This lesson seeks to sensitize students to the complex nature of revenge as it is portrayed in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Students learn how the play interprets Elizabethan attitudes towards revenge as reflected in the structure of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy. Students will analyze the use of language and actions to motivate the avengers in the play; recognize Elizabethan theatrical conventions and their impact; and compare the text with a modern film interpretation.

Over the course of human history, thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? This video explains how linguists group languages into language families, demonstrating how these linguistic trees give us crucial insights into the past.

A teacher's guide to Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Includes common core aligned pre-reading promts, discussion questions, post-reading promts and writing activities.

This lesson provides an introduction to the language and poetics of the epic poem, "Beowulf." Although students read "Beowulf" in translation, they will be introduced to the five characters in the Old English alphabet no longer used. Students will translate a phrase from the Old English, listen to a passage read in Old English, then learn about poetic devices important in "Beowulf." Finally, students will compare the use of alliteration in Auden's poem, "The Age of Anxiety" to the alliteration and meter used in "Beowulf."

In this lesson, students analyze Jacob Lawrence'sThe Migration of the Negro Panel no. 57(1940-41), Helene Johnson's Harlem Renaissance poem"Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem"(1927), and Paul Laurence Dunbar's late-nineteenth-century poem"We Wear the Mask"(1896), considering how each work represents the life and changing roles of African Americans from the late nineteenth century to the Harlem Renaissance and The Great Migration.

In this lesson, demonstrate their understanding of the jazz age following reading The Great Gatsby by using jazz-age terms to create an original story, scene, or letter.

Students will analyze Petrarchan conventions within the three sonnets in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Students will evaluate whether Juliet adheres to or rejects these conventions.

Students will read a passage from Poe's work and write to answer questions based on inferences and context. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Students will read a passage by Shakespeare and analyze selected vocabulary to select synonyms. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

This lesson offers a series of activities that allow students to explore and interact with poetry by writing letters to poets.

Although American colonists complained bitterly about British taxation policy, it was not until 1775 that they decided to take up arms against the king. What changed? The Battles of Lexington and Concord. The killing of Americans by British troops transformed a largely peaceful resistance into an armed rebellion. In this lesson students will read three primary sources that illustrate this shift, including a farmer's diary, a broadside, and a sermon. Students will perform close readings and answer a series of text-dependent questions.

This resource provides graphic organizers, questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy, anticipation guides, the Frayer model, and more--all adaptable for a variety of texts, vocabulary, and classrooms.

This unit contains a series a poetry lessons and poem suggestions on the poetry of war. Students will read and closely analyze several 'poems of war' and write their own poem as a culminating activity.

This lesson revisits the original nine African-American children who broke the color barrier at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1954. Lessons include close reading and analysis of news reports, television news accounts and writing assignments.

This lesson pairs a magazine article about the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in 1975 with the Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." After comparing and contrasting the elements of each text, students will choose a historical event and, using the song as a model, create a narrative poem about their chosen event. In addition, more contemporary songs and current events will also work for this activity.

In this lesson, students will recognize and discuss the role of protest songs in the Birmingham youth movement. Then, they will identify their own political agendas and write protest songs.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on the evolution of the word "dynamite," students will explore its roots, connotations, usage, and meaning. Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on the evolution of the word "earwig," students will explore its roots, connotations, usage, and meaning. Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on the evolution of the word "fizzle," students will explore its roots, connotations, usage, and meaning. Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.

In this TED Ed lesson focused on the evolution of the word "gorgeous," students will explore its roots, connotations, usage, and meaning. Discussion questions and additional resources available in the sidebar.