In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the introductory first lesson, they will see how animals are often used as symbols. In the second lesson, they will hear one of several versions of how the 12 animals were chosen. They will then focus upon a few of the animals in the story and see how they can be used as symbols of certain human characteristics. In the third lesson, they will be introduced to the other animals of the zodiac, and they will be given a chart on which they will assign traits to each animal. Then they will consult a number of websites to find the traits traditionally associated with the animals, which they will add to their list. Then, they will come up with a number of ways to compare and contrast the animals in the list. In the third lesson, they will focus upon the animal associated with the year of their birth, learning about its traits and discussing whether or not these apply to themselves and their peers. Finally, each student will make an acrostic, combining the letters of his or her first name with adjectives that relate to his or her zodiac sign.

In this elementary-level lesson, students will learn about the importance of symbolism and prior knowledge in the interpretation of artwork. After defining symbolism and seeing a simple example, students will analyze and identify symbols in The Artist in His Museum, 1822, a self-portrait created by Charles Willson Peale in 1822. They will then be given additional factual information about Peale's life and be asked to revisit their initial perceptions and confirm or revise their thoughts. Finally, students will be asked to create their own self-portrait using appropriate use of symbols and present their work to the class.

This course seeks to develop a nuanced understanding of the scope of cultural and literary expression in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. It attends to broad socio-historical happenings, from the birth of modernism in the late 19th century to the post-modern moment. In addition to literary modernism, the course will also take a brief look at the cultural production of modernism in art, music, architecture, cinema, philosophy, and drama. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: Define the terms modernism and modernity and explain the similarities and differences between these terms using specific works to illustrate comparison and contrast; List and explain the importance of a variety of social, cultural, and historical developments leading up to and occurring during the modern period; Cite and analyze the meaning of primary works of literature, poetry, art, music, architecture, cinema, philosophy and drama to illustrate the principle characteristics of modernism; Compare and contrast the literatures of both France and England from the start of the modern era (i.e., the turn of the twentieth century); Explain the impact of the Great War upon the development and expression of a variety of literary and artistic forms and especially on poetry in a number of genres; Describe the aftermath of World War I and its variety of effects upon literature and art and especially upon the poetry of T.S. Eliot and the novels of Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway; Define High Modernism and give examples of the tenets, ideals, and even the contradictions and self-contradictions of this movement in history and literature (and especially in both its Irish and British contexts); Define the terms postmodernism and deconstruction as well as the phrase Magical Realism and identify the most important characteristics of the movements, fields, theories, and texts associated with these terms; Explain the premises of postcolonial literature and literary theory and identify, describe, compare, and contrast postcolonial texts from range of national origins. (English Literature 204)

" An historical examination and analysis of the evolution and development of games and game mechanics. Topics include a large breadth of genres and types of games, including sports, game shows, games of chance, schoolyard games, board games, roleplaying games, and digital games. Students submit essays documenting research and analysis of a variety of traditional and eclectic games. Project teams required to design, develop, and thoroughly test their original games."

Beginning ENG I students are introduced to the general concepts of imagery (including symbolism) and theme in short literature in a lesson that features two contemporary pop songs and their lyrics. Serves as a useful attention getting exercise for low-level ENG I students who must become familiar with general literary concepts and terms for the ENG I EOC.

The most important festival in the Chinese calendar is the New Year or Spring Festival. One of the annual events used to commemorate the festival is a colorful parade complete with animated dragon and lion figures.

In the first activity the student will learn the major differences between Eastern and Western dragons and discover why Eastern dragons are associated with Chinese New Year. They will hear a story about how the dragons came to rule major rivers of China. In the second activity, they will also learn about the Chinese New Year Dragon Parade and discover why firecrackers are used to drive off evil spirits, especially one called the Nian. In the third activity the students will see images of parading dragons, including sound-enhanced video and read poems about the New Year. In the fourth lesson the students will discover that the Chinese lion has imaginary characteristics similar to the dragon. They will view images of the lion and hear about how this highly stylized beast once fought the ferocious Nian. They will learn about the lion dancers in the New Year parade and compare them to the dragon dancers. Finally they will make their own lion masks.

Students will display their understanding of the symbolism and references that Dr. King used to enrich his famous speech on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by constructing a "jackdaw," a collection of documents and objects.

This course covers the various artistic movements that comprise 19th- and 20th-century modern art, including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art, among others. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to: define the term “modern art,” and explain the factors and ideas that make (or made) artworks “modern”; identify the key art movements of the 19th and 20th centuries that comprise the modern art era; list the principal artists from each movement, and accurately identify seminal works of art by those artists; compare and contrast a number of important artworks and identify just what makes these particular works modern and, most importantly, what makes these works true achievements that allowed for future developments in the arts; build a presentable and accurate timeline of the progression of modern art movements. Note that this course has been developed through a special partnership with The Art Story Foundation; please see the resource for more information. This free course may be completed online at any time. (Art History 208)

This course will ask what makes poetry 'modern?' The student will discuss the cultural and political history of the period as well as the major movements that comprise 'modern poetry,' stopping to become acquainted with its noteworthy practitioners and perform close-readings of their works. By the end of this course, the student will have critically explored the concept of modern poetry, identifying its characteristic techniques, concerns, and figures. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: describe Modernity/Modernism as both a historical period and a movement in art and literature; define and differentiate between the terms modern, modernism, and modernity; define Victorianism and explain its relationship to Modernism; describe the nature of turn-of-the-twentieth-century poetry in both England and France; define Symbolism, Dandyism, Aestheticism, and Decadence; provide accounts of the origins of the Great War, life in Edwardian England, and World War II; list, compare, and contrast the major authors of the early 1900s, of World War I, the Lost Generation, World War II, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, High Modernism, the Harlem Renaissance, and the post-WWII period. (English Literature 408)

How people make sense of their worlds symbolically through myth, ritual, metaphor, and cosmology. The structure of symbols, the natural and social elements they draw on, their social use, and the messages they convey. Students learn to record and analyze myth and ritual.

""Reading Poetry" has several aims: primarily, to increase the ways you can become more engaged and curious readers of poetry; to increase your confidence as writers thinking about literary texts; and to provide you with the language for literary description. The course is not designed as a historical survey course but rather as an introductory approach to poetry from various directions – as public or private utterances; as arranged imaginative shapes; and as psychological worlds, for example. One perspective offered is that poetry offers intellectual, moral and linguistic pleasures as well as difficulties to our private lives as readers and to our public lives as writers. Expect to hear and read poems aloud and to memorize lines; the class format will be group discussion, occasional lecture."

This lesson is designed as a follow-up to the reading and discussion of the play "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen. An understanding of the two literary terms setting and symbolism, and their impact on a work of literature, are essential to students' success in following the guidelines outlined in the North Carolina English Language Arts Standard Course of Study. This lesson has been modified for English Language Learners at the intermediate high proficiency level, but would also be adaptable for learners at the novice or advanced levels.

This video segment from A Walk Through Harlem features the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes.