This lesson uses images and the "I See...and I Wonder" strategy to get students thinking about the bigger concepts that objects might represent.  Students often see symbols as mere objects with only a face value because of the speed with which they encounter them.  However, if we can encourage students to take more time to study an object, other concepts or meanings can come to light.This lesson uses images as an entry point to symbolism because they are less threatening than literature.  The images provided are a starting place, but feel free to remix and use your own images.   

This lesson will introduce students to postcolonial literature--the major players, unifying themes, and major debates surrounding the classification of this genre. It also contains links to readings, discussion questions, and a collaborative project aligned to multiple Common Core standards.

This lesson contains an instruction video and assessment in Google docs on characterization in literature. It can be used with any literary text. 

The resources included are designed to help both students and teacher work through the ELA Standard on summarizing..  

The activities, assignments, and lessons included here are designed to help students read and write like artists who constantly take apart old ideas and texts in order to repackage them for the sake of contemporary humor, wisdom, and relevance. The activities introduce new vocabulary for discussing how texts work and play, as well as synthesis, analysis, and creativity. 

This activity can be used after reading Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby. Listening and watching the video for Lana Del Rey's song, and title track for the film, students will dig deep into the lyrics of the song identifying figurative language, draw connections between the lyrics of the song and direct quotes from the text, and have meaningful discussion about point-of-view and symbolism in the video. Guaranteed to engage students and make valuable text to text connections!

During days 3-6 of the unit, students will complete a short, focused research assignment to learn about the characteristics of Sourthern Gothic Literature and to begin to view To Kill a Mockingbird through that lens.  As is true with the rest of the unit, the three day time frame is a suggestion only and can be adjusted based on your schedule and the needs of the students.Image source: "Mockingbird" by skeeze on Pixabay.com.

Students make sense of dollars and cents when they study the importance of saving and budgeting in this lesson.

Kristjan Jaak Peterson was an Estonian poet, commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and the founder of modern Estonian poetry and on his birthday is celebrated in Estonia as Mother Tongue Day. This OER gives an opportunity to teach that topic in Estonian (or Estonian as foreign language) lesson and intergrade it with IT, art and literature. Topic should covered in 4 lessons (worksheets are in Estonian): 1st lesson: Presentation about Kristjan Jaak Peterson´s life; crossword and Kahoot game. 2nd -3rd lesson: Creating akrostichon, reading in voice file, creating poster in MS word with poem, picture and added QR code.4th lesson: Presenting work to other students

This lesson supplements the Women Who Changed the World website from the Nobel Prize Organization. A video and link to an interactive activity is accompanied by project ideas, topcis for extension, and additional resources.

In this unit students gain an understanding of the elements of gothic literature as evidenced in four short stories: The Raven (Poe), The Masque of the Red Death (Poe), The Yellow Wallpaper (Gilman), and the Lottery (Jackson). Vocabulary is included for each story. Lessons focus on using text evidence to support analysis for tone, diction, inferencing, character analysis, author's purpose, and irony. Lessons include both independent and small group work, shorter writing tasks, small and large group discussion, and other opportunities for instructors to differentiate the lesson to suit classroom needs.

This free video series provides definitions of literary terms in English literature to students and teachers. It also offers examples of how these literary devices can be applied to poems, plays, novels, and short stories. We are in the process of translating the videos into Spanish and many of them now contain these subtitles.

Students form literature circles, read "Esperanza Rising" or "Becoming Naomi Leon" by Pam MuĐoz Ryan, use a Critical Thinking Map to discuss social issues, and use a class wiki.

The Folger Shakespeare Library provides the full searchable text of "Macbeth" to read online or download as a PDF. All of the lines are numbered sequentially to make it easier and more convenient to find any line.

The short story "The Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allan Poe is an effective venue for teaching English I literary terms. The following lesson plan is designed to engage the reader in a deeper than superficial reading of the text. It is also designed to elicit discussion and written critical-thinking responses. This lesson assumes that the literary terms have already been introduced. However, if they have not, the teacher may use this lesson to introduce these terms in the context of the literature.

A short quiz on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.6 featuring two verses from the Tao Te Ching, as translated by Tormond Byrn. The passages have a Dale-Chall text difficulty index of 5-6 and a Flesch-Kincaid level of 3.6.

The 7th grade poetry unit gives an in depth approach to poetry involving the four strands within the core. I've included worksheets, rubrics, and answers keys where applicable. I have also used literature examples from the core.

Students use art and poetry to explore and understand major characteristics of the Romantic period.

This is a teacher and students' resource pack for Shakespeare's The Tempest. The resource is for the F.E.T phase, grade 10-12. It contains summary notes and resources for constructive engagement by both students and teachers.