World Cultures Through Folk Tales
Using international folklore as subject matter, lead your students in a unit to research literary forms and foreign countries. There is a printout available for instruction and assessment.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Playing With Genre Through Newspapers and Short Stories
Contains plans for three lessons that ask students to compare narrative writing (short stories) to expository writing (news articles) in order to understand what makes each genre unique. In addition to objectives and standards, this...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Literature: Describing Setting
Short explanation of setting as a literary term. Written in the context of "What makes a good short story?" A link at the bottom of the page leads to additional information about setting.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Forms
This slideshow lesson focuses on forms of fiction: short story, novella, and novel. It describes the defining characteristics of each, provides examples, and explains how to identify each.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Action/adventure
This slideshow focuses on the genre of action/adventure; it provides background information, common elements, a list of pop culture movies (made from books), three famous literary examples, and an excerpt from a fourth with commentary.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Common Themes in Literature
This tutorial focuses on common themes in literature, beginning with a slide show discussing 11 different, common themes and literary examples. This is followed by a 11-minute YouTube video with students acting out common themes in...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Themes in Literary Texts (English 6 Reading)
Learn how to infer the implicit theme in a work of fiction, distinguish theme from topic, and make complex inferences using textual evidence.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Movements: Brief Timeline of American Literature
This Washington State University site provides a decade-by-decade timeline of American literature with historical events going on at the same time. Most topics on the timeline are links to additional information about the author, work,...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Describe Themes in Literary Texts (English 7 Reading)
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson is about themes, the central messages in literature. Whatever their genre might be, writers have some wisdom, some universal truth or insight to share; this...
Other
Wisewire: Grade 7 Playlist: Historical and Literary Comparisons
Students will learn how to compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history. Included are lesson...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Compare/contrast Themes and Genres in Literary Texts
Determining the theme is not easy; you have to use the clues the author leaves to figure it out yourself. The author implies information about the story through plot points, setting, and characters. You infer and draw conclusions based...
Other
Read Print Publishing: Full Text Literature
Full text and free online versions of plays, essays, fiction, nonfiction, poetry and short stories. Search by favorite author or title and immediately find your text of choice.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Elements of Poetry
Discover how literary techniques like figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the overall meaning of a poem. Explore how a poet establishes and builds on a theme and the difference between tone and mood. Through a close...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Literary Elements and Techniques Collection
These animated shorts introduce or review literary elements and techniques like theme, setting, figurative language, characterization, and conflict. They can be used when students are just learning how to identify the most commonly used...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Storytelling With Words and Pictures
In this interactive lesson plan, students learn the basics of how stories are structured, gain vocabulary about storytelling elements, and explore how the arts, specifically drawing, can be a valuable way for students to tell stories.By...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Storytelling: Writers' Workshop
Students draw on their understanding of different types of narratives to inspire and enrich their own storytelling. This is one of four storytelling lessons.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Create a Book (Grade 3 6)
Young scholars will illustrate and write their own story.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: A Story of Epic Proportions: What Makes a Poem an Epic?
In this lesson plan, students will consider "A Story of Epic Proportions: What makes a Poem an Epic?." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
Ted Nellen
Cyber English (By Ted Nellen): Fiction: Short Story & Novel Fact Sheet
This is a short story or novel fact sheet offered as a Word document or a PDF. It includes places for title; author; URL; list of important nouns, verbs, phrases, and clauses; setting (includes definition); characterization (including...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Prose Poetry Paragraphs
Inspired by the vignettes of Sandra Cisneros, students will write about a familiar thing from their lives. Students will use the style of prose poetry to describe something familiar around their home, school or neighborhood. The final...