Novelinks
The Devil’s Arithmetic: Concept Analysis
A helpful guide to Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic for your literature unit. Use the sections on point-of-view, dramatic irony, and background knowledge, among others, to frame your lessons in an engaging and educational way.
Novelinks
Count of Monte Cristo: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis
Explore the complex themes of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo with a concept and vocabulary analysis lesson plan. Lead your class in a discussion about the underlying social and historical issues surrounding the novel, as...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Knowledge Rating Scale
How well do your kids know key terms from Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori? Have them review a list of words that they will encounter in the novel, and mark which words they know well, which words they've seen before, and which...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: List-Group-Label Strategy
Help your learners navigate the vocabulary of Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori with a lesson on categorizing words. After coming up with a list of things that grow from the earth, learners decide which categories each words belong in.
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Before, During, After Lesson Plan
Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori presents a vivid picture of Japanese culture and history. As kids read through the third chapter, they find novel-specific vocabulary to enhance their understanding and use context clues to...
Listening Library
The Sign of the Beaver
Extend a class reading of the novel The Sign of the Beaver across all subject areas with this literature unit guide. From basic discussion questions and writing prompts, to a research project about tracking animals, this...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 8-9 Worksheet
Find out how much your learners picked up from a couple of chapters of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Pupils answer six plot and character analysis questions and tackle similes. The worksheet is adaptable; assign it in class...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 16-17
Find out how much your class understood of the listed chapters of Wilson Rawls' novel. Class members respond to eight plot and character questions before looking closely at an instance of personification from the text. The resource is...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 19-20
Take a look at the final chapters of Wilson Rawls' much-loved novel. Class members respond to several plot-based questions and then consider the red fern as a symbol. The worksheet is part of a series that includes every chapter except...
Curated OER
Focus on Figurative Language
Using the poems "First Snow" by Ted Kooser and "Eating Alone" by Yi-Young Lee (or other suggested poems by Robert Frost or Sara Teasdale), middle schoolers search for examples of figurative language. Guide your learners by discussing...
Curated OER
Symbiosis: Help, Hinder or Destroy
Use background information and vocabulary to familiarize your students with the concept of symbiosis and the role agriculture plays in the shared relationship. They then write the vocabulary in their lab books or journals, and read the...
Curated OER
Create a Video Poem
Collaborate to create a visual version of a poem using video. Before class, choose a poem to pick apart. Read it aloud and then analyze it in detail as a class. Assign a line or short section to each student to expand upon using a...
Curated OER
Are You Thirsty? The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Discuss the availability of clean, plentiful water and the causes of water pollution. In groups, sixth graders discuss problem-solving methods for keeping water clean. They explore the function of water treatment plants and perform...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Writing Poetry Like Pros
By looking to examples of popular poetry in a variety of forms, students learn to analyze, appreciate, and synthesize poetry in the classroom. "Writing Poetry Like Pros" provides several links to poetry texts and suggestions for creating...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Sounds of the Sonnet
This resource presents a instructional activity in which learners learn to study the form, sounds, and meanings of sonnets (particularly those by Shakespeare) in an interesting and interactive way.
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: Dream in Color: Teacher Resources Glossary, Credits [Pdf]
This website contains a glossary with definitions of poetic terms and a bibliography of additional African-American poets and books and recommended reading.
Other
Twentieth Century Poetry in English
The work of many major poets can be reached through links at this site. Includes biographical information on poets and many works.
Other
Craft of Poetry: Couplet
Well detailed discussion of the use of the couplet in poetry. A number of different kinds of couplets are defined and explained (short couplet, split couplet, heroic couplet, Alexandrine couplet, Qasida), and a "How To" section suggests...
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: Complete Works of Wordsworth
Wordsworth was a defining member of the English Romantic Movement. This is the starting point for selecting poems chronologically by title index or alphabetically by first line.
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: The Golden Treasury of Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in Eng Lang
Electronic text of Thomas Palgrave's book, "The Golden Treasury: Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language". There are several ways to find the poem that you want to study: by author, by title, by first line, and by...
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: The Oxford Book of English Verse: a.t. Quiller Couch
Compilation of various English poems. The poems are classified chronologically, alphabetically (by author), by title, and by first lines.
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: The Poetics of Hip Hop
Students will analyze form in Shakespearean sonnets and hip-hop music. Concepts viewed in-depth include rhythm, form, diction, and sound. [Requires QuickTime 7].
TES Global
Tes: Teaching Shakespeare: Sonnet 130 Year 7
[Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson plan for Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" asks students to mark the rhyme scheme and highlight similes and metaphors, to respond to a modern letter with a message similar to the sonnet, and to...