This lesson reviews the literary devices at work in John Updike's "Ace in the Hole." Students consider professional athletes who didn't pan out before taking an in-depth look at Updike's techniques.

Allegories are similar to metaphors: in both the author uses one subject to represent another, seemingly unrelated, subject. However, unlike metaphors, which are generally short and contained within a few lines, an allegory extends its representation over the course of an entire story, novel, or poem. This lesson plan will introduce students to the concept of allegory by using George Orwell’s widely read novella, Animal Farm, which is available on Project Gutenberg.

This lesson plan with student activities gives students a preview to reading the Anglo-Saxon epic poem "Beowulf" by reading and understanding riddles written in Old English. Sound files are included, as well as translations, to help students see and hear the differences in English from then til now. Also, students will read and analyze the riddles for examples of the terms caesura, kenning, and alliteration.

With enough passion and practice, becoming a slam poet is within your reach. Explore a distant memory on paper, then read it out loud. Edit. Try reading it out loud again, and add your finishing touches. This three-minute video offers five steps to being a slam poet -- while being downright poetic in the process.

Reading Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess," students will explore the use of dramatic monologue as a poetic form, where the speaker often reveals far more than intended.

After students examine primary photographs, maps, and other documents that depict Chicago at the turn of the century, they will anticipate Sandburg's description of and attitudes towards the city. After reading a short biography of the poet they will make further predictions about the poem, and identify ways Sandburg uses literary techniques to make vivid the Chicago he knew. The lesson concludes with a piece of writing in which students describe a favorite place.

This lesson helps students understand the complexities of The Wife of Bath's character and the rhetoric of her argument by exploring the various ways in which Chaucer crafts a persona for her. After familiarizing themselves with the framing narrative of the Canterbury Tales and its language, students study the Wife of Bath as a character. Finally, students examine several primary source documents written about women and marraige in order to understand the context in which the Wife presents her argument.

This lesson plan is designed to help students understand the term connotation and how it applies to poetry. In this lesson, students are asked to practice using the term connotation with everyday words while working in small groups. From there, they will analyze one of American author Phyllis Wheatley's poems, which can be found at this address: http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/being-brought-africa-america .

Nineteenth century middle-class American women saw their behavior regulated by a social system, known today as the cult of domesticity, which was designed to limit their sphere of influence to home and family. Yet within this space they developed networks and modes of expression that allowed them to speak out on issues facing the nation. Students will read four sets of passages and identify which principals of the cult of domesticity are illustrated and how. Students will also perform textual anlayses to determine audience, voice, point of view, themes, and the rhetoric used.

Students will examine the rhetoric and historical context of The Declaration of Independence as well as The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions from the Seneca Falls convention.  Afterwards, students will apply the same rhetorical techniques gleaned from these documents to address their own contemporary concern. 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.

Students analyze characters by noting the ways in which defining moments shape their personalities in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Students will chart changes, note the “direction” of their characters, support their conclusions with textual evidence, and present their findings.

In the TED Ed lesson focused on grammar, students will explore the age-old argument between linguistic prescriptivists and descriptivists — who have two very different opinions on the matter. Discussion questions and additional resources are linked in the sidebar.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

Students will learn how the field of war correspondence has evolved. Through reading chapters of Edith Warton's book, "Fighting France From Dunkerque to Belfort," students will cite examples of wartime reporting. FInally, students will create and present their own correspondence report.

Known as both a Southern and a Catholic writer, Flannery O'Connor wrote stories that explore the complexities of these two identities. In this lesson, students will challengethese dichotomieswhile closely reading and analyzing "A Good Man is Hard to Find."

In this lesson, students critically approach television commercials in an attempt to understand the advertising techniques being used. Stduents watch television commercials on their own time and try to identify the characteristics of the advertisements before discussing as a class and ultimately making their own commercials.

This lesson-plan focuses on students analyzing, critiquing, and examining the language and meanings of historical and cultural documents such as The Pledge of Allegiance and the First Amendment. Through this activity they will also examine the impact and meaning of language, as well as the relevance of the meaning behind the words of each document. All handouts are downloadable and printable from this site.

In this fourth unit of eight total, Think Alouds (pages 27-33 of the pdf), students will apply skills to investigate and understand text.

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.

Hometown Heritage is a high school level, school-wide, cross-curricular PBL project originally designed and conducted at Tri-County Early College High School in the spring of 2018. The project's primary goal is to allow students to develop, refine, and present a product that addresses the following driving question: "How can we inspire young people to value our local heritage by telling our community’s stories in creative and meaningful ways?" Modeled after the "Foxfire" series, this project asked students to become apprentice level experts on a topic they cared about that was specific to the fabric of our local community, including working directly with an outside mentor to develop this expertise. Moreover, the students were expected to make strong connections and applications to their academic and 21st Century Skill competencies.