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.

Students compose epitaphs for deceased characters in "Hamlet," paying close attention to how their words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone. Students will design gravestones to display their epitaphs. Students must capture the essence of their character's personality and station in life.

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.

In this set of lessons, students read excerpts from "The Death of Benny Paret" by Norman Mailer and "The Fight" by William Hazlitt. Students annotate the text, specifically looking for metaphor and simile, tone, and syntax. Working with a partner, students write three paragraphs, analyzing metaphor or simile, tone, and syntax in "The Death of Benny Paret." Working independently, students write one paragraph, choosing to analyze metaphor or simile, tone, or syntax in "The Fight."

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.

In this lesson, students gain background information to help them understand the context of A Modest Proposal as they read it. Also provided are activities to further student understanding after reading.

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. 

This resource provides a lesson designed to help students understand the use of satire and the myriad technicques that authors may use to add it to their writing. Students use the film Shrek to examine the four techniques of exaggeration, incongruity, reversal and parody. Students prove their understanding by using satire to rewrite a fairly tale.

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."

Students will complete close textual reading questions aligned with Common Core shifts for literacy. Scroll to "ELA 11-12 A Modest Proposal" to access download.

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.

This resource includes a lesson and two accompanying activities designed to assist learners with working with metaphors on a deeper level. Beginning with a quick review, the lesson directs learners to read noted poetry and analyze deeper meaning within given metaphors. As a culminating activity, learners are asked to write their own metaphors using abstract concepts while bein provided mediums for comparison.

In this three-part lesson on the inner chapters of "The Grapes of Wrath" students will first determine the function of Steinbeck's opening chapter then explore the relationship between the inner chapters and the Joad narrative chapters throughout the novel. Students will view two documentaries along the way as well as read two relevant articles in order to draw their own conclusions about the purpose of this novel's inner chapters.

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.

In this DBQ Project lesson plan, students will examine ten documents to explore the Mongols and determine how barbaric the barbarians actually were.

In this lesson on Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, students will do the following: represent a a secton of the novel visually; present and discuss their visual intepretations; analyze three connected sections of the novel, focusing on the relationship between language and meaning; and synthesize their understanding of those sections in a brief, written response. Focus questions and rubric materials available.