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The Concept of the Hero
Students explore the symbolic implications for the concept of the hero with a focus on the Beowulf theme. In this hero concept lesson, students find specific examples of monsters from Beowulf to complete the chart. Students list the...
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Bay Area: Race and Land
Pupils examine the role that racism played in the growth of the Bay Area. They discover how turn-of-the-century boosters promoted a vision of the Bay Area. They study the American Indian Movement's takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969,...
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Lending a Helping Hand
Students research the work of North American NGOs and select one to support with a financial contribution as a class. In this philanthropic research lesson, students consider the work of Benjamin Franklin, defining good citizenship and...
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The Mark Twain Project at the Principia School
Students read and write an analysis of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and write a paper on another Twain literary piece. In this Mark Twain lesson, students select a Mark Twain literary piece to write an analysis paper for the work....
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Stephen Crane - Surrealism and the Antihero
Students analyze the work of Stephen Crane as a lesson plan on surrealism and an antihero. In this surrealism lesson plan, students complete discuss activities for the topic. Students then analyze Crane's poetry, his use of surrealism,...
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Poems with Tone and Mood
Students examine the use of tone in poetry. In this literature lesson, students read "We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks and use the provided graphic organizer to chart the poem's tone and mood.
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Political Cartoons: Thinking Broadly, Communicating Succinctly
Students think broadly about the tsunami disaster and its aftermath through studying cartoons. Students critically think about the literary devices the authors/artists use, such as satire, metaphor and personification.
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Extreme Poetry Vocabulary
Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...
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Tennessee Williams: Exploring the American Dream
High schoolers read and analyze selections of Tennessee Williams' work. They write journal responses, conduct Internet research, perform various scenes from one of Williams' dramas, and create a presentation.
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Mocking Modern Life
Twelfth graders read "The Nun's Priest's Tale" and "The Rape of the Lock" then brainstorm possible topics for a contemporary mock epic and possible
"grandiose" words and phrases for common objects and activities. They write a mock epic...
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The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Courage
Students provide examples of Crane's treatment of the "manly virtues" associated with war using support from the text of The Red Badge of Courage. They describe the three published endings of The Red Badge of Courage and the difference...
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The Crucible
Twelfth graders use an Internet scavenger hunt, vocabulary, sample essay questions, and short answer questions suitable for study and review of the play, The Crucible.
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The Rest Cure: Gender in Medicine and Literature
Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...
Dream of a Nation
Writing a Narrative Essay
Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...
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Mark Twain: Straddling the Civil War
Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain to...
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Constructing Narrative from the Migrant Experience in Literature
Excerpts from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and from John Fante's Ask the Dust, as well as a variety of primary source documents provide the background for an examination of the migrant experience from 1920-1945.
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When I Set My Hat at a Certain Angle: Trying on Zora Neale Hurston's Voice to Dress-up Prose
After reading and evaluating examples of prose nonfiction by Zora Neale Hurston and other authors, high schoolers write a personal reflective essay rich in figurative language. By incorporating this strategy, they utilize voice within...
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Expressing Our Thoughts Through Poetry
Students create a poem on about spring. They read final version of their poem chorally. They write reflections of their experience in creating the poem.
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Early Industrialization
Eighth graders analyze primary source documents emphasizing young people in factory labor (mill workers during 1840-1860). They study hours of labor, ages of laborers, reasons for working, and working conditions. They write a poem or song.
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Literature: Isabel Allende
Young scholars watch and respond to a Bill Moyers Now video on the Chilean author, Isabel Allende. They brainstorm a list of recent events that might inspire writers and choose one to write about in poetic, diary, or short story form.
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Poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Students read and analyze poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye. They define stereotypes, view and discuss a video interview with Nye, present an oral reading of a poem, and write a persuasive letter to an author.
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Dude, I'm Interviewing the President
Student define issues and questions they would discuss with a president. Students read "Bill and Leo's Excellent Encounter". Students choose famous personalities, research their celebrity, and create a mock interview with them.
National First Ladies' Library
Language Arts: The Rise of the Operetta
Pupils develop an appreciation for the musical theater form, the operetta. In addition, they present parodies of songs from The Mikado. Working in small groups and accessing provided Websites, they compose their parodies. Once completed,...
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The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Courage
Students examine how Stephen Crane treats the process by which a youth matures in his novel the Red Badge of Courage. They study how he exemplifies manly virtues associated with soldiers in war and examine the three endings that were...