I use this editable Google Slides graphic organizer with my middle school ELA students to help them create and prove thematic statements before extending their thoughts into a longer paragraph. (This resource aligns to the part of RL.6.2 in which students are required to determine the theme. It does not address summary.)

Worksheets to help students identify and/or reveal theme in seleceted passages about fables.

Worksheets to help students identify and/or reveal theme in seleceted short story passages.

This resource provides a lesson designed to assist learners with essentially developing a backstory for many of the minor characters in the text David Copperfield.

This resource provides a lesson designed to provide students the opportunity to read, analyze, reflect through writing using the text There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury.

This resource provides teachers with background information, discussion questions, literary analysis, and extension literature to help guide students in exploring Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart." It also provides questions that help with exploring plot, character development, imagery, and the placement of this book in the literary tradition.

This Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide includes an introduction, discussion questions, and author biography designed to enhance student reading of Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, a novel that explores themes of truth, justice, love, and pride.

In this set of three mini lessons, students make judgements on situations and characters from literary works. Students establish criteria for judgement, make graphic organizers to help their thoughts flow, then judge characters from the novel Frankenstein (or another work).

This Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide includes questions to explore The TIme Machine by H.G. Wells. An insightful look into a distant, bleak, and disturbing future, The Time Machine goes beyond the reaches of science fiction to provide a strikingly relevant discussion of social progress, class struggle, and the human condition.

In this Penguin Reader's guide to Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar’s satirical masterpiece, The Time Regulation Institute, students will learn the background of the book as well as the author, and deepen their understanding of the text through indepth discussion questions.

This Random House for High School Teachers teacher's guide includes questions, discussion topics, comparison to other texts, and an author biography designed to aid students in exploring John Grisham's fast paced novel, A Time to Kill, with themes of prejudice, friendship, commitment, ideals, family values, father/daughter relationships, retribution, and justice.

Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem "Introduction to Poetry." Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.

In this list of ten activities for exploring literature, students have the opportunity to consider different ways of analyzing character, theme, and perspective in a variety of texts.

In this lesson, students explore Romeo and Juliet casually en route to a conversation about the relevance of such an old story to today's youth. Students learn some of the plot details of the play before writing their own creative dialogue about tragic romance.

In this Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide to Doreen Baingana's novel,Tropical Fish, students will explore the coming of age of three sisters after the fall of the Idi Amin regime in Uganda. The questions that follow are meant to spark discussion about the impact of politics, faith, and culture on their progress to adulthood, as well as debate on what it truly means to be at home.

In this lesson on Oedipus the King, students will explore how the revelation of Oedipus's true identity develops the relationship between Oedipus's choices and the role of fate in Laius's murder.

In this Penguin Reader's guide to The Tunnel by Ernesto Sábato, students will learn the background of the book as well as the author, and deepen their understanding of the text through indepth discussion questions.

In this lesson, students choose and adapt a myth from the culture of their choice into a short play, which they then perform for the class. Students also write a prologue and make creative decisions, such as whether to modernize the play or not.

This Bright Hub Education lesson plan is designed for teaching Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Using the downloadable PowerPoint and reviews of James’ novel, students will write a “pull quote" critique of the novel as well as craft a thesis statement that clearly states his or her theory about the events of the novel.