Vivid quotes and strong sensory language compose Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, bringing the women to life as they navigate through issues surrounding identity and maternal relationships. Examine Waverly's relationship with her mother...

Parental relationships have a huge impact on our personalities, for better or for worse. Read about Mike's relationship with his father in H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights and how it informed the novel's central idea.

A parent's influence on a child is one of the most formative factors in developing life. Discuss the importance of the parental relationships in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights with a written...

Readers of "The Palace Thief" continue examining Ethan Canin’s short story and consider how the narrator's actions develop the central idea of how one's expectations and the expectations of others influence behavior.

After finishing Act I, scene 1 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, class members study the theme of control as it relates to the play and start an Evidence of Control note-catcher worksheet.

Perspective changes everything. Scholars use a close reading guide while analyzing pages 38-47 in Unbroken. Readers learn that the governments of Japan and the United States had very different perspectives about the attack on Pearl...

Class members discuss the gist of chapter four of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park with a partner and share their responses with the class. Next, they complete graphic organizers to answer text-dependent questions based on a close...

Class members discuss how culture, place, and time influence a character's identity in A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Then, as part of a mid-unit assessment, they complete a Gathering Evidence graphic organizer to answer the...

Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is a bit of a puzzle. Critics have long debated Montresor's motives for killing Fortunato. Young scholars examine examples of the three types of irony (verbal, dramatic, and...

Learning how to summarize can be a challenge. Guide your writers through the process of summarizing a story using the children's tale; I Want My Hat Back for practice. Class members then use this "Somebody, Wanted, But,...

Capulets and Montagues. Sharks and Jets. Nortenos and Surenos. Gradwitzes and Znaeyms? Hector Hugh Munro's short story "The Interlopers" invites high schoolers to consider the causes of conflicts and reflect on what it takes to resolve...

Taking on the roles of a fiery Boston patriot, a Philadelphia merchant's wife, and a prominent abolitionist, your young historians will consider the reactions of these early Americans to the creation of the Declaration of...

Ninth graders assume the identity of a character from the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. They bring a southern-style dish (soul food) for social hour and wear an article of clothing that suits the character. They interact with other...

Students watch an episode of "Frontiers" and discover the scientific basis for handwriting analysis. In the video, they discover how size, shape, and slant of handwriting suggest personality traits. After a discussion, students offer...

Students try activities like this one: Assuming the role of your favourite mythological character, you will be leading a dangerous journey to capture the head of Medusa. Before you go, you must order the necessary supplies. Create an...

Students become familiar with the musical notify that are associated with the character in Monstel's The Travels of Babar: An Adventure in Scales, so that they can listen attentively to the performance and understand and appreciate ow...

In this character webs worksheet, 6th graders draw lines connecting characters and descriptions from the book Tennessee Blueprint. Students complete 2 webs.

Fifth graders practice analyzing story points by discussing Cinderella.  In this reading comprehension instructional activity, 5th graders identify the four main types of conflicts in stories and how they are presented in modern day...

Students participate in two simple status games to allow students to explore the relationships between Lear, his three daughters, and his court.

Tenth graders read and analyze the first two chapters of the novel, 'Bless Me, Ultima.' They respond to a partners journal entry, discuss the two major landscapes in the novel, and create a drawing/interpretation of what these landscapes...

Students study the complex relationships between art, artists, and the political establishment in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this art and history lesson, students study various photos, paintings, and sculptures and learn about the...

Students complete activities for an independent novel project. In this novel project worksheet, students follow the 13 steps to analyze and complete a comprehensive project about a novel they've read.

Students explore language arts by analyzing a story with their classmates. In this poetry identification lesson, students read the book The Mittens and identify the characters, plot and settings in the story. Students recite poems about...

Students read independently the novel, "Dragonwings," by Laurence Yep and make connections between a text and the world. They summarize, paraphrase, analyze and evaluate skimming and scanning techniques when reading a novel. Each student...