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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Magical Musical Tour: Using Music Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
While music lyrics are often used to teach literary elements, the richness of this resource comes from the wealth of exercises, activities, and support materials provided in the packet.  Although designed for gifted learners, the...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
National Endowment for the Humanities

The Glass Menagerie: Key Themes

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Using the list of expressionist techniques generated in the first lesson, groups analyze how Williams uses these techniques to develop one of the play's themes. The whole class then shares and discusses the examples they found where...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Brigham Young University

Introducing the Text and Learning the Process of Script Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Where do directors and set designers get their ideas so that the set they build creates the mood and atmosphere the director wants for a production? From the script! Introduce theater high schoolers to the script analysis techniques used...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Macbeth News Broadcast

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...
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Unit Plan
Learning to Give

Teaching Playwriting in Schools

For Teachers 1st - 12th Standards
The world is a stage, and so is your classroom! Hone the skills of the next generation of Tony® award winners with a set of exercises, reference pages, writing prompts, and excerpts from famous plays.
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Lesson Plan
Maryland Department of Education

A Raisin in the Sun and Dreams Deferred

For Teachers 10th Standards
To conclude a study of A Raisin in the Sun and to prepare for a visit to the Lewis Museum, class members analyze Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem." Learners then draw connections to characters in the play and to their own experiences by...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shakespeare 2000

For Teachers 12th Standards
Young thespians can try their hand at writing a script and acting out a scene, while gaining a deeper understanding of the universal topics presented in Shakespeare's wide array of plays. Begin the lesson by conducting a compare and...
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Organizer
1
1
Southwest Career and Technical Academy

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story - Compare and Contrast

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
West Side Story, the modern retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, won ten Academy Awards for its rousing depiction of the tale of star-crossed lovers. But how closely does the plot align to its source material? Compare and...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Leadership and a Global Stage

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is, among other things, the study of a ruler's ambitions. Young scholars watch videos, read articles, and keep a Commonplace Book while studying the play. At the end of Act III, pupils stage the play that...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating Plays from Children's Stories

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students analyze William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this literature analysis lesson, students compare a modern novel and play. Students analyze Faulkner's interior monologues. Students write a paper about the ways As I Lay Dying is or...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

The Glass Menagerie: Impact of Expressionism

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young scholars are challenged to write a realistic analysis of Tennessee Williams' nonrealistic memory play, The Glass Menagerie. Writers use the evidence gathered on their worksheets to craft an effective thesis and concluding statement...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

The Glass Menagerie as Expressionist Theatre

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The first lesson in a three-part unit has high schoolers examine The Glass Menagerie as an example of expressionist theatre. After reading a short article about expressionism, scholars list expressionist techniques in Tennessee Williams'...
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Activity
BBC

Julius Caesar Teacher Pack

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A great actor has the ability to make or break a play. A series of lesson plans related to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar looks closely at the choices actors make during a production of the play to help provide insight into the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan: Communicating With Body Language

For Teachers K - 5th
The Olmec were an ancient people native to Mexico who lived from 1000-500 BC. Young artists examine the Olmec piece Seated Figure to analyze the use of body language to communicate a tone or feeling. They then use clay or play-dough to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Breaking of Charity

For Teachers 11th
The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets for...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Popular Music and Music Videos

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This resource is part of a three-activity unit that introduces your class to the concept of popular culture and the role that it plays in their lives. Here, learners examine the importance of the music industry and music videos in pop...
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Activity
Orlando Shakes

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Can science ever go too far? Learners explore this topic with the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde study guide. They read about the connection between scientific experimentation in fiction and real life and then compare a scene from the novella...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Rock to Teach Literary Devices: Jimi Hendrix “The Wind Cries Mary”

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students explore literary elements through music. In this figurative language lesson, students examine imagery and personification in "The Wind Cries Mary" by Jimi Hendrix.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Performing Sonnets

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Young scholars use Shakespearean sonnets as part of a poetry analysis lesson. In this sonnet lesson, students perform a sonnet by Shakespeare but treat it as a script to be acted out. Young scholars work in pairs to create motions for...
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Activity
Orlando Shakes

The Great Gatsby: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Uncover the exciting world of the Roaring Twenties with The Great Gatsby study guide. Individuals become critics as they write a review of the production. Scholars also read historical information and analyze the differences between the...
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Activity
Orlando Shakes

Arms and the Man: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Few aspects of life make better fodder for a comedic play than politics. A study guide introduces George Bernard's Shaw comedy Arms and the Man. Along with summaries of each scene and brief biographies of the main characters, two lesson...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Drama-Dialogue

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Use drama to study and practice dialogue. Creative minds discuss what dialogue tells about a character, and how it can be used to advance the plot. They read a play, think about what they gleaned from dialogue, and record their...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Hamlet Meets Chushingura: Traditions of the Revenge Tragedy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read texts, view film and video and conduct research in an analysis and comparison of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and the Kabuki piece "Chushingura". They focus their analysis on the theme of revenge.