Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
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Reading and Activity Suggestions for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Students learn about characterization techniques in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In this Adventures of Tom Sawyerlesson, students write a description of one character through the eyes of another character and identify scenes that give...
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Creative Characterization
Students write a character description journal in which they take on the voice of one of the character's made-up friends or relatives. They write a sketch of that character from the friend or relatives' point of view.
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Nonfiction Genre Mini-Unit: Persuasive Writing
Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.
Novelinks
Sense and Sensibility: Final Assessment: Movie Maker
Assess your class's understanding of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with a fun and creative final project. Using what they have learned about the novel's characters, they create presentations featuring music and images that best...
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To Kill A Mockingbird: Study Guide Part I
Readers of To Kill a Mockingbird summarize events, identify characters, and analyze actions in the first 11 chapters of Harper Lee’s novel. The carefully crafted questions could be used to guide reading or as the basis of group or...
Shakespeare Globe Trust
The Taming of the Shrew
What does it take to build a stage production from the ground up? Scholars read a weekly blog detailing the behind-the-scenes action of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. They also listen to interviews with the cast, meet the...
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ELD Lesson Plan: Courage
What is true courage? Your class can explore the answer with these three Houghton-Mifflin stories ("Hatchet," "Passage to Freedom," "Climb or Die," and "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle"), which feature courageous characters and...
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MACBETH and the Themes of Ambition,
Learners describe and compare characters and situations in dramas from and about cultures and historical periods, illustrate in improvised or scripted scenes, and discuss how theater reflects a culture.
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Introducing Mythology
Young scholars look closely at a poster of a Rembrandt painting and/or a transparency of a Greek vase, both of which represent the mythological story of the abduction of Europa. Studnets consider how two artists interpreted the same...
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Mythology
In this mythology and poetry worksheet, 10th graders write poems about characters from mythology. Students use the diamond form to write their character poems.
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Preparing the Soil
Students explore philanthropy through literature. In this service learning lesson, students consider character traits as they read Seedfolks. Students record their notes regarding the characters in the story of a community garden in...
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Respect
Investigate "respect" with your class. They will participate in a think/share activity in which they complete sentence starters about their personal experience with "respect." Then they view a video clip in which Holocaust survivors...
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Putting the Sitcom into Perspective
Students identify and compare similar characters and situations in stories and dramas from and about various cultures, illustrate with classroom dramatizations, and discuss how theater reflects life.
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Gingerbread Baby's Point of View #8
Read the story Gingerbread Baby and use these various activities to connect to grammar, art, and point of view. In one activity, learners create character masks. They practice writing verbs on the back of the masks to tell what each...
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Society Dominos
Young scholars examine six victims of a crime. They role play characters in the scenario and relate feelings as the scene develops. they brainstorm and role play strategies to increase understanding of the rights and responsibilities of...
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Rewriting Confusing Sentences
A complete page of explanation precedes a sheet with eight confusing sentences that learners revise for clarity. You could show the first page to your class, or just use it as a guide for direct instruction on the issue of clarifying...
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Bullying and Homophobia
Having difficulty in class broaching controversial issues? This lesson offers several linked online tools to get students engaged in discussion about bullying and homophobia. Coastkid.org offers an interactive scenario activity, which...
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Tunes for Bears to Dance to: Questioning Strategy, Discussion Web
Readers of Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to are asked to consider the morality of the central character's actions
BBC
Conflict
Middle schoolers take a close look at the different forms that bullying can take, and share their ideas of ways to stop bullying in schools. Learners get together in groups of three and come up with a scenario that depicts a conflict....
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Epic Poetry: Literary Terms for Story Analysis
What do Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Odyssey have in common? Why, they are all epics, of course, and are presented here as examples of the literary term. If you are beginning a study of epics, consider previewing the terms included...
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Measure for Measure: Act III Scene I
Read this lesser-known play by William Shakespeare. When you get to Act III, provide your class with this two-page worksheet. First, encourage a self-to-text connection by having individuals record their top 10 priorities. Then, they...
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"The Big Lie" Response Journal
Eighth graders utilize a variety of reading and writing skills in completing social studies activities on "The Big Lie." students express their understanding of right and wrong actions based on the characters through a personal response...
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Festival of Fools
Students act out lines from King Lear to show a character's folly. In this English literature lesson, students identify the 'folly' of a given character by choosing a passage from King Lear to demonstrate a time when the character acts...