Annenberg Foundation
The Search for Identity
Discover how writers express identity in their writing. Learners explore how issues of identity surface in the literature of minority writers. Scholars watch a video, read and discuss biographies, conduct research, engage in creative...
California Education Partners
Women
Alice Walker's poem "Women" provides ninth graders the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify how a writer's choice of syntax and diction contribute to the development of the theme of the work.
Curated OER
Mirrors & Windows: Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
“Mirrors” or aspects from a story that reflect a personal text-to-self connection, and “windows,” an aspect that gives insight into a different way of being, are the focus of an activity designed for Alice Walker’s story. Readers select...
Education Oasis
Creative Writing Unit: Analyzing, Interpreting, Discussing and Writing Various Genres of African-American Literature
A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...
Curated OER
Daughters Come of Age in Women's Fiction
Introduce your young readers to fiction written by women authors. For each story, they explore the way these daughters discover and claim their own identities. Individually, class members use the literature to examine their role in their...
Curated OER
“Everyday Use,” Alice Walker: Questions for Discussion
Should treasured family heirlooms be used or preserved? This resource provides readers with an opportunity to examine the actions of characters in Alice Walker’s short story, as well as their own sense of heritage. The questions could be...
Curated OER
QAR for The Color Purple
Have you heard of the QAR strategy? If your class is reading The Color Purple, provide them with this two-page worksheet to get them thinking. With the strategy, readers are introduced to four types of questions (right there, think and...
Curated OER
The Color Purple Quiz
In this online interactive reading comprehension activity, students respond to 15 multiple choice questions about Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
The Color Purple Essay Questions
In this literature worksheet, students respond to 12 short answer and essay questions about Walker's The Color Purple. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the novel at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Lady Sings the Blues
Learners explore women and music in the 20th century. In this music lesson, students study the relationship between literature and music through The Color Purple and music by Ethel Waters, MA Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella...
Curated OER
A Deeper Shade of Purple
Third graders explore the color purple. In this visual arts lesson plan, 3rd graders sort purple objects in various ways and create the color purple by mixing paint. Students create a purple portrait of a character from the play, Lost...
Curated OER
I See Purple
In this recognizing the color purple worksheet, students create a booklet of every day objects that are the color purple. Students read 9 pages.
Curated OER
Purple Cut And Paste
In this reading worksheet, students learn the sight word "purple" by reading 8 sentences. Students cut and paste picture cards which correspond to the sentences. Example: "Popsicles can be purple."
Curated OER
School-Home Links 69
In this learning colors worksheet, students draw and color something purple in the box. Students then practice writing and saying the word purple four times. Parents or guardians must sign the worksheet.
Curated OER
"Anything We Love Can Be Saved" -- A Contemporary
Learners compare authors Rachel Carson and Mary Eliza Church Terrell. They read an introduction by Alice Walker and summarize the main points. They also identify the language she uses to persuade readers. They write their own activist...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Leaving, 1960, Making of African American Identity: V. 3,
This exercise examines black migration from the South in the 1960's through the perspective of Alice Walker's "Roselily." A PDF accompanies this resource, reviewing the deeper meaning behind a passage from this text.
The Best Notes
The Best Notes: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
This is an online study guide for the novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: American Literature: Postmodernism: "Everyday Use"
This lesson focuses on Alice Walker and her short story "Everyday Use," which explores the generation gap between a mother and daughter and the relationship among a mother and her two daughters. Links are provided to the text of the...
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: Alice Walker
A good balance of biographical information and commentary on Alice Walker's work. Includes a suggested reading list.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Alice Walker Activity
A classroom activity designed around the author Alice Walker and her novel "The Color Purple." Includes questions, discussion techniques, web links, and a bibliography.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: The Search for Identity: Alice Walker
Alice Walker is highlighted in this brief biography for her acclaimed contributions to literature, relating the struggles and triumphs of African Americans throughout history. Click on "Alice Walker Activities" for related materials.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Crafting a Voice for Black Culture
NPR's Vertamae Grosvenor interviews Alice Walker about her connection to Zora Neale Hurston. Walker talks about how Hurston inspired her writing, even though the two writers never met. The site also contains audio of Walker reading her...
Swiss Educ
Swiss Educ: Walker, Alice: 1944
Resource material about the author and about her work is the focus of this site. Many multimedia files offered.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Everyday Use
A learning module that begins with "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...