Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...

The Blue Man Group, three bald performance artists painted blue, offer lessons designed to engage, intrigue, and excite the imaginations of all ages of learners. Groups craft a trickster tale, invent melodious mathematical instruments,...

Strengthen your high schoolers' writing with a series of steps for writing successfully. With sections on organizing an essay, choosing a topic, crafting a thesis statement, and revising a draft, the lesson encourages your class to...

Excerpts from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and from John Fante's Ask the Dust, as well as a variety of primary source documents provide the background for an examination of the migrant experience from 1920-1945.

After reading excerpts in which Buck solves a problem in Jack London's The Call of the Wild, students write their own three-paragraph animal stories imitating London's style and word choice. Teacher and student instructions are provided...

Here's an interesting creative writing challenge. Write a 50,000 word novel between November 1 and November 30. NaNoWriMo has been orchestrating this challenge for several years now and the site has plenty of directions on the process,...

This lesson plan focuses on prewriting and planning a personal narrative. The information can be used in all types of writing. It discusses brainstorming ideas, narrowing the focus, and developing the central idea. W.9-10.5 Writing...

In this activity developed by EDC's Center for Children and Technology, students explore the relationship between types of shots and storytelling.