The theme of a work is not a single word! Rather it is a statement that reflects what a writer believes or wants readers to understand about a topic or subject. Here's a short, but powerful lesson that utilizes passages from The...

Can authors speak to each other across works, genres, and centuries? Study the conversation between Christopher Marlowe in his poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and the responses by Sir Walter Raleigh and William Carlos Williams...

Explore the life and writing of John Steinbeck. A 48-slide presentation introduces the famous American author, his California heritage, and his impressive collection of published work. Viewers are then introduced to Of Mice and Men, one...

A free press is entitled to its opinions. While the news pages report the facts of events, editorial pages feature writers' and cartoonists' opinions about events to either directly or indirectly persuade. Introduce viewers to the art of...

Introduce class members to the conventions of the romance genre and the theme of familial relationships with Mahlon F. Craft's illustrated Sleeping Beauty. The themes are a focus of their study of The Winter's Tale.

"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...

An in-class reading of Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece Meets the Big O introduces class members to the journey motif that forms the basis of The Hobbit.

Expand your pupils' understanding of the short story genre with a study of John Updike and his story "A&P." This instructional activity, the fourth in a series of fourteen, invites learners to examine literary terms and read and...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...