In this video from Shakespeare Uncovered, students explore the use of soliloquy as a device to reveal character and advance plot. They consider how using soliloquy perhaps more truthfully exposes character than other devices like dialogue. In addition, students focus particularly on the famous soliloquy in Hamlet, "To be or not to be," and discuss how and why the topics of his speech are best explored through soliloquy.

Through the study of American poetry, or particularly early American poetry, students can analyze and appreciate Wheatley’s poem for its meaning, diction and how she balances meaning during a difficult time for African Americans. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson focused on Walt Whitman's poetry, students use "I Hear America Singing" as a model to write a poem about their own environment - in this case, their school.

A series of lessons to introduce students to writing a mutigenre paper. Students will analyze and identify literary elements present in selected novels, work in collaborative groups and sythesize various genres to publish a multigenre webpage.

In this lesson students will listen to examples of several dialects and discuss what they hear about each speaker from the recordings. As a class, students will also define dialect and use Alice Walker's novel the Color Purple to continue their analysis.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on the connotations of the word "Kafkaesque," students will explore Franz Kafka himself and the key ideas in his works that have inspired the usage and meaning conveyed by labeling something as "Kafkaesque." Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on the connotations of the word "Orwellian," students will explore George Orwell himself and the key ideas in his works that have inspired the usage and meaning conveyed by labeling something as "Orwellian." Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

In the 1850's abolition was not a widely embraced movement in the U.S. It was considered radical and extreme. In his speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglas sought to make abolition acceptable to Northern whites. In addition to making historical points about attitudes towards slavery in the 19th century, this speech can be used to teach formal rhetoric. The lesson features five interactive activities requiring close reading and analysis of Frederick's use of language and rhetorical strategies.

This lesson pairs Ernest Hemingway's "Cat in the Rain" with Raymond Carver's "Little Things" to guide students to an understanding of the characteristics of minimalist fiction. When asked to think about the reasons behind the popularity of minimalism, students begin to appreciate how literature develops and learn to see it as a reflection of the culture. Afterwards, students are tasked with comparing both works using a Venn diagram. Next, students read additional Carver stories to develop a list of characteristics for minimalist writing. Finally, students explore the roots of minimalism and write using characteristics of the style.

In this lesson, students will pair reading and discussion of Tim O'Brien's story "The Things they Carried" with a letter-writing activity intended to help students analyze text to identify figurative and connotative meaning as well as ultimately organize and create their own piece of prose.

Students write about present-day pop culture as well as learning about pop culture of the past by using Cole Porter's song "You're the Top!" (1934) to touch on many issues relevant to a language arts classroom, especially the literary technique of cataloguing. After an introduction and context information about Porter's song, students listen to the song and examine the lyrics. They look at the list of the pop culture items referenced in the song to see what they feel is still valid today, brainstorm replacements for other items, and create revised lyrics for the song. They then present their updated lyrics to the class.