Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing?  Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true...

Sometimes saying I'm sorry just doesn't cut it. Scholars examine a series of apology poems, songs, and stories and consider each speaker's regrets. Using what they have learned, they analyze James Hurst's short story, "The Scarlet Ibis,"...

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is the featured text in three classroom activities. The first activity asks readers to analyze the description of Edmond Dantes in Chapter XVII, paying particular attention to Dumas' word...

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...

Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...

In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and...

When in the course of a course on historic American events, it becomes necessary for learners to examine, with decent respect, the Declaration of Independence, it becomes evident that there are six separate and equal parts of that...

Dive into Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and determine what it means to conform in society, and discuss as a group with the thoughts and plans available in these documents. Included are multiple activities and brain targets that form the...

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...

Students analyze Thoreau's writing style. In this writing style lesson, students describe Thoreau's literary style and use the devices he employs in a response to one of his essays.

After a close reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" individuals copy the rhythm and rhyme scheme and rewrite the final stanzas of the poem.

Seventh graders examine the setting in pieces of fiction.  In this story analysis instructional activity, 7th graders investigate the setting in fictional stories and the importance it has.  Students discover new vocabulary...

Tenth graders  analyze the role of mentors, point of view, and prejudice using the texts of To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders review Scout's...

Tenth graders use the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to analyze relationships in society. In this literature analysis lesson plan, 10th graders participate in a shoe activity where they bring in one shoe belonging to someone they know and a...

Provide your class with an opportunity to investigate an important historical document. Without identifying the document, distribute copies of the original Bill of Rights, as transcribed by John Beckley, Clerk of the House of...

High schoolers analyze the multiple voices in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this multiple voices lesson plan, students explore the use of symbolism with the narrative voices of the text. High schoolers write a detailed profile of...

Students use the Internet and video to discover how find evidence in poetry in order to discover the theme(s) of the poems. They are able to define poetic devices like simile, metaphor and repetition. Students identify themes in...

Students practice analysis of poetry by analyzing song lyrics using a worksheet to guide the analysis process. They work in small groups to assess the stylistic and literary devices used in the song lyrics then they find a published...

Young scholars analyze passages by Niccolo Machiavelli and Francis Bacon as an analysis of Renaissance ideas in contemporary situations. In this Renaissance writings lesson plan, students read excerpts from Machiavelli's The Prince and...

Young scholars research Langston Hughes poetry for his use of figurative language. In this poetry analysis lesson, students research the life and poetry of Langston Hughes and his use of vivid words. Young scholars complete 23...

Students listen to headline from National Enquirer or other tabloid, listen to story "Journalism in Tennessee," compare and contrast connections between Twain's idea of journalism with present day journalism, define vocabulary, and...