Curated OER
Make a Mockery of Magazines
Students examine tabloids. For this journalism lesson, students compare and contrast satirical magazines and then plan, write, and compile their own.
Curated OER
Analyzing Huck Finn: A Cooperative Learning Lesson
Students answer questions from "Huckleberry Finn" in groups. They use the internet or other sources to help them in their answer. They share their responses with the class and discuss.
Curated OER
Exploring Heroism
Students examine the concept of heroism in this lesson, through personal reflection, group activities and a thoughtful analysis of the documentary, HEROES OF GROUND ZERO. They explore their own understanding of what it means to be a hero.
Curated OER
How Poets Evoke Social and Historical Representations
Students explore how poems represent the social, historical, and cultural times that they were written in. In this poetry lesson plan, students compare and contrast poems with music of the time and explore implications of writing poems...
Curated OER
The Parts of an Editorial
Students take notes as the teacher goes over the contents of an editorial and four types of an editorial. Students view an editorial and identify the structural elements in the sample as well as identify the type of editorial they are...
Curated OER
ABBA - Lesson 4
Students discover a connection between the genres of popular music and musical theater. They find and discuss musicals written in many different musical styles.
Curated OER
A New Candidate for Animal Farm
Students create an advertising campaign in which a candidate from Animal Farm will run for an upcoming election. In this follow-up activity to George Orwell's Animal Farm lesson, students explore propaganda, rhetoric, and satire as they...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Literary Humor
Young scholars examine Nathaniel Hawthorne's style of humor and compare it to other humorists. They discuss the purpose of literary humor and determine how it develops characters and plots in stories. They analyze the use of different...
Curated OER
Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
Curated OER
Carnival Celebrations: Masks and Vejigantes
Students explore Carnival. In this Puerto Rico Carnival lesson, students discover the history of the cultural celebration as well as the significance of the elaborate masks worn for the festivities. Students create their own Carnival masks.
Curated OER
Twain: An American Humorist
Students examine American humor and character through analysis of works by Mark Twain. In this cross curricular lesson, students develop a definition of American humor and determine how and why some consider Twain the 'first truly...
Curated OER
Political Cartoons as Part of the Election Process
Students explore the impact of political cartoons on American elections. In this presidential elections lesson, students discuss the election process and then analyze political cartoons that were published during presidential elections....
Curated OER
Literature: Porgy and Bess
Students examine the various portrayals of African-Americans in literature, focusing on the opera, Porgy and Bess. They conduct Internet research on African-American culture between the two World Wars. Students write fictional or...
Center for History Education
How Did the Public View Women’s Contributions to the Revolutionary War Effort?
Calling upon the legacies of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great, Esther Reed rallied Southern women to support the American Revolution. Using a broadside by Reed and other primary sources, such as poetry, young historians...
Curated OER
Encounter with an Interviewer
Students read the Mark Twain short story, Encounter with an Interviewer. They study "the interview" and discuss the role of the interviewer and the person being interviewed. They conduct mock interviews, constructing questions and...
Curated OER
Lesson One: Mark Twain and Will Rogers - American Originals
Young scholars research the lives of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. They watch videos and research websites to find information and compile examples of each man's writings which they present to the class.
Curated OER
Fractured Fairy Tales
Students use familiar characters, plots, and settings from traditional fairy tales to create "fractured" versions, while experimenting with satire, irony and parody. A fractured fairy tale is designed to be humorous by changing the story...
Curated OER
The Concept of the Hero
Students explore the symbolic implications for the concept of the hero with a focus on the Beowulf theme. In this hero concept lesson, students find specific examples of monsters from Beowulf to complete the chart. Students list the...
Curated OER
Bay Area: Race and Land
Students examine the role that racism played in the growth of the Bay Area. They discover how turn-of-the-century boosters promoted a vision of the Bay Area. They study the American Indian Movement's takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969,...
Curated OER
Editorial Cartoons: Poverty/Environmental Justice
Students analyze political cartoons. In this political cartoon lesson, students analyze an editorial cartoon to develop an understanding of the historical context, symbolism, visual composition, and satire of the cartoon regarding...
Curated OER
Lending a Helping Hand
Students research the work of North American NGOs and select one to support with a financial contribution as a class. In this philanthropic research lesson, students consider the work of Benjamin Franklin, defining good citizenship and...
Curated OER
The Mark Twain Project at the Principia School
Students read and write an analysis of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and write a paper on another Twain literary piece. In this Mark Twain lesson, students select a Mark Twain literary piece to write an analysis paper for the work....
Curated OER
Stephen Crane - Surrealism and the Antihero
Young scholars analyze the work of Stephen Crane as a lesson on surrealism and an antihero. In this surrealism lesson, students complete discuss activities for the topic. Young scholars then analyze Crane's poetry, his use of surrealism,...
Curated OER
Animal Farm - The Rest of the Story
Students participate in a reader's theater using farm animals in the novella Animal Farm. For this Animal Farm lesson plan, students evaluate interpretations using the text, personal experience, and historical events.