Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 3

For Teachers 9th Standards
Just like in real life, characters in short stories show their true personalities through their words and deeds. Decipher the character development in Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a set of activities...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 9

For Teachers 9th Standards
Find the central idea in an excerpt from Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a literary analysis lesson plan. As your class analyzes a section of the story, they determine how the author forms the central...
Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Text Analysis and Character Revelations: Flowers for Algernon

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
What does your character reveal about you? Scholars carry out several activities to determine the reveal of character in Flowers for Algernon. Readers answer text dependent questions, complete diary entries, write reflections, and use...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 11

For Teachers 9th Standards
Address annotation, word choice, and tone in the same language arts instructional activity. Ninth graders read a section of Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" and track character development based on supporting...
Unit Plan
EngageNY

Grade 12 ELA Module 4: Literary Analysis

For Teachers 12th Standards
Does identity come from within, or do external forces shape it? Explore the complex identity concept with a two-unit module for 12th-grade language arts. The first unit uses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and "A Daily Joy...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

World Café to Analyze Theme and Character in A Long Walk to Water (Chapters 16–18)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Here comes a surprise ending! Readers discuss their thoughts about the ending of A Long Walk to Water by answering probing questions. They participate in a World Café where they work in triads to complete a chart and a prompt during...
Handout
Curated OER

A P Literary Terms

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Is a list of literary terms found frequently on AP English exams of value to test takers? Now there's a rhetorical question. Here's a list that provides definitions for everything from allegory to vernacular. To say the list is...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

It’s Never Too Late to Apologize: Character Development and Theme in “The Scarlet Ibis”

For Teachers 9th Standards
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,"...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Collecting Details: The Challenges Ha Faces and Ha as a Dynamic Character

For Teachers 8th Standards
What is a dynamic character? Using an interesting resource, scholars set out to answer the question. They create graphic organizers to collect details about character development as they read the novel Inside Out & Back Again. They...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 7

For Teachers 9th Standards
A story about feral girls raised by werewolves will have some interesting character development! Track how the girls and their teachers act, speak, and change with a lesson focused on Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by...
Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

Character in Place: Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” for the Common Core

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How do writers use the interaction between elements like characterization and setting to create meaning? Readers of "A Worn Path" create a series of comic book-style graphics of Eudora Welty's short story and reflect on how Welty...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Conflict And Choice In Tangerine: Character Development

For Teachers 7th Standards
Introduce middle schoolers to Edward Bloor's novel Tangerine with a lesson plan that asks scholars to make predictions about events in the novel based on an article written by the Smoop Editorial team. Predictions are posted in the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 11

For Teachers 10th Standards
Football fans and ready readers will enjoy a lesson based on H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights. Focusing on chapter 4, the lesson encourages tenth graders to examine Mike's character development as it relates to the season opener and...
Lesson Plan
Pace University

Short Stories

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
A reading of Kevin Lamb's short story "Lost in the Woods" launches a study of how writers use elements such as foreshadowing, mood, character development, setting, and conflict to engage readers. Class members then demonstrate what they...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 12

For Teachers 10th Standards
Relationships between characters generate energy that propels the plot and connects events with a central idea. Track character development and meaningful relationships with a literary analysis lesson focused on H.G. Bissinger's Friday...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 14

For Teachers 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 10

For Teachers 9th Standards
As you work through a literary analysis unit based on Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," use a writing assessment to measure your class's skills. They choose one epigraph from the story to analyze and track...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 1

For Teachers 10th Standards
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an illustrative source of rich prose, deep character development, and strong literary themes. Use two of the book's key chapters, which focus on Waverly's relationship with chess and with her mother, to...
Activity
Spreading Gratitude Rocks

Live and Learn and Pass It On

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
What are some of life's most tried-and-true lessons? Pupils listen to examples from the book Live and Learn and Pass It On by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. They write down their own life lessons to later compile in a class booklet. As...
Unit Plan
1
1
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

We Can Work It Out: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 7)

For Teachers 1st Standards
Listen, look, speak, and move are the routine steps of the English language development lessons found in a We Can Work It Out themed unit. Language proficiency is reinforced through picture cards, poems, and grand discussions about...
Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Nathaniel Hawthorne as a humorist? Really? The three lessons in this series focus on the the storytelling style, conventions, and literary techniques employed by Hawthorne, George Washington Harris, and Mark Twain. 
Handout
Novelinks

The View From Saturday: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Design your unit on The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg with a concept and vocabulary analysis resource. It outlines the plot, literary elements, vocabulary issues, and any possible considerations for planning a differentiated...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Character and Theme: Tracking Control in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars examine how characters try to control one another in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. They engage in a read-aloud and class discussion to iron out ideas. They also work in small groups to complete a note-catcher...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Inferring about Character: Analyzing and Discussing Points of View (Chapter 2)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Welcome to the World Café! Readers discuss A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They circulate throughout the classroom, stopping at different tables to answer a discussion prompt with their classmates and record their ideas on a chart.