Curated OER
Chaucer's Wife of Bath
A thorough and well-designed resource for older students, this lesson focuses on Chaucer's character the Wife of Bath from his classic novel, The Canterbury Tales. As a way of understanding Chaucer's complex characterization and...
EngageNY
Considering a Character’s Relationship with Others: Contrasting Ha and Her Brothers
Who is Ha? Scholars look closely at the poem Papaya Tree and carefully examine the character Ha. Learners work in groups to create an anchor chart defining Ha's character. They also answer text-dependent questions to help with...
Leadership Challenge
Helping Students See the "Gift" in Feedback
How can you help pupils view feedback as a blessing and not a curse? Lesson seven in a series of 12 character and leadership activities focuses on the S.A.R.A mindset and how to support budding leaders in their journeys toward the...
K20 LEARN
It’s Never Too Late to Apologize: Character Development and Theme in “The Scarlet Ibis”
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,"...
Fabius-Pompey School District
Paired Passage Practice and the Extended Response Question
How do pupils relate paired passages to each other? Here's a resource that helps! The lesson includes a short story and a poem as a set of paired reading passages, followed by some analysis questions. It also includes an essay template...
EngageNY
Finishing Who? Where? and Why? Research
Who? Where? Why? Scholars answer these questions to help identify the gist of Inside Out & Back Again. First, they add text evidence to their research folders. They then begin looking at a performance task in which they write their...
EngageNY
End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part Two: Final Draft of Analytical Essay
What's one way to make a good essay great? Revise! Scholars revise their drafts from a previous lesson plan to help write their final polished analytical essays about the universal refugee experience. They also practice properly citing...
Novelinks
Touching Spirit Bear: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...
Sir Peter Blake Trust
Learn About Leadership
Sir Peter Blake was an award-winning New Zealand yachtsman who was killed by pirates in 2001. Scholars learn about his leadership qualities in a fun lesson that combines games, writing, and discussion. Pupils also reflect on ideas of...
Curated OER
Analysis Through Character Action/Beliefs
Students explore characterization. In this characterization activity, students give analytical responses to questions and determine a character's beliefs. Students use the school mission statement to develop two beliefs that the...
Curated OER
"Split" Character Studies in Crime and Punishment
Students write an essay evaluating split character traits on major characters in Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. In this lesson students are guided through discussion questions, group assignments, and vocabulary work. The lesson...
Curated OER
Uncommon Heroes of Today
Learners create a photo-biography of someone they consider a real life hero. In this character sketch lesson, students define a hero and identify heroic characteristics in short stories. Learners use descriptive words to...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As...
Curated OER
Lesson 22: As constant as the Northern Star: Examining Static and Dynamic Characters in Julius Caesar
Students examine the play Julius Caesar. In this literature analysis lesson, students work in groups to identify changes in various characters from the story. They examine various aspects of the character's personality and...
Curated OER
Character Development Through Song
Students use songs to analyze their sense of identity and self-worth. In groups, they discuss and explore their own character development and discover how far they have come in recent years. They also identify the positive and negative...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 10: Character Development
Make a study of Timothy and his development as a character over the course of the first half or so of The Cay. This idea focuses in particular on chapters 10 through 12. Learners start out by working on double-entry journals created in...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Process of Reading
Assist your pupils with literary analysis by discussing and exploring theme. This plan, the twelfth in a series of fourteen, builds in some time to explore theme as a class. Learners also blog about the main event in their stories and...
Curated OER
Portraits That Capture Character
Learners explore the definition of a portrait. In this portrait analysis lesson, students discuss two of Dorothea Lange's portraits and create their own portraits of their classmates.
Curated OER
Body Biography: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Class groups assume the identity of one of the primary human characters in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They create a body biography that identifies the most important traits of their character, translate these traits into...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
What Ben Read
Just what did Ben Franklin read? By juxtaposing Ben Franklin’s reading material as a young man with an analysis of his developed ideas, learners gain the opportunity to see how the influences of his youthful reading played out. Roman,...
Curated OER
Tears of Joy Theatre Presents Anansi the Spider
Accompany the African folktale, Anansi the Spider, with a collection of five lessons, each equipped with supplemental activities. Lessons offer multidisciplinary reinforcement in English language arts, social studies, science,...
Curated OER
Applying Ahimsa to Traditional Stories
Investigate the life of Mahatma Gandhi by researching non-violent lifestyles. Learners define the word ahimsa and discuss the personal characteristics that made Gandhi a peaceful warrior. They also create a poster about the story "The...
EngageNY
Establishing Structures for Reading: Gathering Evidence about Salva’s and Nya’s Points of View (Reread Chapters 1 and 2)
Readers practice gathering textual evidence to support their understanding of character point of view in A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Working with partners, they complete a Gathering Evidence graphic organizer and engage in...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 12: Author's Purpose - Yeats and Achebe
Is there such a thing as fate/luck? Can one fight destiny? As part of their study of Chinua Achebe's purpose in writing Things Fall Apart, class members answer these questions from Achebe's point of view and then from William...