Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University (Dr. Mc Clennen): How to Do a Close Reading
This guide is written for college students, but should be very useful for upper level high school students as well. The writer first describes fourteen steps to take in doing a close reading, then provides six pieces of advice on how to...
Read Works
Read Works: Main Idea 1st Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students learn to use titles and supporting details in both fiction and non-fiction texts in order to identify the main idea of the book in this three-lesson unit. The lessons utilize the books Animal...
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Archibald Mac Leish
This site houses three poems in full text from the great American poet Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982 CE), as well as criticism on two of his most famous. The three pieces are 'Baccalaureate', 'Two Poems from the War', and 'An Eternity'.
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina: Writing Center: Writing About Literature (Fiction)
Students are instructed in a nine-step process of how to write a literary response paper that includes a thesis, strong ideas, and specific supporting details from the text. W.11-12.9a Amer Lit 18th,19th, 20th cen/Analy
Other
The Julian of Norwich Website/life and Works of Julian
This site gives a brief biography of Julian of Norwich, which is then followed by almost 70 links to sources about her life and works. Click on "Showing of Love" in the third line for both text and analysis. An amazing number of resources.
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: 103 Things to Do Before/during/after Reading
The highly-respected Reading Rockets program offers both teachers and students a toolkit of ways to connect more actively with the materials they read. Some of these techniques are specifically for fiction-reading, others are designed...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning:ap Literature & Composition: Life, Death, and in Between
This unit focues on life and death, text-to-text connections, archetypes, symbols, and allusions, and writing in a non-native language. It features "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and...
Other
Steilacoom Historical School District No. 1: Dramatic Justice [Pdf]
In this instructional activity unit, students investigate how justice is perceived and addressed in different cultures and times by examining literature from around the world. Texts examined include: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, A...
Other
Nclr: The Essentials of Teaching Reading
Find out what the essentials are for teaching reading. This site provides vital information for teachers in developing the most successful reading program for their students.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
From a clear introduction which includes "Why Should I Care," to the text and then an analysis of the poem, I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain, this site contains fascinating insights into the writings of the poet. Broken into clearly...
Other
The World of Dante
A comprehensive and interactive study of Dante Alighieri's most famous work, The Divine Comedy. Study this enormously rich text with the help of maps, diagrams, music, a timeline and a gallery. See the Italian/English text side-by-side...
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Real Survival Skills
Learn about process analysis, writing procedurals texts, the steps of the writing process, and cause and effect in this unit. Also, examine patterns of organization in writing. A handy chart shows common organizational patterns which...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
Critical analysis of both the historical documents and the literary texts connected with the Salem trials is key to this lesson, which includes a number of activities and some wonderful resources.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 11th Grade: Thematic Unit: Values and Beliefs
Complete teaching unit for 11th Grade Thematic Unit: "Values and Beliefs." Students will read 8 short stories that examine how values and beliefs are shaped. They will analyze these stories, and the short story form, while considering...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 9th Grade Thematic Unit: Love
Complete teaching unit for 9th Grade Thematic Unit: "Love." In this unit, 9th graders will read six texts that speak to the theme of love. They will revisit the essential question "What is love, and how does it change us?" throughout the...
Other
Teengagement: Targeted Intervention: Word Choice Shapes Meaning and Tone
In this instructional activity, students interpret how words are used in a literary text and examine how word choice affects meaning and tone. A sample analysis of a poem is presented, terms are defined, and question stems for assessment...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension
Critical thinking, comprehension and analysis skills are the focus of this physical activity. Good beginning to teaching different ways of looking at things.
Hopelink
Hopelink: Reading Lesson Idea: Real Life Reading Materials
The purpose of this reading lesson is to offer a reading and comprehension lesson based on real-life reading materials. This gives students the opportunity to gain reading comprehension skills from real-life reading material.
Other
Emily Dickinson: Early Feminist Essays (Pub. 1886 1915)
This is an eclectic mix of Dickinson's letters, some early essays about her writing, and remembrances of her by friends and family. The texts of 32 of her poems are annotated with references to other Dickinson writings. The entire site...
Other
Concepts and Practices for Writing Courses: Interpreting Literature
This tutorial surveys the way readers should interpret literature or text in symbols, syntax, meaning, and the like. The article features a Literary Toolkit for Analyzing Literature.
Other
The Wondering Minstrels
The Wondering Minstrels website provides a poem a day, complete with analysis, criticism, biographical information, literary anecdotes, trivia, and our own skewed sense of humor. RL.9-10.10a&b text complexity, RL.11-12.10a/b Text...
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Willie Nelson: All Together Now!
This lesson plan is based on Willie Nelson lyrics, and the PBS feature on him. It focuses on brainstorming and choral reading skills. In addition to the lesson plan, there is information on how to do guided reading and choral reading.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Enchanting Readers With Revisionist Fairy Tales
Contains plans for four lessons that ask students to read, compare, and contrast different versions of fairy tales in order to explore age-appropriateness and formats of texts. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional...
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: Cambridge His of Eng and Am Lit: Place of Emerson in Amer Letters
This chapter from vol. XV of The Cambridge History of English and American Literature is the starting point of an extensive resource for students who wish to study the life and works of this major American literary figure. Includes...