Twelve Angry Men is a classic play about the American legal system. This lesson introduces students to key ideas they'll need to successfully complete a reading of the play. Students learn about drama terms before they start reading.
Students will read three short stories about women, written in different historical periods. Students will read each story and discuss the development of female characters in a particular setting, the role of women, gender differences, and society's expectations.
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.
Students will apply analytical skills to an exploration of the early Renaissance painting "Death and the Miser" by Hieronymous Bosch. Students will sketch and label the painting using an interactive tool to explore its elements, apply literary analyses tools to their interpretation, predict the painting's plot, and conclude the unit by creating a project that identifies and explains their interpretation of the painting.
Students will read, analyze, and discuss Medieval English ballads and then list characteristics of the genre. Then they will examine the narrative characteristics of ballads by choosing a balad to act out. Using the Venn diagram tool, students will compare Medieval ballads with modern ones. Finally, students will compose and perform their own ballads.
This lesson introduces students to Oscar Wilde's public persona by studying the articles and images used to advertise his American tour in 1882. Students analyze the ways that these texts both promote and discredit Wilde. Students then conduct research followed by the production of a podcast which compares various images of Wilde.
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.
The world of modern theater owes its roots to the tragedians of Ancient Greece. As far back as the 5th Century BCE, actors and playwrights were entertaining the masses with intriguing stories. This five-minute video unveils the ancient theatrical innovations that made the way for Broadway.
After reading books, students share book talks through digital storytelling. First, students plan scripts and then find images to illustrate their scripts. They also add text, narration, music as well as pan and zoom effects. Finally, the joy of reading is prompted through the sharing of the students' digital stories.
By mimicking popular websites that relate the plot of movies, television shows, and real life events in reverse, students have the opportunity to review the plot in a more creative and challenging fashion. Using a snowclone (a verbal formula that is changed for reuse), students complete the phrase "If you read ____ backwards, it's about ____" to comment on the plots of novels.
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.
In "Paradox and Dream," a 1966 essay on the American Dream, John Steinbeck writes, "For Americans too the wide and general dream has a name. It is called "the American Way of Life.' No one can define it or point to any one person or group who lives it, but it is very real nevertheless." Yet a recent cover of Time Magazine reads "The History of the American Dream " Is It Real?" Here, students explore the meaning of the American Dream by conducting interviews, sharing and assessing data, and writing papers based on their research to draw their own conclusions.
In this lesson students select and then research an issue that concerns them, using internet and print sources. Next, students review the concepts of purpose and audience. Then they argue a position on their selected issue in letters to two different audiences. Students work with peer groups as they use an online tool to draft and revise their letters.
Like many 19th century photographers, Mark Twain struggled with how best to portray fictionalized characters while creating social commentary. In this lesson, students will compare and contrast Twain's novel and excerpts from Frederick Douglass' narrative to original photos of 19th century slaves. After writing journal entries about Huck Finn's Jim and Frederick Douglass, students write an essay evaluating the reliable depiction of slavery.
In this lesson students look critically at the story, "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe. They use prediction strategies to form and refine thier opinions about the story line progression in each work. They read the story, screen the film, discuss reactions to both works, and plan and write a persuasive essay analyzing the validity of the film interpretation.
Clarifying one’s identity is a process that goes on throughout life. In this poetry lesson, students will read, analyze and discuss Adrienne Rich's “Diving into the Wreck” as part of the complicated process of finding, and defining oneself.
A concept sort is a strategy used to introduce students to the vocabulary of a new topic or book. Teachers provide students with a list of terms or concepts from reading material. Students place words into different categories based on each word's meaning. Categories can be defined by the teacher or by the students. When used before reading, concept sorts provide an opportunity for a teacher to see what his or her students already know about the given content. When used after reading, teachers can assess their students' understanding of the concepts presented.
Students will explore the connotations of the colors associated with the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." They will discuss the meaning of connotation and how word meanings can change. Next they will work in groups to explore the cultural connotations of a particular color, present findings to the class, keep a color log as they read the novel, and write an analysis of a major character.
Students prepare for this lesson by reading Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" (or another short story). After a minilesson on the difference between freewriting and rehashing the plot, students freewrite a response to the story to generate an original framework for a literary analysis essay. Students discuss what makes a solid thesis and then develop a thesis idea from their body of freewriting. This central idea serves as an organizational principle for creating an outline for an original literary analysis essay.