+
Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

Classroom Activities for Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Kon-Tiki, the record of Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 raft journey across the Pacific Ocean, is the focus of three classroom activities. In a lesson on connotation and bias language, class members record instances of Heyerdahl's word choice....
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Finding Evidence of Laurence Yep’s Perspective on Being Chinese in Dragonwings and Determining Connotative Language

For Teachers 6th Standards
There's a fine line between reality and fiction. As an end-of-unit assessment, scholars complete worksheets to analyze how Laurence Yep's perspective on being Chinese factors into his novel Dragonwings. Next, pupils engage in a class...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Finding Evidence of Laurence Yep’s Perspective of the Police in Dragonwings

For Teachers 6th Standards
Perspective is everything. Using a graphic organizer, pupils determine Laurence Yep's perspective of the police in his novel Dragonwings. Additionally, scholars complete anchor charts to identify connotative language in the text.
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Encyclopedia Britannica

Candidate Flip-Flop or Evolution?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Beware political rhetoric! Connotation is everything! Groups select a presidential candidate and investigate how the candidate's position has changed on a specific issue. After analyzing the situation, the group determines whether they...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Gender Bias

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young sociologists are asked to read two photographs, identifying how the photographer uses point of view, color, pose, light, and shadow to express a stereotype of women or to challenge those stereotypes. Partners then create their own...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Launching the Performance Task

For Teachers 8th Standards
This word or that, this picture or that. Individuals dive into the lives of The Little Rock Nine and the connotation used in the book A Mighty Long Way as they begin the performance task. The task scenario establishes literature lovers...
+
Unit Plan
Creative Content Australia

Persuasive Language

For Teachers 3rd - 9th Standards
Language has power. Use the materials in a language arts teaching guide to equip learners with the knowledge of the persuasive techniques, both verbal and visual, that can be used to influence thinking.
+
Handout
Deer Valley Unified School District

Close Reading: Analyzing Mood and Tone

For Students 9th - 12th
The AP Literature and Composition exam is all about close reading. Test takers are presented with a passage and asked to analyze how an author uses literary devices to create a desired effect. Prepare your students for the exam with a...
+
Activity
Film Education

Nineteen Eighty-Four: Orwell

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Warning or prediction? Nineteen Eighty Four is the anchor text for a series of tasks that ask readers to compare the novel to the film as well as current events to those pictured in George Orwell's dystopian classic.
+
Unit Plan
Portland Public Schools

Teaching Tone to Teenagers

For Students 9th Standards
Tone is a tough topic to teach to teenagers. But never, fear, help is here in the form of a unit plan that takes advantage of their interest in music to set the stage for a series of activities that lead them to understand how setting,...
+
Handout
California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc

Poetic Devices

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Have everything you need to know about the elements of poetry with a nine-page handout. Split into four categories—word sounds, meanings, arrangement, and imagery—budding poets may reference terms, read definitions, descriptions, and...
+
Unit Plan
Santa Ana Unified School District

Early American Poets

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
The poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the focus of a unit that asks readers to consider how an artist's life and changes in society influences his or her work. After careful study of Whitman's and Dickinson's perspectives on...
+
PPT
National Humanities Center

Teaching Emily Dickinson: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...
+
Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

Connotative vs. Denotative Meanings

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Besides the dictionary definition, words also carry the added weight of meanings that are inferred or implied, meanings conferred on words, or connotations. To gain an understanding the importance of connotation, class members engage in...
+
Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

"Because I could not stop for Death" -- Visualizing Meaning and Tone

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...
+
Organizer
Curated OER

Practice Book O

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...
+
Lesson Plan
Novelinks

The Little Prince: Brainstorming Activity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What do you think of when you hear the word adult? Or friend? Learners brainstorm with a group of peers to list the words they think of when they hear seven words from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.
+
Activity
Curated OER

Express Yourself Lesson Seed 2

For Teachers 6th Standards
Use Langston Hughes's poem, "Words Like Freedom," to explore the concepts of freedom and liberty. Learners read the poem, determine the theme, and use the provided graphic organizer to examine the connotative and denotative meanings of...
+
PPT
Curated OER

Literary Terms

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Seriously, 93 slides of literary terms? Yes, and well worth the time, although perhaps not all at once. The beauty here is in the concise, easy-to-understand definitions for such well-known terms as imagery and personification, as well...
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Sentence Completion 20: High-Intermediate Level

For Students 11th - 12th
Here's an exercise that will help learners develop their vocabulary. The eight sentence completion problems are followed by an answer key that explains why one answer is correct and why the other possibilities are not. Richly detailed,...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Shooting An Elephant": George Orwell's Essay on His Life in Burma

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High school readers examine George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" for examples of symbolism, metaphor, connotation, and irony. They analyze how these literary tools convey the writer's main point and contribute to the persuasive...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shades of Meaning

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
Examine and distinguish between words that have similar definitions but different connotations. Middle schoolers define connotation and denotation and participate in a "shades of meaning" contest in small groups. Groups use the Visual...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Speak Write! Understanding the Hidden Meaning of Words

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
"Can the connotation of a word or phrase create bias or prejudice?" The activities in this SMART Board activity are directed toward this question, which will be sure to incite lots of opinions and ideas. The SMART Board file guides them...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Curated OER

What's In a Name?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Introduce your language arts class to connotation, denotation, and diction. Middle schoolers identify and differentiate between the connotative and denotative  meanings of words by analyzing the fictitious sports team names. Learners...