Noh, the oldest surviving Japanese dramatic form, combines elements of dance, drama, music, and poetry into a highly stylized, aesthetic retelling of a well-known story from Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji or The Tale of the Heike. This lesson provides an introduction to the elements of Noh plays and to the text of two plays, and provides opportunities for students to compare the conventions of the Noh play with other dramatic forms with which they may already be familiar, such as the ancient Greek dramas of Sophocles. By reading classic examples of Noh plays, such as Atsumori, students will learn to identify the structure, characters, style, and stories typical to this form of drama. Students will expand their grasp of these conventions by using them to write the introduction to a Noh play of their own.

In this lesson, students will examine the emergence of the teen idols in the late 1950swith a particular focus on Dion and the Belmontsto understand how mainstream culture promoted the image of the "good citizen" teen during an era of increased anxiety surrounding youth culture. Students will listen to recordings of Dion and the Belmonts' "A Teenager in Love," as well as Dion's later recording "The Wanderer," in addition to viewing a 1958 instructional film outlining school dress codes, a 1953 trailer for The Wild One, a selection of teen magazines, and performances by Jerry Lee Lewis and Connie Francis.

In this lesson, students will listen to examples of love songs from several musical styles and historical moments. The activities are designed to explore how music and lyrics work together to express different sentiments toward love and relationships.

In this activity, students will divide into two teams to conduct a mock trial based on The Ransom of Redchief by O. Henry.

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 assignment was made for an English II class. It uses various PodCasts epsidoes to explore culture. 

Students move around the room to show their level of agreement or disagreement with a statement on a particular issue. Includes prompts and resources for discussion and debate.

This activity engages students in an analysis of the 2008 speech by Barack Obama on race. Students will then create an annotated version of the speech that has them analyze and comment upon Obama's use of history, rhetoric, and language in his message. Students can also create a hypertext of this assignment in order to publish works in different media.

In the TED Ed lesson focused on rhetoric, students will explore the fundamentals of deliberative rhetoric and discover some tips for appealing to an audience’s ethos, logos, and pathos. Discussion questions and additional resources are linked in the sidebar.

In this lesson, students will explore poetry through listening and reading the poem "The Great Migration." Pre-reading activity will utilize small group discussion of nuance in vocabulary. Post reading activity will utilize tableaux to reflect new ideas based on learning, and an optional poem or short narrative on community furthers student exploration of empathy.

"To Build a Fire" is an excellent example of American literary naturalism. In this multi-day lesson students will perfrom close-reading analyses of this classic short story as they study the use of point of view to create a narrative. Students will also debate the distinction between knowledge and instinct using textual evidence.

This lesson contains an introduction to The Turn of the Screw, a ghost story novel by Henry James. Students get background information on the novel from a powerpoint presentation before making some predictions about the text and the characters it contains.

In this lesson, students will recognize and discuss the role of protest songs in the Birmingham youth movement. Then, they will identify their own political agendas and write protest songs.

In this PBS Learning Media resource on Oratory Tips and Tricks, students will find a four minute video, various pdf handouts, and tips for effective public speaking.

Students will read, critically analyze and write about a series of poems dealing with poetry. Students will define poetry in their own terms.

In this lesson, students listen to a variety of speeches and analyze their purposes and how well the speaker achieved that purpose. They will analyze methods used by the speaker and their effectiveness, and present their analyses to the class.

Students will apply rhetorical strategies such as logos, pathos, ethos, and repetition to two presidential speeches after catastrophic events have happened in the United States (bombing on Pearl Harbor and 9/11).

In this lesson plan from PBS Learning Media, students will learn to summarize historical speeches in the author’s own words, as well as paraphrase the speech using their own words.

In this 3 day lesson plan on The Rhetorical Triangle from PBS Learning Media, students will focus on understanding Aristotle’s three elements of persuasive speech—the ancient Greek words ethos, pathos and logos. Additionally, students will be able to analyze the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies and elements in commercials and speeches.

This lesson introduces two different films about Shakespeare's life and times to students: Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth. These films offer an accessible lens into Shakespeare's world and serve as an excellent introduction to any unit about the playwright. Also included are viewing guides and a powerpoint.