Second graders listen to a story that contains many sensory words to describe an object. They listen a second time using a signal to indicate when they hear a sensory word. They write a short story about a monster using appropriate...

Feel the healing effects of nature. Individuals learn about the benefits of nature using imagery. They begin by defining words to express how they feel emotionally and then practice using those words with hands-on activities. Once they...

In this visual thinking word problem worksheet, students use visual imagery to solve a word problem by writing the four steps for solving a word problem to discover how the object will look turned upside down. The students write four...

High schoolers read and analyze Shakespeare's play, 'Macbeth.' They analyze how Shakespeare uses metaphors, imagery and dramatic cues to demonstrate Macbeth's response to fear, and perform without words a scene dramatizing Macbeth's...

Freedom is not free. Scholars write to a prompt analyzing two pieces of work that develop ideas about freedom. Readers compare “Freedom” by Rabindranath Tagore and "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr. Learners work...

In Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá," the speaker describes her mother's two faces, adding a whole new meaning to the phrase "two-faced." Pupils first read the final stanza of the contemporary poem. With a Quick Write, they...

Read to me! Scholars get lost in a picture book read aloud of The People Could Fly. They discuss text-dependent questions and talk with partners about the meaning of the story. They then study an image in the book to determine the power...

Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...

Work on narrative writing with this lesson plan, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view of the...

Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...

Coke or Pepsi? Is it the taste or the advertising that determines preference? As part of a study of diction, class members examine two passages, one formal and one informal, about Coca-Cola and Pepsi. In addition, they consider word...

Students study the physical presence, imagery and written text on a reproduction of colonial currency. They apply their research to a modern day quarter to compare and contrast two coins. In addition, they design their own colonial...

Fourth graders investigate visual imagery to aid reading comprehension. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders discover how visual imagery helps in comprehending a story. Students use a reader's notebook to record connections.

Sixth graders review literary devices. They use both fiction and nonfiction texts to review metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism and personification. This lesson has a scripted guide for the teacher to follow.

Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...

Bring the imagery of the desert to your classroom with this ELL lesson plan. After reading Madeleine Dunphy’s Here in the Southwestern Desert, learners complete a graphic organizer about the features and images of the poem. The...

Sophomores record the definitions and examples of a series of literary terms and then create their own example of the word. Designed as an assessment, the presentation could also be used as an introduction or as a review. 

O, that these too, too obscure words would resolve themselves into modern English! High school scholars are asked to do a close reading of Hamlet’s first soliloquy (I, ii) and recast these famous lines into contemporary speech, identify...

It’s poetry T.I.M.E! Individuals use the T.I.M.E. format (T = Title, thought, and theme;  I = Imagery and figurative language; M = music and sound; E = emotion) to study a poet, collect poems that have a similar theme, and create a...

Students explore the economic, political, racial, and religious roots of Manifest Destiny. They read articles and analyze how the concept influenced the nation's westward expansion. Students discover the motivations and expectations of...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is known for its fantastical imagery and nonsense verse. This unit plan offers a basic exploration into nonsense verse through poetry and teacher read-alouds. It incorporates activities involving...

Eleventh graders identify the structure, rhythm and style of a selected poem, experience utilizing poetic devices and analyze an annotated poem. They evaluate the themes and inferred meanings to a variety of poems from their textbooks.

Students explore an imagist poem. In this poetry lesson students write a poem in the imagist's style using "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams as an example. The poems are read aloud and discussed.

Students explore popular music in its historical context. In this music lesson plan, students examine the lyrics, musicical arrangement, and video imagery of selected songs to interpret the messages and themes of the songs.