When is a theme not a theme? The resources in this collection explain the difference between subject, motif, and theme, model how to determine the theme(s) in literature and art, and offer opportunities to practice identifying the themes...

Kate Chopin's tale, "The Story of an Hour," is the anchor text in a six-lesson unit designed for ESL and ELD students. Lessons provide learners with background knowledge of the role of women in 19th-century America and the author. Each...

Eight guides comprise the Core Knowledge seventh grade English Language Arts Curriculum Set. The guides, developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation, are designed “to advance excellence and equity in education for all children.” Unit 1...

The lessons in the Lord of the Flies Unit examine the dystopian novel as a microcosm for society. Pupils listen to an interview with William Golding as he elaborates on his rationale for selecting a remote island populated with only...

Books can create empathy. Books can build self-esteem. Books can offer insight and coping strategies. Books can encourage anti-bullying. Books can heal. The five discussion guides in the "Words That Heal: Using Children's Literature to...

To download or not to download is often the question for teacher’s guides, especially for instructors who are old hands at using the bard’s plays in their classrooms. These guides are the stuff teachers dream about, full of background...

How does Gabriel Garcia Marquez make the magical elements in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seem real? That is the essential question for readers of his acclaimed novel to tackle in a three-lesson unit module. Scholars begin by...

Who says a play must be realistic? Certainly not Tennessee Williams, who chose to use expressionistic techniques to tell his tale of Tom, Amanda, and Laura Wingfield. A three-lesson unit module has readers examine how Williams uses these...

A two-part lesson examines the works and biographies of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. Part One focuses on the authors’ narrators and asks readers to consider whether the narrators of “A Tell-Tale Heart” and “Occurrence at Owl Creek...

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the anchor text for a three-lesson unit module. The first instructional activity models for readers how authors use direct and indirect characterization to establish their characters. Other lessons...

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol offers students a chance to practice their close reading skills. Using the provided worksheets, readers examine context clues to determine the meanings of words, direct and indirect characterization...

Ten resources make up the AP Poetry Unit Module. The first resource, designed for instructors, provides an overview of and links to all materials required for a four-week poetry unit. Next, a 27-slide presentation introduces scholars to...

Packed with activities, presentations, projects, and assessments, first-time instructors and seasoned veterans will find much to like in this unit based on William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies. An 18-slide presentation includes...

A collection all about Roald Dahl's novel, Matilda, contains eleven lessons. Each lesson contains a theme and covers a different subject: literacy, social-emotional learning, science, and geography. Scholars work collaboratively and...

Luke Skywalker meets Hamlet in a 10-lesson plan unit based on Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope (WSSW). Using Star Wars® as source material, Doescher has transformed Lucas's film into a Shakespearian...

Hemingway: BH, AH. Before Hemingway and after Hemingway. A collection of PBS lessons, authored by Julia E. Torres, uses clips from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary to EXPLORE the influence events in Hemingway’s life had on his...

Forsooth! Here’s a collection that has everything you ever wanted to know about the theater and drama—everyone from Aristotle to Chikamatsu, from Moliere to Shakespeare to Williams. From Banraku to Zaju, every type from comedy to...

With all the hyperbole of an election year, it can be difficult to find the facts, just the facts about candidates, issues, and ballot measures. Young political scientists, with the help of 21 resources from a nonpartisan, information...