Students engage in a lesson that uses discussion groups for communication. The focus of the lesson is upon the respect for authority that should be given to older adults. Students engage in class discussion about the information that can...

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] The individual sections of this lesson will focus on understanding what allusion is, its importance and use as a literary device, and how to recognize it in reading. The main...

You will be able to identify and understand allusions in myths, the classics, and other traditional texts and their influence on modern literature.

The Milwaukee Public Museum provides this introduction to the Native American oral tradition and oral literature of the Great Lakes region. Describes common themes and characters, including trickster characters and windingo (ice...

Find out how 20th-century writers used fantasy and traditional tales to analyze and question the real world around them.

[Free Registration/Login Required] A site with links to 29 worksheets that can be downloaded and printed for student use while building skills with standard RL.4.9: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g.,...

Animals and tricksters appear in folk tales from a wide variety of cultures, especially those with strong oral storytelling traditions. Use this lesson plan to introduce students to these characters and the lessons they were used to...

An evolving section, Religion and American Life, will address the roles of immigration and religious freedom in the United States paving a long and open road of religous traditions, literature and artwork.

This online book presents an overview of American literature chronologically. Eras and movements are explained and biographies of significant authors are provided. This is a good way to understand the background and influences of...

Article explores the influence of jazz on African American literature from the early history of jazz, noted jazz artists, the black-white tensions within jazz, to its literary influence after World War II.

Resources for readers and teachers of Appalachian literature for children and young adults that includes lesson plans, texts, bibliographies, and so on.

This lesson focuses on Native American myths including the creation myth "The Earth on Turtle's Back." It includes links to the above myth, a self-assessment quiz, and an assignment for a mini-report over a Native American tribe.

This article explains how 'illiterate' individuals encountered literary texts and traditions through textiles, wall paintings, sculptures, and listening to works read aloud in the Middle Ages.

This article introduces 'The Merchant's Prologue and Tale', exploring the way in which it combines literary genres and traditions, and refuses to give the reader a clear moral or message.

Read about the 1958 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960 CE), a writer who was honored for "his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian...

Read about the 1970 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was honored "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature."

Discover how 20th-century literature explored, questioned, and exploded traditional ideas of gender roles and sexuality.

Background information about the literary traditions of the pre-Colonial and Colonial period. Includes information about Native American oral traditions and Native American cultures. Follow the links to the Early American era and to...

The lessons presented in this website "introduce children to folk tales" and how these folktales are changed and affected by generational and cultural values. Includes several links to further related information on folktales, fables,...

Comprehensive information about the Choctaw. Covers their history before and after the Europeans arrived, their forced removal from their lands, their establishment of a sovereign nation, their language, culture, traditions, economy, etc.

A Native American Pima legend on how the saguaro and palo verde cacti came into existence. With links to other Native American legends, artwork, photographs, articles, and more.

This site from the Minnesota Public Radio provides the text of a 1915 article written by musician and self-trained anthropologist, Frances Densmore. Densmore spent years studying the music and culture of the Teton Sioux and other native...

"The Gambler" and "The Journey" by Joe Lumer are part of a larger anthology of stories about life in Poland between the world wars. Using these contrasting short stories, students will learn about Jewish lifestyles, communities, customs,...

This is a unit on the traditional wisdom of various cultures handed down through fables, fairy tales, folklore, and proverbs. It includes readings from Aesop's Fables, African and African-American Folktales, Hans Christian Andersen's...