Students analyze the art of Mexican artist Jose' Clemente Orozco and complete analysis activities. In this Mexican art analysis lesson, students read about Orozco's Zapatistas and answer discussion questions.

Students read poems with social themes. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against...

Students inspect visual arts by exploring images on-line. For this art analysis lesson, students discuss the history of art and the its ability to communicate with people through images. Students utilize pencils and charcoal to create...

Ninth graders engage in the reading of literature in order to focus upon some of the basic literary elements while examining "The Catcher In The Rye". They use the experience of reading and literary analysis in order to help develop an...

High schoolers research biographical facts about Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce and complete literary analysis activities. For this biographical lesson plan, students research basic biographical facts about Poe and Bierce. High...

Students analyze Mark Twain's "Western" voice. In this literature instructional activity, students read Roughing It by Twain and watch "The West." Students examine Twain's history and compare it to the history of America's developing...

Explore the abundance of spring, no matter what season you are covering in your class! Using the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, GALE Biography Resource Center, and Litfinder, pupils work on researching the poet and analyzing the use of...

What does your class know about logical fallacies? They can find out quite a bit and practice identifying logical fallacies if you follow the steps and use the resources provided here! After reviewing ethos, pathos, and logos, ask small...

Provided here are activities and questions for Part I of To Kill a Mockingbird (although one activity is also included for Part II). Readers study the novel's plot, characters, and setting. I wouldn't recommend using this as the sole...

Here is an ongoing activity intended to build interest in local, national, and world news. The class is divided into four groups of approximately five pupils each. The groups are responsible for monitoring the daily news. They compose...

Young scholars research the scientific, economic, and cultural themes that connect Paleolithic and Neolithic inhabitants. They complete Paleolithic and Neolithic Theme Frames, comparing/contrasting the two cultures in an essay or Venn...

Learners identify the theme of "The Monkey's Paw" and relate it to prior knowledge.  In this "The Monkey's Paw" lesson, students discuss fate and coincidence and debate which one controls destiny.  A test is chosen as the...

Students analyze Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." In this poem analysis lesson, students review vocabulary for the poem and read the poem. Students discuss the meanings in each stanza, the theme, and its rhyme scheme. Students...

Learners recognize ways Shakespeare creates and uses mood augment their analysis of the text and help them in making performance choices. They, in groups, select words, phrases, lines, that reveal their character's mood.

Students read two short stories by the same author. For each story, they identify the main structures and style of the author. They use the text to write a summary about each story and how the author used literary techniques.

The capitalization rules are strict and inflexible—until you experience the fluid beauty of an Emily Dickinson poem. Ninth graders test their existing knowledge of language arts conventions with the many bent grammar rules in "I Felt a...

Listen to the low, stifled sound that arises from the souls of your ninth graders when overcharged with awe. Inspire them with a captivating instructional activity about "The Tell-Tale Heart." Learners analyze how Poe uses the story...

During World War II propaganda was as important to the war effort as the soldiers in the field. Scholars consider how the government communicated messages of patriotism with propaganda by examining pieces from World War II. Then, they...

At over 450 pages, John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Grapes of Wrath can be a challenging choice for full-class, book circle, or independent reading. The activities in a 10-page sample The Grapes of Wrath...

Continue analyzing literature using textual evidence with a instructional activity on "I Felt A Funeral, in my Brain" by Emily Dickinson. Ninth graders bring their annotation skills and knowledge of figurative language from the previous...

The accusations begin in Sophocles' Oedipus the King, with troublemakers and enemies abound. As learners delve deeply into the sights unseen, they review textual evidence from their readings to write about the importance of timing in the...

Prophecy and blindness often go hand in hand, as in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Explore Oedipus' thoughts about prophecy, fate, and responsibility with an activity focused on the discussion between Creon and Oedipus regarding the murder...

How can a prophecy be true if the future differs from what was foreseen? Sophocles entertains this question in Oedipus the King. Teiresias, Creon, and Oedipus have weighed in on the unsolved murder of Laius, and now Jocasta voices her...

Close readers and forensic detectives alike deal with collecting strong evidence. Ninth graders become involved in an instructional activity about Sophocles' Oedipus the King, in which they find connections between Oedipus' stated words...