As a mid-unit assessment of a series of lessons that use Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief” as an anchor text, writers craft an in-class essay discussing how Hundert's character has developed throughout the text.

Is identity unchanging? Do events in our childhood forever influence our character? Groups ponder these questions as they examine Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief.”

The complex relationship between a teacher and his student takes center stage in an instructional activity that asks readers to pay close attention to how author Ethan Canin introduces his characters and how he develops the character of...

Class members watch the clip of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in which Benvolio persuades Romeo to go with him to the Capulet ball to see Rosaline. Pairs then examine Act 1, scene 3, lines 64–100, and consider how Shakespeare develops...

After watching the scene from Romeo + Juliet in which Juliet argues with her parents because she does not want to marry Paris, groups do a close reading of Act 4, scene 1, lines 44-88, examining the word choices in the conversation...

Is it better to be dead than to "dwell in doubtful joy," as Lady Macbeth suggests in Act 3.2 of Shakespeare's Macbeth? Using the resource, scholars work in small groups to discuss how Lady Macbeth and Macbeth begin to unravel following...

Engage students in setting and character with this story and craft activity set. To begin the activity, learners read the short story "The Too Small House." They then cut out and color a picture of the house and paper figures of the...

Review selections from Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and recognize characterization and tone used. Discuss and compare the various tones of each poem. Learners complete a character map and a pair share activity as well....

Students explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.

Explore ancient Rome through reading The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. Readers activate prior knowledge by examining objects that relate to the story and predict the significance of the items. Their curiosity is aroused...

Eighth graders give their own definition to the terms race, religion, culture, character and ethnicity and write them on the board. As a class, they discuss the differences and similiarties between the terms. In groups, they complete a...

Your high schoolers explore the role of artists in society in a creative three-week unit. First they customize art supply bags using paint, embroidery, appliqué, and other media. They imagine their ideal artistic work space and...

Students read about Viking exploration and complete activities based on the Indigenous people they encountered. In this Viking exploration lesson plan, students compare and contrast stories, write a character sketch, and more.

Students use real satellite data to determine the changes in near-surface air temperature at different times of the year over the Caribbean Sea. They discover how Earth's tilt causes seasonal differences in incoming solar energy. They...

Fifty eye-catching pages contain six lessons about Roald Dahl's novel, Matilda. Each lesson has a theme and covers a different subject—literacy, social-emotional learning, science, and geography. Scholars analyze characters, examine...

The world is a stage, and so is your classroom! Hone the skills of the next generation of Tony® award winners with a set of exercises, reference pages, writing prompts, and excerpts from famous plays.

Students learn about the civil rights movement and create a timeline to understand events in chronological order. In this history lesson, students work in groups to choose one activist from the Civil Right era to research. Students then...

Students examine the Great Depression through the analysis of the novel, 'Bud, Not Buddy.' They analyze photos from the National Archives website, complete a character analysis, and conduct research and summarize a topic from the Great...

Students use print and nonprint sources of different heroic myths to generate a definition of the word "hero." They conduct a character study on three mythological heroes and formulate a definition of the word "hero" based on...

Students critically examine the relationship of man and nature in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat." students examine the third person point of view and conduct in-depth character analysis.

Students use the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" to identify and analyze drama vocabulary, literary terms and elements of fiction. They write an original version of scenes from the play and develop a character analysis for the lead.

Students research primary readings concerning first hand accounts of the Indian tribes living in and around Louisiana's River systems. They complete a brief character sketch of each tribe characterized in the digital readings. These...

Learners consider how the attributes of heroes have evolved. For this character traits lesson, students define heroism in their culture and research the epic heroes of literature. Learners select heroes to write about and share their...

Enrich your unit on Arthur Miller's The Crucible with a list of reading questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Kids answer questions and provide context for the knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and...