Comparing two texts can build a greater understanding of the texts and themes of the works. Take some time to follow the steps here to guide your pupils through the process of composing compare-and-contrast essays.

It's time to proof read! Pupils read and analyze proof paragraphs from a model essay. They then practice writing their own proof paragraphs to express an opinion about offshore oil drilling. 

It's time to make a claim. Scholars learn what it means to make a claim by first looking at a model analytical mini-essay to determine how the author relayed ideas. Pupils then work with partners to discuss how the author might have...

Invisible Man is a core text in high school literature classes and one of the most cited works on the AP Literature and Composition exam. Instructors new to using Ralph Ellison's novel and those who have long included it as part of...

To prepare for the unit's final assessment essay, class members collaborate to find evidence that reveals Romeo and Juliet as tragic heroes.

As part of a mid-unit assessment, class members exchange their draft of a multi-paragraph essay with a classmate, review their partner's writing using the provided text analysis rubric, and evaluate the strength of evidence, the...

Beyonce's "Halo" and Bruno Mars' "Grenade" provide eighth graders with an opportunity to consider how a writer's choice of words can create a very different tone even when the subject is the same. After a close reading of both lyrics,...

A thorough unit on literary analysis and character development culminates in a final writing assessment. Prompted to compare the parent-child relationships in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, high...

Eighth graders demonstrate their understanding with the final assessment in a literary analysis unit based on Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." Having prepared for the assessment in the last few...

Reading a scientific article about cross-species synchronization may sound like a yawner. But "Monkey See, Monkey Do" is a fascinating tale that just happens to be about yawning, within and across species. After a close reading, class...

How does Shakespeare use dialogue to develop the idea that the star-crossed lovers are more concerned with their relationship as individuals than they are with their roles as children of warring families? That is the question facing...

Whether using Touching Spirit Bear in the classroom, as an outside reading assignment, or in a homeschool situation, your readers will benefit from this eight-page packet of essay and discussion questions, vocabulary lists, and reading...

What is love? Why is it important? Explore this concept with an interactive activity that brings together Bloom's taxonomy and Willa Cather's My Antonia. After completing the novel, pupils toss a Bloom's cube and then answer the...

Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...

As the class concludes its close reading of “The Palace Thief,” groups consider how the narrator's character has changed throughout Ethan Canin’s short story.

Twelfth graders read and analyze the literary elements of Alphonse Daudet's "The Last Lesson" and Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. They compare the two works and write an essay describing the reasons they feel the authors...

“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...

Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis...

To conclude a study of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in a Socratic seminar discussion of Martinez's novel.

Who is telling the story? Readers take a look at the text Eight Days to determine if the story is told in first or third person. They then discuss in groups and complete a shared writing activity to describe how the narrator's point of...

Students research personal bias towards the story Marriage is a Private Affair. For this tradition research lesson, students read the story and discuss the ending. Students free write about the topic and complete a Venn diagram to...

As part of their exploration of the American dream, class members examine primary source materials to compare immigrant experiences of those arriving early in our country's history to those arriving in the US after World War...

Students analyze Japanese tanka poetry. In this Japanese poetry lesson, students identify analyze the structure of tanka poetry. Students complete the activities at the given links for the lesson and compose two tanka poems.

Students discuss what house and home represent in this country and read an article from a Venezuelan newspaper about environmental awareness. They create a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts environmental awareness and responsibility.