Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As...

John Hughes' The Breakfast Club takes center stage in a lesson about annotating nonfiction texts to keep track of evidence that may be used later in discussions and writings. Scholars consider the stereotypes and conflicts presented in...

"How come there's no ending?" After a close reading of Frank R. Stockton's tale "The Lady, or the Tiger?" in which scholars examine each of the main characters' conflicts and motivations, writers craft their own ending using textual...

The takeaway from the second lesson in the Resolving Conflicts module is that "conflict is like an iceberg" in that we only see a small portion of what's involved in conflicts. Participants learn to identify the many unseen feelings that...

The Resolving Conflicts module begins with a lesson about tolerance and learning to appreciate differences among people. Through a series of activities and games, middle schoolers learn that conflicts arise when people have opposing...

Is it crazy to fall in love with your own work, or is that the purest love of all? Compare two renditions of the classic Greek myth Pygmalion and Galatea with a literary analysis exercise. After students compare the similarities and...

Do you ever get nervous before a big event? A pair of race cars discuss their nerves before tomorrow's race in a reading activity that includes five comprehension questions.

Feeling conflicted? Work out those issues with a language arts lesson on internal and external conflict. Using "The Interlopers" by Saki, class members identify the conflicts between the characters before writing their own short...

It can be difficult to find the theme of a book or story if you don't know the questions to ask. Teach your kids to discern the universal theme in works of literature with a set of activities that promote critical thinking and...

Tenth graders explore narrative poetry. They analyze sections of a poem and present to groups. They compose their own narrative poems using pictures as prompts. They exchange their poems and analyze their classmate's poem.

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

Drama is ever-present in our daily lives and eloquently depicted on stage. Middle schoolers practice writing scenes based on different prompts and frameworks, and then perform those creative scenes for their classmates. The...

Record the plot elements of The Cay on this worksheet. Pupils note basic information about the book and answer questions about the introduction, point of view, character, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of...

Arm your writers with an arsenal of literary terms. With definitions of everything from plot structure and figurative language to point-of-view and types of irony, learners will gain an understanding of elements in stories and be able to...

Students explore plot development and how conflicts are resolved. In this plot development and conflict lesson, students discuss antonyms and list the ones they find in their story. Students complete online activities and write a summary...

Students investigate the Dawes Act and understand its effects on the Paiute Indians. In this Paiute lesson, students recognize that many Native Americans lost their land and money after the Dawes Act. Students dissect a worksheet for...

Students view the PBS presentation of Leo Tolstoy's, "Anna Karenina." Prior and after each episode, they discuss plot and characterization and in one lesson, use adjectives to describe each of the main characters. Then, students create...

Young scholars are introduced to the proper ways to deal with conflict at home. In groups, they define family based on what it means to them and identify factors that lead to a breakdown in communications. They participate in...

Students identify aspects of a conflict situation through a story. They engage in problem solving or identification of an aspect of bullying. Applying their knowledge of bullying, they create scenarios that reflect their methods of...

Students explore and study the literary genre of internal conflict while reading the book, "Stellaluna," by Janelle Cannon. They discuss the main character and make a chart of different situations where the main character experienced...

Students, after listening to a lecture, examine Nigeria from slave trading to the Civil War as well as listen to the Arrested Development song about slavery. In addition, they create a circle diagram for essay #1.

Learners research the conflicts over different uses of the Nisqually River resources and role play as mediators between Chief Leschi and other interested parties. They cite and interpret relevant artifacts and primary and secondary...

Young scholars gain a better understanding of perceptions and how different points of view about the same set of events leads to conflict.

Learners outline the action in their narrative writing assignments by brainstorming about conflict. In this conflict analysis lesson, students define conflict and discuss the different types of conflict. Learners brainstorm about a...