In this lesson, students compare the novel Something Wicked This Way Comes to an episode of the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer entitled "Hush." Both texts feature mysterious, silent men who come into a town and create literal and figurative nightmares for its residents. Students complete a chart and take notes from a powerpoint on the similarities and differences between the two.

How did Americans "have fun" a century ago? In this lesson, students will learn how Americans spent their leisure time and explore new forms of entertainment that appeared at the turn of the century. In addition, they will learn how transportation and communication improvements made it possible for Americans to travel to new destinations.

This lesson examines Jay Gatsby from a different perspective than students are probably used to - as opposed to the loving protagonist, they will view him as the law-breaking criminal he is. Students learn about the prohibition-era setting of the novel and read several op-ed pieces related to the text.

The lessons in this unit are designed to help your students recognize how people of different cultures and time periods have used cloth-based art forms (quilts) to pass down their traditions and history.

In this lesson, students review techniques for writing strong literary analyses. Students take notes on the techniques, then practice by analyzing a passage from a literary work.

On the third Monday of January, Americans celebrate the life and achievement of one of our most respected citizens -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Este es el remix de una tabla usada para recolectar elementos de cultura encontrados en diferentes versiones de un libro (puede ser la historia de Cenicienta u otra historia que, manteniendo el cuento, contenga diferentes elementos culturales).   

This is a chart used to record the elements of culture found within the various versions of Cinderella, or any other text.  I used this for my second grade students during our Culture Unit/How We Express Ourselves PYP Unit.  

In this introductory lesson, students discuss and share the role of authority figures in life by considering the perspective of their parents.

This course investigates the uses and boundaries of fiction in a range of novels and narrative styles--traditional and innovative, western and nonwestern--and raises questions about the pleasures and meanings of verbal texts in different cultures, times, and forms. Toward the end of the term, we will be particularly concerned with the relationship between art and war in a diverse selection of works.

In this lesson, mature students are introduced to The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Students view a powerpoint presentation with background information about the book before beginning the reading. This lesson also has helpful notes for the teacher about addressing the mature themes of the novel before beginning to read.

This collection of free, authoritative source information about the history, politics, geography, and culture of many states and territories has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our Teacher's Guide provides compelling questions, links to humanities organizations and local projects, and research activity ideas for integrating local history into humanities courses.

The lessons in this unit provide you with an opportunity to use online resources to further enliven your students' encounter with Greek mythology, to deepen their understanding of what myths meant to the ancient Greeks, and to help them appreciate the meanings that Greek myths have for us today. In the lessons below, students will learn about Greek conceptions of the hero, the function of myths as explanatory accounts, the presence of mythological terms in contemporary culture, and the ways in which mythology has inspired later artists and poets.

Students learn how civil rights activists including the Freedom Riders, state and local officials in the South, and the Administration of President Kennedy come into conflict during the early 1960s.

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.

Learn about the effects that the Second World War had on jazz music as well as the contributions that jazz musicians made to the war effort. This lesson will help students explore the role of jazz in American society and the ways that jazz functioned as an export of American culture and a means of resistance to the Nazis.

This article sets an historic context for Jules Verne's novel Captain Hatteras (1866), and presents an overview of day-to-day survival on the typical 19th century arctic voyage portrayed in this fictional account.

Curriculum unit on the historical  context of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle and how the book helped reform efforts in Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for Kindergarten ELA in Fiction Literature.

Three simple and age appropriate activities on Spanish language and culture which focus on the family and the Spanish names for various family members.