Poets write love letters, but how often do the objects of their love write back? Compare Christopher Marlowe's "A Passionate Shepard to His Love" to Sir Walter Raleigh's response, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," with an engaging...

The interpretation of a poem often lies in the mind of its reader, especially when reading the tone. Focus on author's word choice, middle schoolers read four different poems and briefly state a perceived tone for each, along with the...

Riddle me this! What do kennings, caesura, and alliteration have to do with the Nowell Codex? Introduce class members to Anglo-Saxon poetry and prepare readers for a study of Beowulf with a series of activities that...

Discern the tone in four selected poems with a straightforward assignment. Junior high readers analyze the authors' word choice and text structure to define a tone for each poem, as well as each poem's meaning.

An informative installment of the Writing for Specific Fields series helps readers learn how to interpret and write about fiction. The website details nine easy steps for writing a literary analysis—a useful method for all readers!

Use Langston Hughes's poem, "Words Like Freedom," to explore the concepts of freedom and liberty. Learners read the poem, determine the theme, and use the provided graphic organizer to examine the connotative and denotative meanings of...

Learners explore the role of the individual in the modern world by closely reading and analyzing T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Make learning the parts of a book fun by having pupils construct their own glossary entries, table of contents, and title page. Beginning with a review of text features and a hunt for examples, kids use previously written fables to...

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

If you're tired of defining allusion, onomatopoeia, and satire for your language arts students, hand out a complete list of literary devices to keep the terms straight. Each term includes a definition that is easy to understand and...

Paul Fisher, the main character in Tangerine, comes to see that it's the choices in life that lead to the consequences that make all the difference. A unit study of Bloor's young adult novel leads readers down this same path. 

Second graders explore language arts by analyzing poems in their class. For this word play lesson, 2nd graders define the terms rhyme, rhythm and alliteration and identify their uses. Students utilize class word lists to write their own...

In this reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 6 short answer and essay questions based on the poem "Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape."

In this reading reflection worksheet, students respond to 4 short answer and essay questions as they consider the themes of wisdom and knowledge in "Ode on a Grecian Urn," by Keats. Students may also complete their choice of 3...

In this reading comprehension activity, students respond to 3 short answer and essay questions based on themes in "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." Students may also complete their choice of two reading activities suggested.

In this reading comprehension activity, learners respond to 4 short answer and essay questions based on themes in "Dream-Land." Students may also complete their choice of 3 reading activities suggested.

In this reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 3 short answer and essay questions based on themes in "Goblin Market."  Students may also complete their choice of 3 reading activities suggested.

In this reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 4 short answer and essay questions based on themes in "Harlem." Students may also complete their choice of 2 reading activities suggested.

In this reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 4 short answer and essay questions based on themes in "The Hollow." Students may also complete their choice of 3 reading activities suggested.

For this reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 4 short answer and essay questions based on themes in Howl. Students may also complete their choice of 2 reading activities suggested.

Students read about Alfred, Lord Tennyson's use of nature in the poem, "The Lady of Shallot." Students then respond to 4 short answer questions based on the theme of man in the natural world. Questions require students to reflect...

Prompt your young historians to hone in their reading comprehension skills by considering the fascinating perspective that Rudyard Kipling offers in his poem, "The American Rebellion", which provides an alternative...

Art analysis might help uncover some of life's most puzzling questions, such as the mystery behind Mona Lisa's smile. The handout, from the Writing for Specific Fields series, is particularly useful for those interested in pursuing art...

Bring the excitement of genetics to scholars with a dynamic hands-on meiosis modeling experience. During the activity, biologists follow step-by-step procedures to build chromosomes, model independent assortment, learn about crossing...