Young scholars examine Nathaniel Hawthorne's style of humor and compare it to other humorists. They discuss the purpose of literary humor and determine how it develops characters and plots in stories. They analyze the use of different...

Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...

What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and...

Students practice the art of listening. In this listening skills lesson, students listen to an old-time radio show and identify hidden messages, innuendo, sarcasm, double entendres, puns, hyperbole, irony, colloquialisms, inflections,...

Fifth graders listen to a read aloud of Patricia Polacco's, Thank You, Mr. Falker! students examine the use of voice in the book, discuss the writing and theme ideas. They write a thank you not to their hero.

Students listen to headline from National Enquirer or other tabloid, listen to story "Journalism in Tennessee," compare and contrast connections between Twain's idea of journalism with present day journalism, define vocabulary, and...

Students read selected poems by Pablo Neruda. They also read short biographies of the author online to gain a better knowledge of the types of adversity Neruda faced throughout his lifetime. They begin to explore the concept of imagery...

Students discover the formula for writing limericks and use it to write their own poems.

Students examine the connection between sense of humor and jazz improvisation by identifying the musical instruments imitated by comedian Bill Cosby. They listen to another recording by Clark Terry and write what they think he might be...

Learners figure out and discuss the irony of this coin-centric poem. They also practice persuasive letter writing, and identify and count coin/money values.

Students examine the principles of Haiku as they relate to idealss found in Zen Buddhism in this High School lesson. The lesson concludes with the creation of individual haikus by each student.

Young scholars present genres to the class.

Learners research the ANCSA and report from small groups about what they read.

Fourth graders are read the book "Kissing Coyotes". During the story, they make predictions about what they believe might happen next. After the story, they create their own story using their imagination and draw illustrations.