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Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of The Awakening by Kate Chopin

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
"Immoral!" "Scandalous!" When published in 1899, Kate Chopin's The Awakening was not well received. The novel traces the tragedy of Edna Pontellier, who rebels against the strictures placed upon her as a woman and mother. However, the...
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Activity
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Facing History and Ourselves

Picture This

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Sometimes what you get is far more than what you first see. The third routine in the Building Community series asks participants to engage in a See, Think, Wonder strategy. Small groups analyze a projected image, infer what is happening,...
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher's Guide to The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
"What should we have for dinner?" "What am I eating?" "Where did it come from?" These three questions are at the heart of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan's book provides some very...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

"Three Stones Back": Using Informational Text to Enhance Understanding of Ball Don't Lie

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
"Three Stones Back," a passage from Matt de la Pena's best-seller, Ball Don't Lie, allows readers to practice their close reading skills as they compare the passage to an information text about wealth inequality. 
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Lesson Plan
Orange County Department of Education

The Glass Slipper Shatters

For Teachers 9th Standards
High school freshmen craft their own definition of honesty. They provide an example from their lives and reflect on the outcomes of their honest behavior. They also identify a time when they may have been dishonest in a relationship and...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Introduce middle schoolers to the different strategies used when reading prose versus poetry. Groups use a Venn diagram and a poetry analysis handout to compare the characteristics of an informational text and a  poem on the same subject...
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Lesson Plan
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Can Girls Do That?

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Why be limited by stereotypes? Young scholars examine a series of works of art, list the different ways boys and girls are represented, and then discuss the common stereotypes found in the works. They then search for art that does not...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

García Márquez’s Nobel Prize Speech: “The Solitude of Latin America”

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To conclude a study of One Hundred Years of Solitude, class members analyze Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech. After a whole-class discussion of the main ideas in the speech, individuals draft a...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said" by Mahogany L. Browne

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
After watching an excerpt from a video of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony before Congress, pupils do a close reading of Mahogany L. Browne's poem "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said," annotate words and phrases that draw their attention and list...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Alice Paul" by Katharine Rolston Fisher

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Powerful women need not look like Wonder Woman. After writing a paragraph about a strong woman they know, young scholars examine images of Alice Paul and then do a close reading of Katharine Rolston Fisher's poem "Alice Paul." Finally,...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

“The Great Migration” by Minnie Bruce Pratt

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Minnie Bruce Pratt's poem, "The Great Migration," offers young scholars an opportunity to reflect on how where we come from influences who we are. Groups conduct a close reading of the poem, recording observations about the poem's...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

“Every Day We Get More Illegal” by Juan Felipe Herrera

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A study of Jan Felipe Herrera's poem "Every Day We Get More Illegal" opens the door for a discussion on immigration. To begin, class members examine the photograph "Desert Survival," record their observations of the image, and then...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Pain and suffering do not have to be inevitable in a study of Crime and Punishment. A carefully scaffolded lesson plan introduces readers to the divided natures of the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's complex novel. Groups use the...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Narrative Voice in Moby Dick

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Call him a reliable narrator! Ishmael is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to analyze the complex character of Herman Melville's narrator as he is introduced in the first chapter of Moby Dick.
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Characterization in Lord of the Flies

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Readers of  Lord of the Flies hunt down direct and indirect examples of how William Golding brings his characters to life. After instructors guide learners through the process of collecting evidence of these two types of characterization...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Readers of Lord of the Flies examine the four main symbols William Golding develops in his novel: the island, the conch, the Lord of the Flies effigy, and fire. Partners select one of the major symbols and create an image by adding words...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Toni Morrison's Beloved: For Sixty Million and More

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Complex, disturbing, and challenging, Beloved is the focus of a lesson that provides three activities to guide a close reading of Toni Morrison's novel. Readers create chapter titles based on key plot elements or themes, identify...
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Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

Marian Wright Edelman

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...
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Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

Mary McLeod Bethune

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young historians conduct a close reading of the text of an interview with Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who taught herself to read, grew up to establish schools for other Black women, and went on to become an advisor...
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Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

Mary Church Terrell

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Excerpts from an 1898 speech by civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell offers young scholars an opportunity to investigate how Black American women fought for civil rights long before Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement of the...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "A New National Anthem" by Ada Limón

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Ada Limon's poem, "A New National Anthem," offers young scholars an opportunity to reflect on the significance of the US national anthem and the extent to which Key's vision applies to all Americans. After watching a video of Whitney...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "A Place in the Country" by Toi Derricotte

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Build young scholars' confidence in analyzing art and poetry with a lesson plan that first asks pupils to list details they notice in Edouard Vuillard's painting "Garden at Vaucresson" and then to describe how the painting makes them...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Old South Meeting House" by January Gill O'Neil

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The vaulted ceiling of the Old South Meeting House has heard many voices. Young scholars read an excerpt about its importance in American history and then do a close reading January Gill O'Neil's poem, "Old South Meeting House." After...
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Lesson Plan
Facing History and Ourselves

Hardship and Hope: Teaching Amanda Gorman's "New Day's Lyric"

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Class members come together to study Amanda Gorman's poem "New Day's Lyric." After a close reading of the poem, learners watch a video of Gorman reading her poem, and then craft additional lines for the poem where they offer suggestions...