Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oliver Twist Goes to Hollywood

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
How does Oliver Twist, the novel written by Charles Dickens, compare with its screenplay adaptation? Although the activity doesn't require learners to have read the novel, the similarities and differences of the highlighted passages...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners read a Japanese Noh play and discuss its structure and traditional characters. They choose a short myth and write a Noh play based on it.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Shakespeare Crowd

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students study the life and times of Shakespeare. They read and analyze one of his plays and use the Internet and videos to gain an understanding of how Shakespeare engaged his audiences, then and still today.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tennessee Williams: Exploring the American Dream

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students 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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Question of Style: Exploring the Nature of Shakespeare's Comedy

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students present scenes from As You Like It and critique presentations of their peers.  In this As You Like It lesson, students stage the opening scene, experimenting with different approaches to find the tone and style they think...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Movie Cloze

For Students 5th - 7th
In this movie worksheet, students fill in the blanks to sentences with movie vocabulary. Students fill in the blanks for 24 sentences about movies.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Background of Nightjohn Lesson Plan

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders use first-hand slave narratives that show conditions of slavery. They paste text into Appleworks and publish with a picture clipped from web sites. They create a group account of life during slavery to prepare for reading...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social Studies: Religions and Folktales of India

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students examine the world's major religions, focusing on India as presented in folktales. They take notes while reading the stories and retell them orally. Students research belief systems and write one-paragraph reflections about them.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students analyze the conventions used in Noh plays and write an introduction to a Noh play of their own. In this Noh play lesson, students identify the conventions of the Noh form and analyze the realizations the main character achieves....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Movie in Your Mind: Persuasive Text

For Teachers Pre-K - 9th
Students listen to a broadcast of War of the Worlds and illustrate what they hear. In this persuasive text lesson students prepare for making a movie poster intended to persuade a director to make a film based on a short story.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ukiyo-e

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate and examine ukiyo-e, or Japanese woodblock prints, from the Edo period (1615-1868) in Japan and use this gained knowledge to compare Japanese culture to American societal trends.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Peddling Puccini

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the art of the opera. They listen to examples of opera and conduct research to find out more about the opera world. Then they develop advertisements that focus on aspects that might interest young people about opera...
Website
British Library

British Library: 20th Century: Theatre Practitioners and Genres

For Students 9th - 10th
From Stanislavski to Brecht and from Theatre of the Absurd to Theatre Workshop, explore some of the key influences and developments within 20th-century theatre practice.
Activity
Chase Young, PhD

Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Storyboard

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Give students the chance to write their own Reader's Theater script! Small groups choose their genre, compose summaries, use their knowledge of story structure to deconstruct the text and turn it into a new creation, and finally rehearse...
PPT
TES Global

Tes: Genre: Ancient Greek Theatre: Comedy and Tragedy in Ancient Greece

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a slide show with images and information about Ancient Greek Theatre including the masks used for comedies and tragedies.
Website
NC State University

Public Media Foundation: Scribbling Women: Understanding the Radio Play

For Students 9th - 10th
A comprehensive approach to understanding how a literary work is transformed into a radio play. Includes links to featured plays and how to organize them by genre, theme, or historical context. Lesson plans and teacher resources are...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Musical Revue

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed explanation of the musical revue, a form of variety theatre popularized at the turn of the century and through the 1920s and 30s. Most famous of the genre were The Ziegfeld Follies.
Interactive
South Carolina Educational Television

Etv: Artopia: Media Studio: Movie Soundtrack

For Students 9th - 10th
Understand the impact of movie soundtracks. Watch a movie clip of Charade and sample nine different music genres to see how they affect the meaning of the story. [1:03]
Activity
Other

Database of Award Winning Children's Literature

For Students 4th - 9th
This is a phenomenal resource. It allows the user to create a reading list of quality children's literature based of choices such as reading level, type of book, genre, ethnicity, gender, etc. In addition, one can determine if a book won...
Website
PBS

Pbs: Arts

For Students 9th - 10th
The home on the web for arts-related content that airs on PBS stations. You can link to the program sites of long-running arts broadcasts, sample special exhibitions, and investigate what the network is airing or has recently aired on...
Website
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: An Introduction to Restoration Comedy

For Students 9th - 10th
This article introduces the characters, conventions, and historical context of Restoration comedy, and explores what the genre has to say about gender, courtship, and class.
Activity
Other

Zarzuela!

For Students 9th - 10th
Tons of history about Zarzuela composers and writers, as well as articles and reviews about current performance. Available in Spanish and English.
Unit Plan
TES Global

Tes: Teaching History With 100 Objects a Greek Theatre Mask

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] These resources include terracotta models of an ancient Greek comic mask and two tragic masks from the British Museum as well as ideas for teaching using them. It also includes several links to more...
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Storytelling in Ritual and Performance in Bali

For Students 9th - 10th
Balinese stories are continually told and retold. The Kayonan is the first and last puppet seen in the Balinese wayang shadow theater. As it dances, it symbolizes the living tradition of storytelling that deeply explains and entertains,...