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 the TED Ed lesson focused on the hero students will explore the different aspects of the hero's journey and how ordinary people can relate to literary heroes. Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

Is Holden Caufield suffering from your typical teenage angst or does he have a deeper issue? This lesson plan asks students to diagnose the main character from The Catcher in the Rye, using textual evidence to support their conclusions about him.

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.

This Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide includes questions, discussion topics, and an author biography designed to help students in understanding Zadie Smith's novel, White Teeth. Students will explore a funny, generous, big-hearted novel dealing--among many other things--with friendship, love, war, three cultures, three families over three generations, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle.

In this lesson on Kate Chopin's The Awakening, students will consider how Chopin introduces the characters and their interactions.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on Sherlock Holmes, students will explore how the iconic image and behavior of Sherock Holmes differs from his written persona, and discuss why his popularity continues in modern culture. Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

This Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide includes an introduction, questions, and suggestions for further reading designed to enhance student discussion of Dave Eggers’ inventive novel, The Wild Things, based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, Where the Wild Things Are.

Published in 1929, The Sound and the Fury is often referred to as William Faulkner's first work of genius. Faulkner's style is characterized by frequent time shifts, narrator shifts, unconventional punctuation and sentence structure, as well as a stream-of-consciousness technique that reveals the inner thoughts of characters to the reader. This curriculum unit will examine narrative structure and time, narrative voice/point of view, and symbolism throughout The Sound and the Fury.

This Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide includes an introduction, discussion questions, and author biography designed to enhance student reading of author John Pipkin's brilliant and illuminating novel, Woodsburner.

In this lesson, students will read chapters XXXIII-XXXIV of The Awakening, focusing on how Robert's return impacts Edna's character development.

In this lesson, students will analyze chapters XXV-XXVIII of The Awakening and consider Edna's character development in relation to the development of two interrelated central ideas.

This resource contains a set of discussion questions for Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, relating to structural choices, character influences, and reader interpretations.

This Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide includes questions, discussion topics, and an author biography designed to help students in understanding Margaret Atwood's book, The Year of the Flood. Students will explore the theme of what could happen if we continue on the dangerous path of disrespect for the environment--and for one another.

This lesson examines Charlotte Perkin Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaer" through critcal reading and analysis of the short story. Students will also use text-dependent questions to write a reflective, thematic essay.