Curated OER
Analyzing Nonfiction Text Elements - Editorials
Examine the text features of non-fiction. Start the lesson by reading editorial samples provided by their instructor and analyze the texts for word choice, details, and organization. An editorial example and graphic organizer are...
Curated OER
My Antonia: Guided Imagery
Willa Cather's novel My Antonia is full of vivid imagery. Encourage your pupils to visualize and translate images from the text into original writing with this guided imagery activity. Learners listen to an excerpt, take a moment to...
Louisiana Department of Education
Gulliver’s Travels
Gulliver's Travels tells the story of a man who goes on voyages and encounters strange people. A unit plan introduces readers to the classic text, as well as excerpts from other examples of sarcasm and satire, such as "A Modest Proposal"...
Teacher Web
Inferring Character Traits
Learning how to draw inferences from text is a key reading comprehension skill. Here's a worksheet that gives readers a chance to practice by offering 20 descriptive sentences and asking kids to identify the inferred character trait, and...
Scholastic
Reading Symbols
Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass serves as the anchor text for a lesson on symbolism. Readers use the provided worksheets to examine the symbols in the novel as well as in the world around them.
Institute for the Professional Development of Adult Educators
Using Context Clues with Signal Words
When you come across an unfamiliar word in a text, do you skip it and move on? Practice using context clues to identify words you don't know with a thorough set of language arts lessons. The resource reinforces close reading and critical...
Scholastic
Reading Characters
Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass provides the text for a study of how writers bring characters to life. Using the provided character mapping worksheets, readers respond to questions and then write a short character sketch.
Curated OER
Spelling Detective
Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and become a spelling detective! Scholars hunt down the spelling errors in a short passage of a high-interest current events text. Here is a great way to develop editing and reading skills.
Novelinks
The Tempest: A-Z Book Project
Create a picture dictionary for one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. After readers finish The Tempest, they assign each letter of the alphabet to a concept or character, and add a description and evidence from the text to the...
Curated OER
Native American Literature
Introduce your class to the writing of the indigenous Americans and, even more well known, their story telling. An engaging presentation describes what kinds of texts would be included in the oral stories performed and some common themes...
Japan Society
Changing Times, Changing Styles: New Japanese Literary Styles of the Late Nineteenth Century
Focusing on Doppo's "Unforgettable People" and late nineteenth century Japanese literature, this resource also leads to discussions of form being dictated by content. Explore the development of new literary styles first-hand by...
Curated OER
Man's Search For Meaning: Concept Analysis
Designed as a resource for teachers who use Man's Search for Meaning, this seven-page packet includes a list of related informational texts, research issues and project ideas, central questions, background information on World War II and...
Curated OER
Writing to describe
Students examine descriptive writing. In this writing lesson, students listen to an audio version of the diary of Lt. Polly Hatchard and her expedition to the South Pole. Students explore the components of descriptive writing and...
Curated OER
Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...
ReadWriteThink
Decoding the Dystopian Characteristics of Macintosh’s “1984” Commercial
Known as one of the most iconic advertisements of the 20th century, Macintosh's "1984" commercial has become more of a social statement. Present the ad to a new audience of viewers with a lesson focused on identifying dystopian...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6
It ‘s assessment check list time, and you have nothing to prove that your learners mastered the skill RL.11-12.6. Rest assured, here is a plan that is sure to appease your administrator. It offers solid examples on the difference between...
Curated OER
Biopoem: Bud, Not Buddy
Young poets focus on one character from a story they are reading, collect details, and use a biopoem template to analyze this character. The activity can be used with any text.
Curated OER
Edgar Allen Poe And The Art Of Composition
High schoolers evaluate several works by Edgar Allen Poe based on the criteria in his essay, "The Philosophy of Composotion" Their analysis is documented using a graphic organizer. Learners begin the pre-writing process for their own...
Curated OER
Fear and Loathing in Othello
High schoolers research the ideas that people had of African people during Shakespearean times and examine Othello's descriptions of himself as written by Shakespeare.
Curated OER
Headless Horseman, Heady Author
Twelfth graders explore figurative language as it appears in Washington Irving's original text, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, answer questions based on story, and write sequels to it by using the different types of figurative language...
Curated OER
Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
Curated OER
Literary Analysis - Young Goodman Brown
Why is literary analysis so important? Readers explore writing a literary analysis by reviewing literary elements such as character, metaphor, plot, setting, simile, personification, and style. They read "Young Goodman Brown" by...
Curated OER
Foreshadowing and Situational Irony in Kate Chopin Short Stories
This resource contains summaries of the stories featured, but limited procedural detail. Readers compare Chopin's stories' use of situational irony and foreshadowing. High interest content (questionable paternity, missing persons) for...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 6
How can a screenplay create meaning and drama in ways that other forms of writing cannot? That is the question class members must answer as they compare the cantina scene of the screenplay for George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with...