Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 5: Motivation - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides the lens class members use to analyze and evaluate the motivations of the characters in Sylvia Plath's "Initiation" and scenes from Mean Girls. Readers then select a character from A...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 3: The Archetypal Approach to Literary Criticism
As class members continue their study of approaches to literary criticism, readers examine the symbolism and archetypal patterns in John Knowles' A Separate Peace, and how these parallels are used to develop a theme...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 2
The second module in a series for high school seniors focuses on tracking the central idea of a text across genres and from multiple author and character perspectives. Twelfth graders read a speech by Benazir Bhutto entitled "Ideas Live...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 4 Overview
The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Summer Novel Study Curriculum Guide - The Hunger Games
The odds that readers will enjoy a summer reading project will be in your favor if you choose Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games as the anchor text. The richly detailed plans included in this resource make it easy to volunteer...
Louisiana Department of Education
The Scarlet Letter
Use Nathanial Hawthorne's immortal text on the influence of religion on the early American settlements, as well as its continued impact on American culture, with a unit that focuses on The Scarlet Letter. In addition to Hawthorne's...
Curated OER
Our “Civilized” Society
The Scarlet Letter is the anchor text in a four-week unit that examines Hawthorne's novel through the lens of the intolerances found in a supposed civilized society. In addition to their reading, class members watch clips from...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a great story to share with your class, and this lesson focuses on just that story! The eighth in a fourteen-lesson series on short stories, the plan has learners study some vocabulary, read the...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Short Story Writers Say
There are so many authors of short stories, and your class can have the chance to study quite a few. This seventh lesson in a series of fourteen continues the decision-making process for the final assessment: a short story author study....
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Ernest Hemingway
What is a white elephant, and what does it have to do with Ernest Hemingway? Study "Hills Like White Elephants" in-depth by following the procedures outlined in this lesson plan, the fifth in a series of fourteen. Learners start the day...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to John Updike
Expand your pupils' understanding of the short story genre with a study of John Updike and his story "A&P." This lesson plan, the fourth in a series of fourteen, invites learners to examine literary terms and read and discuss the...
Maine Content Literacy Project
The Process of Reading vocabulary, literary elements
Cover Freytag's Triangle and examine Anton Chekhov's "The Bet" in this third lesson plan in a series of fourteen based around short stories. Learners take a quiz and discuss Freytag's triangle. They apply the triangle to "The Bet" and...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Dramatic Structure of the Short Story
The second lesson in a series of fourteen, this plan takes the short story basics a step further. Learners complete a quiz about the story from the previous day, discuss the text, learn about Anton Chekhov, and work in groups to begin...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to the Short Story
How should pupils read short stories? Set them up for this unit with an introductory lesson that goes over the main characteristics of a short story and starts learners off reading their first short story of the unit. In order to get a...
BW Walch
“Outsider” Poet Kay Ryan Goes from Poetry Club Reject to Poet Laureate
The cat might have got your tongue, but you can’t avoid the elephant in the room while you wait for the other shoe to drop. After all, the early bird gets the worm and the chickens are circling. After researching Poet Laureate Kay Ryan...
Shakespeare Uncovered
Merely Players
“. . . one man in his time plays many parts,/His acts being seven ages.” Jaques famous speech from Act II, scene vii of As you Like It sets the stage for an examination of the roles people play. Class members not only consider the roles...
PBS
Exploring Selected Haiku by Issa
If your class doesn't know what a haiku is, show them two examples from the Japanese poet Issa (both included here), and have them make some observations. How long are they? What is the structure? A video and a list of questions help...
Curated OER
Moral Development in Camus' The Stranger
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” Readers of The Stranger rate Mersault’s moral development (or lack thereof) using Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development scale. Using...
Curated OER
Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins
Middle schoolers analyze the speaker's ideas and tone in the Billy Collins poem "The Lanyard." After identifying how each of the five senses is addressed in the poem, they compare images to draw conclusions about the speaker and his...
Curated OER
Words In The News
A complete resource from BBC World Service provides informational text for English or ESL classes to teach vocabulary, grammar, and reading skills. Learners participate in small group work, whole class discussions, and role-plays to...
Curated OER
Literary Comparison
Compare and contrast two pieces of literature with this lesson. With the use of a Venn diagram, pupils make connections between literature and real-life situations. They practice skills of surveying a text looking for important details,...
Orlando Shakes
Comedy of Errors
To err is human ... and also leads to some hilarious situations. A script introduces readers to Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, a play full of slapstick humor and other funny elements. Although lacking in activities, the text works well...
Planet e-Book
Oliver Twist
"Please, sir. May I have some more?" An eBook version of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens introduces readers to the text that inspired the classic line. An oldie but a goodie, book worms see why this novel is so beloved.
Planet e-Book
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby has become one of the most iconic novels in American literature. An eBook allows readers to access the full text of the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. With the original words and paragraph breaks intact, new...