Standard 1: Reading Prose and Poetry

In this lesson, students will study the prologue of The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. They'll examine how the author reveals aspects of a character through the use of direct and indirect characterization. They'll also make inferences about a character based on the characterization and text evidence provided. Further, they'll analyze how characterization connects to the specific setting and events within the prologue. At the end of the lesson, students will create a detailed character sketch based on direct and indirect characterization as well as inferences made when reading the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will study the poem "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight" by Vachel Lindsay. Students will identify the examples of imagery within the poem and determine how the use of imagery contributes to the poem's meaning. Students will also practice making connections between the poem and its background information (President Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War) as well as its historical context (World War I). During the lesson, students will also practice determining the meaning of unfamiliar words in the poem.

Type: Lesson Plan

Explore the famous speech “All the World’s a Stage” from Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. In this interactive tutorial, you’ll analyze how connotation and imagery develop a character's perspective. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how the sound devices of rhyme and repetition are used in the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and analyze how they contribute to the poem's meaning. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Identify rhyme, alliteration, and repetition in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and analyze how he used these sound devices to affect the poem in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Analyze how O. Henry uses details to address the topics of value, sacrifice, and love in his famous short story, "The Gift of the Magi." In this interactive tutorial, you'll also determine two universal themes of the story. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore key story elements in more excerpts from the classic American short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry.

In Part Two of this two-part series, you'll analyze how important information about two main characters is revealed through the context of the story’s setting and events in the plot. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how character development, setting, and plot interact in "The Gift of the Magi."

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part One. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore key story elements in the classic American short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. Throughout this two-part tutorial, you'll analyze how important information about two main characters is revealed through the context of the story’s setting and events in the plot. By the end of this tutorial series, you should be able to explain how character development, setting, and plot interact in excerpts from this short story.

Make sure to complete both parts! Click HERE to view "How Story Elements Interact in 'The Gift of the Magi' -- Part Two."

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to analyze the interaction among setting, character development, and plot using the classic short story "To Build a Fire." Examine how a story's setting frames the events of the entire story with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify aspects of setting and character as you analyze several excerpts from “The Yellow Wallpaper," a chilling short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. You'll also determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting better reveal her emotional and mental state.

This interactive tutorial is Part One in a two-part series. By the end of Part Two, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting. Click below to launch Part Two.

The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part Two 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Continue to examine several excerpts from the chilling short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. In Part Two of this tutorial series, you'll determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting reveal its impact on her emotional and mental state. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch "The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part One." 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn more about how dialogue, a character’s thoughts, and key events can reveal aspects of a character as you read excerpts from the exciting science fiction novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. As you learn more about Ender, the main character, you’ll piece together information about the world in which he lives and his unique situation given the demands of his environment.

This interactive tutorial is Part Two of a two-part series. Make sure to complete Part One first! Click HERE to launch Part One.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how dialogue, a character’s thoughts, and key events can reveal aspects of a character as you read excerpts from the exciting science fiction novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. As you learn more about Ender, the main character, you’ll piece together information about the world in which he lives and his unique situation given the demands of his environment.

This interactive tutorial is Part One of a two-part series. Make sure to complete both parts! Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Analyze the interaction between characters and specific events to help reveal aspects of the infamous Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  In this interactive tutorial, you’ll examine how specific character interactions and plot events help provoke Scrooge to make a decision about the way he lives his life. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this two-part tutorial series, you’ll analyze the interaction among character development, setting, and plot in the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In Part One, you’ll read the first three excerpts from the story and analyze how the author reveals important information about a main character in the context of the setting and in the events of the plot. 

Make sure to complete both parts of this series! Click HERE to launch Part Two. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this two-part tutorial series, you’ll analyze the interaction among character development, setting, and plot in the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In Part Two, you’ll read the rest of the story and analyze how the author reveals important information about a main character in the context of the setting and in the events of the plot. By the end of Part Two, you should be able to explain how the setting and events in the plot have transformed the character of Louise Mallard by the end of the story. 

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part One.

Type: Original Student Tutorial