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When is a Theme Not a Theme?
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...
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"The Story of an Hour" Unit
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...
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Core Knowledge 7th Grade ELA Curriculum
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...
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Lord of the Flies Unit
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...
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Words That Heal: Using Children's Literature to Address Bullying
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...
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Signet Classics Teacher's Guides: Shakespeare
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...
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Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude
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...
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The Glass Menagerie and Expressionist Theater
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...
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Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce
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...
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William Golding’s Lord of the Flies
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...
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Using Textual Clues to Understand A Christmas Carol
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...
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AP Poetry
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...
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Lord of the Flies
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...
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Matilda Lesson Plans
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...
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Star Wars and Shakespeare Unit
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...
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Ken Burns in the Classroom: Hemingway
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...
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Crash Course Theater and Drama
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...
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2020 Election Lesson Plans
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...
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Black Women Writers: What Gets Black Women Heard?
New ReviewZora Neal Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou are featured in a guided inquiry unit. High schoolers research the lives and works of these and other Black women writers and craft an argument, using evidence from their research, to...
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OPTIC - A Reading Strategy Recipe: Visual Literacy
A visual literary lesson provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy with a...
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The Revealers: Discussion Guide for Grades 6-8
Suspense! Rebellion! Cyberbullying! No wonder Doug Wilhelm's novel The Revealers appeals to middle schoolers. Instructors new to using the novel and experienced veterans will find this discussion guide invaluable. Discussion questions,...
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Teacher's Guide: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
An 11-page teacher's guide that focuses on Delia Owens' bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing is packed with discussion questions and activities. Text-dependent questions, activities, and writing prompts are also included. It's a valuable...
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A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine
Imagine being able to travel back and forth in time! H.G. Wells uses that scenario in his novel The Time Machine to comment on what he saw as the flaws in Victorian society and the industrial age. This teacher's guide is one of the best...
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A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of The Crucible by Arthur Miller
A 20-page guide is a must-have for any instructor, seasoned veteran, or first year-teacher, using Arthur Miller's The Crucible as an anchor text. The guide begins with extensive background information about Miller and the McCarthy era...