Curated OER
Frederick Lesson Plan
Students enjoy Leo Lionni's illustrations in Frederick and watching how Frederick uses his imagination. In this Frederick lesson plan, students practice dramatic techniques as they retell traditional literature.
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie Scrapbook
Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...
Curated OER
Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective
High schoolers use an online chart to match the character traits of a character in a book they are reading with specific actions the character takes. Students then work in pairs to "become" one of the major characters in a book and...
Curated OER
Character in a Box
Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 6
How can a screenplay create meaning and drama in ways that other forms of writing cannot? That is the question class members must answer as they compare the cantina scene of the screenplay for George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with...
Curated OER
Literature: Watching Anna
Students view the PBS presentation of Leo Tolstoy's, "Anna Karenina." Prior and after each episode, they discuss plot and characterization and in one lesson, use adjectives to describe each of the main characters. Then, students create...
Curated OER
Mystic Lands: Maya: Messages in Stone
Students explore an ancient Mayan city. In this world history lesson, students watch a video about the ancient Mayan civilization, discussing information prior to and after watching the video. Students then come to understand more about...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
Learners define folklore, folk groups, tradition, and oral narrative. They identify traditional elements in Their Eyes Were Watching God Analyze and understand the role of traditional folkways and folk speech in the overall literary...
Peace Corps
Starting Off the Day (and School Year) in Ukraine
Students compare the first day of school in Ukraine with the first day of school in the United States, including the challenges students and teachers both face in each country. They respond in class, in their journals, to the following...
Curated OER
The Art of Charity in Characterization
Young scholars garner knowledge of characterization of the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and see that even the less savory characters must be flushed out in description of personality and physical traits.
Curated OER
Generations: An Exploration of our Families Through Literature
Young scholars complete a unit of lessons on families. They read and analyze various stories, label a map, assemble sentences, write letters to grandparents, analyze character traits, and write and illustrate a sheet for a class book.
Curated OER
Flowers for Algernon: RAFT
Should Charlie undergo an operation to increase his intelligence? A mini-lesson for a unit on Daniel Keyes novel Flowers for Algernon uses a RAFT activity, which prompts students to write a letter to Charlie's doctors explaining why they...
K20 LEARN
Lord of the Flies Unit, Lesson 1: I'm A Survivor
What three readily available things would you grab in case of an emergency? That's the question that launches a unit study of William Golding's The Lord of the Flies. After sharing their choices, class members read Golding's rationale...
NY Learns
Culture Clash: Exploring Characters within El Bronx Remembered by ECSDM
Using a character map, learners assign traits to characters from Nicholasa Mohr’s El Bronx Remembered: A Novella and Stories. In addition, groups record evidence from the stories to justify the labels and use these sheets to prepare for...
Curated OER
Story Elements
Students create a "character T-shirt" that exemplifies their ability to analyze a character. The students also compare and contrast characters in a given story. Finally, the students write a presentation about the story's characters,...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 3
To make the point that there are many forms of language, each with its own purpose, class members select 10 lines from Doescher's play, translate these lines first into contemporary English and then into "SMS/Tweet."
Curated OER
Chinese Minority Cultures
Seventh graders identify the elements that characterize culture in literature.
Students analyze the representation of Chinese minority peoples
through textbooks. Students identify and interpret the differences among the people of China.
Curated OER
It Ain't Necessarily So
Students examine characterization of African Americans in literature, popular culture, and opera. In this stereotypes lessons, students conduct research that requires them to analyze the origins and content of stereotypes perpetuated...
Curated OER
Harriet The Spy
Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Character Analysis
Fourth graders identify the character traits of Peter in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They find quotations in the story that illlustrate the traits. Students use Kidspiration to write their reports on a template.
Curated OER
Chaucer's Wife of Bath
Students analyze Chaucer's portrayal of the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales. Students prepare class reports on the institution of marriage and the place of women in the Medieval society.
Curated OER
You Kiss the Book: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Students analyze imagery in Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet, and act out the passage to see how the author includes stage directions with his poetry.
Curated OER
Survivor Vs. Canterbury Tales
Eleventh graders participate in activities that compare and contrast The Canterbury Tales with the television show, Survivor. They write a compare and contrast essay, and create a festival table and PowerPoint presentation.
Curated OER
Greek Origins and Character Development
Seventh graders examine words of Greek origin and discuss character development in fiction. They read a list of Greek word parts and create words on a worksheet. Students then read and discuss an informational handout about character...