National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms and the...
Curated OER
Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?
High schoolers discover the true meaning of karma and the related concept of samsara by reading the Jataka Tales. Learners work in groups to become familiar with one form of Buddhist storytelling and examine how Jataka Tales are used as...
Curated OER
"Blackbeard's Ghost" Differentiated Lesson Plan
Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated instructional activity. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use...
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, research...
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...
Fluence Learning
Writing Informative Text: Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...
Curated OER
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Christmas Bells
Students read and analyze the anti-slavery poem, "Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They discuss the content and form of the poem, write an essay, write an original poem, examine how this anti-slavery poem was converted...
Curated OER
Literature Circles
Literature circles let kids interact with each other and hear different perspectives. explore literature circles. Group your class into small reading groups, and then assign each class member a specific role to keep them focused. After...
Curated OER
Ethnic Humor
Uncovering the function and forms of ethnic jokes, this presentation with enlighten your students as it explores the concept of "insiders vs. outsiders" and various examples of ethnic stereotypes in literature and society. The...
Curated OER
Letter Writing
Keep the art of letter writing alive in this age of Tweet and Twitter! The 10 activities detailed in this resource lead pupils through the process of crafting classic forms. A list of and links to famous letters is also included as part...
Santa Ana Unified School District
Characters
Are your learners only talking about the plot of the story and not the richness of the characters? Then show them how important characters are to literature with the information available here. The learner will know how authors create...
EngageNY
Reading Proficiently and Independently: The Power of Setting Goals
Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...
Curated OER
Modern Drama
Upper graders can read all about the origins of modern drama. Each slide provides a paragraph of information related to key players, art movements, and time periods that shaped modern drama. It relates well to many aspects of literature...
Curated OER
Romanticism 1800-1860
What do Roger Chillingworth, Dr. Heidegger, and Ethan Brand have in common? They are all American literature poster boys for Romanticism, advertising the dangers of valuing reason over feeling and intuition. Introduce your class to...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4
The fourth standard for reading literature in the Common Core calls for young readers to be able to determine the figurative and connotative meanings of words and phrases. Use this resource, a continuation of a series of Common Core...
Curated OER
Paper Chain Connections
Make real connections in literature and in life. While reading, class members fill out links for a chain, circling the connection type, noting the page number, and commenting on each one. When they've completed all the links, they cut...
Curated OER
Man's Search For Meaning: Writing Assessment (Final Multi-Genre Project)
Conclude a study of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning with a research project that asks readers to investigate what various religions and philosophies believe is the meaning of life. The resource packet includes a list of...
Planet e-Book
Treasure Island
Simple yet convenient: this resource is a real treasure! Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel, Treasure Island, engages readers of all ages with its tales of treasure maps, buried gold, and pirates. With a sleek eBook, learners can...
Perfection Learning
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
A revolutionary work of literature requires a revolutionary assessment project. A series of activities on Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings includes discussion questions, a plot synopsis, and a selection of both short and...
Scholastic
A Reading Guide to A Wrinkle in Time
Accompany a reading of Madeleine L'Engle's classic tale, A Wrinkle in Time, with a detailed guide equipped with 15 informative and useful chapters. Scholars discover who the author is, why she wrote the book, and crucial story elements...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson plan focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
Curated OER
Pennies of My Life Part II
Youngsters write and construct their own autobiographies based on The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis. They engage in pre-writing steps, narrative writing, and peer editing. This is the second part of a two-part project lesson.
Boward County Public Schools
Hoot Activities
If you're looking for engaging, cross-curricular, inquiry-based activities and projects to support your class reading of Carl Hiaasen's Hoot, you've come to the right place!
Curated OER
To Kill a Mockingbird: Fun Trivia Quiz
Several questions in this interactive online quiz are formed in the "Which of these is NOT..." the answer format. In addition to assessing comprehension of Harper Lee's ubiquitous novel, it provides practice in standardized test-taking...