Curated OER
Thoreau, Emerson, and Transcendentalism
Tackle Transcendentalist literature with these questions. This resource provides 14 essay questions that cover different works by Thoreau and Emerson. Class members may also access an online quiz on the selection using the link at the...
Prestwick House
The Book Thief
Review main characters, story events, and important quotes from Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief. A crossword puzzle with 29 clues gives high schoolers the opportunity to check their understanding and revist Zusak's haunting work.
Prestwick House
Divergent
Veronica Roth's popular young adult novel shows a vivid dystopian system in an action-packed, thrilling storyline. Revisit Divergent with a crossword puzzle that features characters, plot, and important quotes from the book.
US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing...
Prestwick House
The Importance of Being Earnest
No lesson on Oscar Wilde is complete without The Importance of Being Earnest! Review key details from the plot of Wilde's famous work with a helpful crossword puzzle.
Curated OER
Shelley's Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Challenge your class with these essay questions based on Percy Bysshe Shelley's poetry. This resource includes 3-8 short answer and essay questions for each of 9 different poems by Shelley. Pick and choose the poems you would like to...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 8: Character
Characters often change over the course of a story or novel. Use the sample graphic organizer provided here to track how the narrator has responded to the sequence of events in chapter four through six of The Cay. In addition to this...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
Accompany a reading of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a thorough literature packet. Although the materials are meant to prepare readers for a timed essay, the background information and the activities are...
Curated OER
Fantastic Journeys
Students design an amusement park attraction based on a fantastic journey from literature, film, or their own imaginations. Each design team must submit a formal proposal. The proposal should include: a two- or three-dimensional visual...
Curated OER
Individuality vs. Conformity
Have your middle schoolers participate in numerous activities designed to spark their awareness of literature. They express ideas and concerns clearly and respectfully in conversations and group discussions. Next, they view a music...
Curated OER
Writing a Character Sketch
Combining descriptive and expository writing skills, middle schoolers create a character sketch about someone they know well. They use a graphic organizer to help them discuss a model character sketch and organize/write one of their own....
Curated OER
A Way with Words or Say What?
Students explore the language of Shakespeare. In this literature lesson plan, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Students pantomime the meanings and then write a short story...
Curated OER
Timeline of Historical Fiction
Students create a historical fiction timeline. They review the literature through the perspective of history (writing prompts provided). Students create a book cover illustration to appear with the book review in the appropriate spot on...
Oxford University Press
The Jungle Book
Most every teacher dreams of a ready-to-teach and print book study. Well, here it is! The Jungle Book novel resource includes 12 complete lessons studying poetry, author's craft, themes, characters, and more. Scholars role play,...
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...
Premier Literacy
Point of View
Incorporate technology into a literature instructional activity with an innovative language arts instructional activity. Middle schoolers read an electronic version of original stories or fairy tales, and after determining the point...
Curated OER
Response to Literature: Anecdotal and Saga Memoir Poems
Students differentiate between anecdotal and saga memoir poems. In this response to literature lesson students analyze poems written by others then analyze incidents from their own lives to determine whether they meet the criteria for...
Curated OER
Narrative Literature Response Letters: Original Lesson Plan
Readers write a formal letter to an author offering an alternative ending to a story the author has written. First, the class reads a story or novel. Upon finishing the reading, they are introduced to the format of a formal letter. They...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 6: Culture Clash
To prepare for a Quickwrite on the question, "How do different points of view create cultural conflicts?" class groups draw examples of religious, cultural, and political conflicts from Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible to use...
Curated OER
Poetry: The Most Compact Form of Literature
Introducing or need to review literary devices and terms for a study of poetry? Though text heavy, the explanations and examples of key poetic devices will provide learners with the vocabulary they need to discuss and craft poems.
Curated OER
Tale of Hungbu and Nolbu
Engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the teaching of family values for helping to understand Korean culture. The values of Koreans is explored using a literature study.
Japan Society
Changing Times, Changing Styles: New Japanese Literary Styles of the Late Nineteenth Century
Focusing on Doppo's "Unforgettable People" and late nineteenth century Japanese literature, this resource also leads to discussions of form being dictated by content. Explore the development of new literary styles first-hand by...
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Curated OER
All About Me Books
Young scholars examine literature of emergent readers, categorize books into types of literature common for primary readers (wordless, pattern, alphabet, number, rhyme, etc.), and write a book about themselves to give as gifts to their...