Reading Shakespeare
Shakespeare Literature Circles Role Sheets
Tired of those blank stares after your class reads a particularly complex passage from a Shakespearean play? Help high schoolers untangle that prose with a literature circle activity. Ten different roles prompt class members to focus on...
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Introducing Literature Circle Roles to Students
Students read a narrative selection and select a literature circle role. In this reading comprehension lesson, students work in groups to identify vocabulary, make text connections, or other reading comprehension strategies. Students...
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Literature Circle Activity
Interested in trying literature circles but concerned about accountability? Check out this resource. The class is divided into discussion groups, members are assigned specific roles, and provided with a worksheet that describes their...
Japan Society
The “I” Novels in the Context of Early 20th-Century Japan
Although this lesson plan covers the rather obscure topic of the Japanese "I-novel", it also includes a great deal of historical information and material for an in-depth discussion of universal literary concepts. Specifically, young...
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Training Students for Literature Circles
Role sheets clearly define expectations of all group members in this introduction to literature circles. By using a variety of picture books or short texts, readers can practice roles while the teacher circulates to each group observing...
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Utopia & Utopian Literature By Sir Thomas More
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 31 short answer and essay questions based on More's Utopia and other Utopian literature. Students may also access an online quiz on the selection using the...
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Elements of Fables
Students explore the attributes of fables. In this literature lesson, students read several fables and identify the moral lesson, characterization, and figurative language in each. Students then retell their favorite fables in their own...
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Day Ten Lesson- The Whale Rider
Readers respond to Chapters 17 and 18 of Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. Working in literature groups, they identify the climactic elements in the chapters, discussing the text and making inferences based on their reading.
Livaudais-Baker English Classroom
Literature Circles
Keeping readers focused during literature discussion circles can sometimes be a challenge. Check out this worksheet that ensures accountability by establishing six very specific, very different roles for group members: facilitator,...
Novelinks
The Good Earth: Concept Analysis
Designed for teachers, this resource provides an overview of Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Good Earth. Information about the organizational pattern of the story, issues and themes addressed, historical background on...
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Teachers See the Truth but Wait: Teaching Short Stories with Literature Circles
Students use literature circles to analyze four short stories from the Realms of Gold, Volume 3. In this literature circle lesson, students are assigned a role in the literature circle to improve their critical thinking skills for...
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How Tragic!
Learners study and interpret a classical tragedy and role play a character from the play. In this tragedy lesson, students discuss a specific work to discover the form, structure, and characteristics of the genre and interpret the...
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Literature Circles: Typical Discussion Day Structure
Tenth graders practice and facilitate a discussion. In this literature lesson, 10th graders practice using effective discussion strategies. Students participate in reflection and self-assessment on their own discussion abilities.
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How Tragic!
Tenth graders read and study, in-depth, a specific classical tragedy, in this case, Oedipus. They explore strategies from making meaning out of or interpreting texts, as well as strategies for determining how authors create meaning in...
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English Novel: Fallen Angels
Learners work in literary circles to discuss the novel Fallen Angels. In this Fallen Angels lesson, students find quotations, make connections, and identify themes as they discuss the novel. Learners discuss changes in the characters...
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Discussion Questions for Shakespeare's Julius Caeser
Do not let Julius Caesar be Greek to your pupils. Rather, make the play a dish fit for hungry minds. Encourage your class members to lend their ears to a series of rich discussion questions so that they can become masters of the play, as...
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Vocabulary Development
Learners utilize various vocabulary strategies. They use vocabulary logs to record strategies they have been taught, such as the Frayer Model (definition, picture, examples, non-examples), writing their own definitions, and using...