Penguin Books
Gulliver's Travels Teacher's Notes
Who are "the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth”? Readers of Gulliver’s Travels will learn the answer, as the journey with Lemuel Gulliver to Lilliput,...
Curated OER
Study Guide for Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper"
The battle between the Free Staters and the Republicans in the 1922-1923 Irish Civil War provides the backdrop for “The Sniper.” Individuals prepare for a discussion of Liam O’Flaherty’s tragic short story by completing a study guide...
Curated OER
Characterization of Mice and Men
Using a SMART board presentation (provided), your class discusses the characterization of Lenny, George, Curley, Curley's wife, and the farmhands in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The presentation includes a list of traits for...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
High schoolers analyze modernist poetry and the role of speaker in example poems. Learners study modernist poems from the Romanticism and Victorian periods as well as Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Using a...
John F. Kennedy Center
Acting Up, A Melodrama: Performing Like Jo March and Her Sisters in Little Women
Lights, Camera, Action! Pupils read Little Women and create, act, and direct a melodrama that Jo March and her sisters would enjoy. The lesson plan comes complete with resources for the educator on melodrama as well as examples for drama...
Curated OER
Creating Dramatic Monologues from The Grapes of Wrath
The characters in The Grapes of Wrath come to life through an activity that asks groups to craft a dramatic monologue for a character in John Steinbeck's National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Writers are challenged to...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Charles Baudelaire: Poète Maudit (The Cursed Poet)
After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, learners work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations to see...
Curated OER
Acting Like a Bunch of Animals: Fables and Human
The video "The Tales of Aesop" traces for viewers the history of fables and identifies their characteristics. The class then goes to the web site "The Fisherman and the Little Fish" where they examine the classic and a modern version of...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Predicting the Future
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read an informational text about the predictions of a futurist and answer questions on comprehension, text support, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Annotating Text
This slideshow focuses on the reading strategy, annotating text. It defines the term and purpose, lists types of annotation, explains what to annotate, and suggests how readers develop their own method.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Critical Reading as a Learning Strategy
This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...
Other
Center for Assessment: Tools for Examining Text Complexity [Pdf]
Learn how to use several tools to determine text complexity and readability of text for your students.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Annotate for Meaning (English Ii Reading)
This lesson focuses on annotating text to aid in understanding of the text including annotating an argument and poetry. It also provides tools and techniques for marking text.
Other
Carson Newman College: Close Reading of a Literary Passage [Pdf]
Provides a number of questions that students can ask themselves about a literary passage when doing a "Close Reading" and following this with an organized piece of writing. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.5
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Citing Textual Evidence: Changing Oceans
Learn how to cite evidence to support ideas presented in a science article about oceans.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Analyzing Complex Text
During this lesson, students will use close reading strategies to analyze aspects of the setting in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. [7:57] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10, RL.11-12.10a/b Text Complexity
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Analyze Shifts in Perspective in Informational & Persuasive Text
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will read informational texts and identify varying perspectives in different arguments on the same topic. You will also analyze the reasoning and the...
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Read Like This a Strategy for Close Reading of Literature
Learn and practice close reading strategies to help increase your understanding of how to approach challenging and complex texts.
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Read Like This: Using Informational Text Strategies
In this module practice working with informational text.
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Research Simulation Task
Engage in a research process by analyzing a variety of print and non-print texts on the subject of bullying, identifying evidence regarding the topic, and using this new information to respond to questions about the text and the topic.
TESL Journal
The Internet Tesl Journal: Reading Nonfiction Texts Fast
Article lists a series of steps and tasks to make reading texts more efficient and clear. Written primarily for teachers of ESL students but tasks work for all students.
Capital Community College Foundation
Guide to Grammar and Writing: Classification and Analysis
This site provides some help reading an essay that deals with the classification and analysis of a piece of literature. Offers some instruction about the type of essay, a sample text, and guiding questions to help you analyze your own...
California State University
Reading Strategies From the University of Waterloo
Brief and easy to read, this California State University Northridge site lists strategies for getting the most of your reading. Geared for reading texts and technical material.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: First Lines
First Lines is a strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from assigned readings and make predictions about the content of what they're about to read. This pre-reading technique helps students focus their attention on what...