Standard 1: Reading Prose and Poetry

In this lesson series, students will analyze how Geoffrey Chaucer introduces some of his characters in the prologue to The Canterbury Tales. Students will analyze Chaucer's introduction and portrayal of the characters. They will examine the text for directly stated characteristics, and draw inferences supported by appropriate evidence from the text. The lesson includes a graphic organizer and sample answer key. A number of writing prompts have been included throughout the lesson, and a writing rubric has been provided as well.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read and mark the text to analyze layers of meaning within figurative language and symbolism. The close reading and provided questions lead students to develop interpretations of Janie's character as she reflects on her past and realizes she likes "being lonesome for a change."

Type: Lesson Plan

Through an analysis of E. E. Cummings' poem "anyone lived in a pretty how town,” an using the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," as supplemental resources, students will analyze the theme of the importance of the cycle of life and nature as it pertains to human existence. The three texts come from dramatically different genres, time periods, and settings capturing the essence of a universal theme.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore poetic expression, both written and spoken, and evaluate its significance as a medium for social commentary. Students will also examine literary devices including metaphor, simile, symbolism, and point of view.

Type: Lesson Plan

The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with an opportunity to analyze what the main character thinks, says, and does in order to support a multi-paragraph character analysis that incorporates textual evidence. The example text is Terry Trueman's Inside Out in which the main character, Zach, suffers from schizophrenia. Other suggested titles are provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson uses a whole class guided discussion to deepen students' understanding of the text Night by Elie Wiesel. Students will use textual evidence during the discussion and in writing a short response.

Type: Lesson Plan

In Part 2 of this three-lesson mini-unit students will complete close readings of two different creation myths. After looking closely at the texts, they will cite specific textual evidence to compare and contrast these myths and their similarities to other creation stories, to infer what the authors hinted at in terms of creation, and to realize the impact of specific word choices on the general tone of a piece of literature.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is Part three of a three-part series on the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Students will analyze F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspirations for both his characters and stories. In this lesson, students will analyze a 1928 portrait of Louise Brooks by Eugene Robert Richee as a stimulus for creating an original character living during the glitter and glamour of the 1920s. Finally, using compiled textual evidence recorded throughout the three lessons, students will create a narrative in the style of Fitzgerald for Louise Brooks.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is Part two of this three-part series on the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Through reading and analyzing excerpts from F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "The Offshore Pirate" (1920) in Flappers and Philosophers, students will examine the characterization of Artida and Carlyle and compare the two characters.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is Part one of a three-part series that focuses on passages from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Through reading, text marking, and participating in collaborative discussions, students will analyze the universal themes: “Success can be corrupted by greed,” and “Irresponsibility can lead to destruction.”

Type: Lesson Plan

Travel back in time by reading a poem that reflects its time period and the poet's attitude about women's rights in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how poems reflect the issues of their time period in this two-part tutorial series. In Part One, you learned about the four different types of contexts in writing. You then read the poems of several prominent Black American authors, and you analyzed how each poem reflects the context of its time period. In Part Two, you'll read and analyze two poems from a later era: "To America" by James Weldon Johnson and "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay. 

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

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how poems reflect the issues of their time period in this two-part tutorial series. You'll first learn about the four different types of contexts in writing. You'll then read the poems of several prominent Black American authors, and you'll analyze how each poem reflects the context of its time period. In Part One, you'll read two poems: "The Slave's Complaint" by George Moses Horton and "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. You'll read two more poems in Part Two.

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

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In Part Two of this two-part series, you'll continue to explore excerpts from the Romantic novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. In this tutorial, you'll examine the author's use of juxtaposition, which is a technique of putting two or more elements side by side to invite comparison or contrast. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the author’s use of juxtaposition in excerpts from the first two chapters of Jane Eyre defines Jane’s perspective regarding her treatment in the Reed household.

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

Type: Original Student Tutorial