Khaled Hosseini’s video “Using Real People and Events” motivates learners to reflect on their own experiences and to use those experiences as the basis of a graphic novel that expresses a universal truth. The richly detailed plan...

Learners, after reading a novel, utilize geographic skills to map out the places described in the novel. They collect data, envision spatial features and then design a map to work off of to complete their assignment. Each student also...

Explore the history of the American novel in the contexts of literature and US history. How does a novel or piece of writing from a particular time showcase the mood during that historical period? After conducting research and discussing...

Students read a novel to gain insight into a different region of the world. Using a graphic organizer, they share the information they have already gathered about Ethiopia. They draw an outline map of Africa and read the opening pages of...

The artistic choices Art Spiegelman made in his graphic novel, Maus, are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare classic comic book forms with Spiegelman’s panels and frames. Directed to specific pages and guided by a...

Your 11th and 12th graders are ready to critique society! Channel that inclination by studying a novel that offers social criticism of other eras (book recommendations included). This resource presents a well-thought-out overview of such...

Students read a short novel while filling in a graphic organizer for problem and solution.  In this sociology lesson, students use a prior knowledge and relate the text to theirselves and to think about their own...

Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...

High schoolers are introduced to Chinua Achebe's first novel and to his views on the role of the writer in his or her society. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the related lesson Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...

A lot of secrecy shrouded the creation of the atomic bomb. Readers uncover some of that secrecy using an educator's guide for the novel The Green Glass Sea. Three weeks of lesson plans feature discussion questions and reading...

Books can help teens understand complex global issues. A helpful educator's guide introduces readers to what it's like to be a refugee. Lesson components for the novel Shades of Gray include an anticipation guide and writing and...

High schoolers select a novel of their choice and complete assignments that are self-assigned. Students display responsibility in completing self-assigned projects and meet deadlines.

Fifth graders read a historical novel. In groups they reenact chapters of the novel.

Complex, disturbing, and challenging, Beloved is the focus of a instructional activity that provides three activities to guide a close reading of Toni Morrison's novel. Readers create chapter titles based on key plot elements...

Students write a context paper.  For this teaching the novel in context lesson, students view a primary sources to recreate the cultural and historical context of the novel.  Students make the connection between the literary...

The battle between code makers and code breakers has been going on for centuries and is a key tool of warfare. The contributions of the Native American Code Talkers of World Wars I and II are celebrated in a lesson that features a...

Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...

Through a careful reading and examination of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, scholars take part in grand conversations about the novel's contents, slavery, and the impact the book had on it. Furthermore,...

Students begin reading the graphic novel "Maus". Using the Internet, they discover fundamental differences between Judaism and Christianity. Using excerpts from the novel, they identify animal metaphors used for nationalities and ethnic...

Students write and illustrate their own graphic novels. In this George Washington lesson plan, students collaborate to research Washington's life as surveyor, his involvement in the French and Indian War as well as the American...

Young scholars examine the horrors of war through literature. In this Vietnam instructional activity, students read Fallen Angels and participate in discussion groups that focus on characterization and the realism of war included in the...

Schools in the 1950s and 60s looked very different from the schools we know today. An educator's guide explores the civil rights movement and, specifically, the process of integrating schools. Questions cover key themes in the novel and...

Thomas Jefferson lived a controversial life. A series of lesson plans shares information about Jefferson's Sons, a novel about the infamous founding father. Discussion questions and other tasks explore different points of view and cover...