This lesson leads high school students through a greater understanding of the conventions of the literary device of "Humor," through a study of Mark Twain and the story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." A three-part...

Humor is not the first thing people associate with Poe, but this essay offers a look at the humor that Poe attempted in his writing. Good for a different look at an often-studied author. Offers a bibliography and links to online texts.

This essay discusses the effects of humor in fiction, and provides some advice to writers on how to incorporate humor in their writing.

Eight slides introducing different types of humor in writing including irony, caricature, satire, wit, blunders, hyperbole, jokes, practical jokes, and puns.

Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Cheri Steinkellner offers a few tips and tricks for finding the funny in your writing. [5:07]

In this activity, students will complete humorous fill-in-the-blank prompts. After students complete each blank, students will view an automatically-generated story that contains their sentences organized in ways that will be funny.

The writer will assume the role of a living creature (like an arthropod) or an abstraction (like a fraction). Writers will do research on what they have chosen as their roles, and learn new facts about these roles. The writer will...

This site includes a summary of these lesson plans about humor, and a narrative on humor in writing to precede them. Discusses writings by Benjamin Franklin.

After sharing Margie Palatini's charming "bad-situation-that-only-gets-worse tale", Tub-boo-boo, writers will plan a story about a humorous household accident that gets worse before it gets better. Borrowing Palatini's exciting idea from...

Use this activity to study the lives of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Analyze the writing styles of both authors, and identify the men as humorists who reflected and changed American culture.

Learn about Franklin's career as a writer and about his particular brand of humor in this five-part essay. Includes examples from his letters and from "Poor Richard's Almanack."

In this activity, students will complete humorous fill-in-the-blank prompts. After students complete each blank, students will view an automatically-generated story that contains their sentences organized ways that will be funny.

Students understand that specific structures and literary elements create humorous effects in a variety of print and nonprint sources. Students explore the development of humor to determine a text's deeper meaning and purpose, and apply...

This reader's theater version of a folktale from Angola has been adapted by children's book author Aaron Shepard from his short story "How Frog Went to Heaven." For 16 players, ages 7-9, the story explores themes of inventiveness and...

A reader's theater version of a folktale from Iran for ten players, ages 9-13. Adapted by children's book author Aaron Shepard from his short story "The Magic of Mushkil Gusha," the story explores themes of thankfulness and sharing....

A reader's theater version of a folktale from Iran for 11 players, ages 8 and up. The performance length is ten minutes. Adapted by children's book author Aaron Shepard from his picture book "Forty Fortunes." You will find links to name...

Young scholars will enjoy these activities that promote a "Pro-Laughter" campaign using their creativity while exploring the physical and emotional effects of laughing.

In this activity, each student will answer several mysteriously worded questions. After each answer is typed, an automatically-generated story will appear with details taken from their answers to the questions.

In this lesson, the mentor text called Mathematickles by Betsy Franco is used. Students will use the language of mathematics to demonstrate their understanding of the topics about which they write. Older students should use humor and...

Written by a college professor, this site discusses five areas for students to work on to improve their writing. The areas are Thesis, Research, Close Reading, Style, and Mechanics. The author is clear and concise in his advice, and...

Contains plans for three lessons that use the popular television show "The Simpsons" to teach about satire and satirical techniques. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and...

Here you will find a wide variety of enrichment activities, information and games to enhance the book "Honus and Me."

Read about the "Humor," magazines of the Great War and their role in the conflict. The site includes illustrations from the publications and views of various scholars about them. A bibliography follows the article. Site by First World...

This extensive exhibition offers observations on various facets of Franklin's life, as well as his writing and other accomplishments.