Thirty-six pages familiarize scholars with the story and vocabulary of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. After reading and listening to an abbreviated version of the holiday tale learners show what they know about the sequence of...

After reading Acts III and IV of Othello, give your class a fun, interactive, music-related activity. Begin by asking students about songs they have heard in movies or plays. Let them look up the lyrics online and ruminate about the...

Introduce your seventh graders to the Harlem Renaissance with a unit that explores this dynamic period's music, literature, and ideas. The 160-page guide includes a unit calendar, an introduction to the unit, 10 richly detailed lessons...

What's involved in making sure the show does go on? Go behind the curtain with Gina Vernaci, the senior vice president of theatre operations for the second largest theatre district in the United States. Vernaci details all the roles she...

A lesson turns young historians into playwrights to understand and speak out against social injustice. Pupils work individually or in groups to write and perform monologues that deliver personal messages on social justice. Writers then...

Everyone has a role to play. Young scholars step into history by taking on the roles of soldiers—both male and female—during the Civil War using a fictionalized play of what life was like on the battlefield. Pupils also examine the roles...

Who was Harper Lee, and what led her to write one of the most celebrated novels of all time? Scholars learn about the author of To Kill a Mockingbird and read a summary of a dramatic production of the novel. They also discover the...

A variety of activities boost viewers' comprehension of Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book. Discussions, games, writing assignments, and hands-on activities are available for before and after watching the play.  

An engaging video featuring William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is accompanied by six activities designed to reinforce vocabulary, story elements, and comprehension. Scholars match words to pictures, place events in sequential order,...

This Arbor Day, put on a show! A three-scene play follows a boy and girl that run into Arbor Day founder, J. Sterling Morton. Morton describes how the holiday came to be and discovers how his hard work has grown into a national...

Sometimes life feels like a tragic comedy. A video about the play Waiting for Godot describes the play as a tragic comedy. Viewers see a summary of the famous drama and its history before answering multiple-choice and open-ended...

Watching a theatrical production can profoundly impact a person, but how would one convey the experience in writing? A handout helps readers organize their ideas and effectively write about plays, productions, and performances. Scholars...

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a play about star-crossed lovers, resonates deeply with teenagers. The study packet contains study questions for each act of the play. Learners use a graphic organizer to analyze whether characters...

West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet—two classics in their own rights that help young literature lovers better analyze different works. Learners research and compare the characters and story elements of West Side Story and Romeo &...

West Side Story is widely known as a modern-day Romeo & Juliet. Learners read a list of characters from the play and list their counterparts from Romeo & Juliet before completing a vocabulary enrichment activity and word jumble....

What's the difference between set dressing and a prop? Between a costume accessory and a personal prop? As part of their study of set and prop design, class members engage in a series of activities that prepare them to design a prop for...

Where do directors and set designers get their ideas so that the set they build creates the mood and atmosphere the director wants for a production? From the script! Introduce theater high schoolers to the script analysis techniques used...

Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House introduced the novel idea that women are independent people, and that their first duty is truly to themselves. Review the important details of the dramatic play with a short crossword puzzle activity.

Ten drama lessons are the perfect addition to your language arts or theater class. With a focus on script elements, plot development, and parts of a dramatic story, the lessons guide young playwrights through the steps of telling a story...

Make sure you are well-informed before embarking on a study of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This resource includes an analysis of the text that a teacher can use to prepare a unit of study. It covers plot elements, themes,...

If you are reading Judy Freeman's Oh No! or your class loves animals, use a reader's theater exercise to bring the story to life. After assigning 12 parts to your young actors, have them act out the story with a script that will be...

Review the main events in the play Richard III using this resource. Learners created a video newscast in which they describe the plot. It is a creative and motivating way to discuss this material.