Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 15: Theme
Build understanding of theme with an activity designed for The Cay and the Common Core. Small groups or pairs use graphic organizers to determine themes, find and record related details from the text, and formulate theme statements. In...
Curated OER
Edgar Allan Poe Short Story WebQuest
Introduce your class to Edgar Allan Poe with a series of mostly self-guided tasks and assignments. Class members follow the list of tasks, starting by watching a video with background information and ending with a compare-and-contrast...
Bright Hub Education
"Where the Red Fern Grows": A Lesson on Love and Devotion
Where the Read Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is rich with themes relating to love and family. Help your class to understand these themes with the series of reading activities included in this unit outline. Readers can keep a journal to...
my eCoach
Tuck Everlasting Chs. 1-8: Feelings About Living Forever
Approach big ideas and themes in Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt with this graphic organizer. Readers determine how each of the Tucks feels about living forever by looking for clues in the first eight chapters of the book. Consider...
Curated OER
"Zebra" by Chaim Potok
Combine art and literature to teach greater themes and symbolic meaning. Using the plan outlined in this resource, expose your class to the story "Zebra" by Chaim Potok, conduct discussions about social issues and nicknames, and ask...
EngageNY
Revisiting Big Metaphors and Themes: Revising and Beginning to Perform Two-Voice Poems
Now that your class has read all of Esperanza Rising, take the time to tackle big metaphors and themes. Pupils will participate in an activity called Chalk Talk, in which they circulate around the room in small groups and add comments to...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment and Discussing Themes in Esperanza Rising: (Chapter 9: "Las Ciruelas/PLums")
Give this skills-based assessment halfway through your unit on Esperanza Rising. After a brief review, class members take the test, which asks them to show that they know how to analyze the novel independently. They are asked to...
EngageNY
Characters Changing Over Time (Chapter 10: "Las Papas/Potatos")
Engage further in Esperanza Rising with a focus on close reading and metaphor. Class members zero in on the tenth chapter, examining characters and big ideas. Pupils discuss the text in small groups and as a whole class, and participate...
EngageNY
Understanding Themes in Esperanza Rising
Determining a theme or central idea is greatly emphasized in the Common Core standards. Target that skill though big metaphors and central symbols in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Help your class reach the standard through...
Academy of American Poets
We Sing America
Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...
Curated OER
Mythology by Edith Hamilton: Silent Discussion
Get everyone up and participating! High schoolers reading Mythology, by Edith Hamilton, complete a graphic organizer independently, and then record one of their thoughts on the white board for a silent discussion. Decide how you're going...
Curated OER
An Introduction to The Catcher in the Rye
Who is J.D. Salinger? Give your class some information on the famous recluse before reading his only novel, The Catcher in the Rye. His life and works are detailed, and there are even a few slides dedicated to controversies and criticism...
Curated OER
Action Through Art
How can we make the world a better place? Help your class members become world citizens, active in philanthropy and the community around them. Use a comic book (included) to discuss the idea of philanthropy. Then, using the superhero...
Curated OER
Identifying Theme
What's theme, and can texts of every length have one? Explore the themes of fives short reading passages with your middle school class. Encourage them to highlight specific places in the text where they recognized the theme.
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Background notes about the novel, The Great Depression, and The Dust Bowl
If your class is reading the historical fiction novel, Out of the Dust, then you are in luck. Here are a few slides that will help you provide historical context for the book, as well as define main characters, setting, symbolism, and...
Curated OER
Introduction to Archetypes
Here is a full lesson with all the needed materials and PowerPoints attached! Introduce your class to archetypes by showing them the included presentation. The presentation gives definitions and examples of archetypal characters,...
Curated OER
Lesson: The Power of Story
Universal themes found throughout the world in the form of stories is the topic of today's lesson. Upper graders analyze the cultural context of the Mithila piece, Hanuman. They consider the universal themes the image depicts and how the...
Curated OER
Desert Drama
Students read both fiction and nonfiction books with desert themes. Then they write desert stories and reports, reviewing texts for information to include in writing. Students also design desert scenes with details and setting elements...
Curated OER
Themes in To Kill a Mockingbird
Can you name the most important themes in To Kill a Mockingbird? Help your class study seven themes throughout their reading of the classic. They search for examples linking to education, bravery/cowardice, racial prejudice, social class...
Curated OER
Exploring Themes in Literature: The Oral Tradition
Are you are considering a unit on Beowulf or Superman, on myths, or tricksters? Here's a great overview you can use to launch a study of universal themes and archetypes. The focus here is on the oral tradition, but the concepts apply to...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Biography/Autobiography
Practice distinguishing biography from autobiography through point of view. Tell a brief story of your morning. Have a class member retell the story to you (using second person). And have another retell the story to the class (using...
Curated OER
Pioneer Values in Willa Cather's My Antonia
Included in this resource are a variety of activities to do while reading Willa Cather's My Antonia. The activities, which range from mapping out Nebraska to writing activities about pioneer living, are all designed with one guiding...
Curated OER
Analyzing Poetry
Use this poetry analysis learning exercise to help your learners understand a poem of their or your choosing. This resource asks class members to summarize the poem and analyze it by looking at voice, word choice, imagery, and theme. The...
Curated OER
Awesome Stories: Vincent van Gogh
Who was Vincent van Gogh? Most of the questions can be answered in two or three sentences; however, there is at least one essay prompt and one personal response question that require longer answers. Questions call for a good mix of...