Based on characters in the Arthurian legend, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that many writers have told the tale of King Arthur and the people around him, including Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and Mordred. The main activity of the lesson involves students writing a dramatic monologue supposedly composed…

Based on Arthur Miller' play "The Crucible," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that in 17th-century New England, people were persecuted for allegedly practicing witchcraft; students of this period have looked into the allegations and offer alternatives to witchcraft to explain the people's behavior; and…

Describes activities that use jigsaw puzzles for vocabulary building and positive reinforcement and in-class book publishing to motivate high school remedial readers. (AEA)

Based on John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand the universal nature of Steinbeck's characters' struggles and some of the complex forces affecting their lives; and the value of primary source material in presenting an authentic picture of a given period in history.…

Based on Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that the novel is grounded in facts that Melville acquired in his own experiences at sea; New England was the center of a prospering whaling industry in the 19th century; and journal keeping was not uncommon among 19th-century…

Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that the ending of a novel does not resolve all of the questions that may occur to readers; and that readers may imagine characters living out their lives beyond the ending the author gave to a novel. The main…

Noting that students often have difficulty reading texts for information, this book offers practical, classroom-tested techniques that focus on content while encouraging students to take control of their own learning by expanding their repertoire of reading strategies. The book defines "infotexts" as the books, textbooks, journals,…

Based on Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" and other conservation-related books, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that many conservationists have written books that have had a profound influence on the way people think about and treat the planet; such books can be powerful instruments for change; and…

Based on Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that critics have debated some of Conrad's choices in the novel; and that the novel reflects the world as Conrad saw it. The main activity of the lesson involves students rewriting the ending of the novel so that Marlow…

Based on Machiavelli's book "The Prince," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that Machiavelli's enumeration of leadership qualities for a prince has always been controversial; and that leaders and followers may differ in what they identify as the qualities of a good leader. The main activity of the lesson…

Based on Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that classics are those pieces of literature that continue to be popular long after they were written; classics tend to have universal themes; and Austen's writing has been updated and dramatized and, most likely, will…

Describes a writing strategy that teaches students how to write a first person narrative and revise for more exact and fresh vocabulary words. (MG)

Based on Mark Twain's novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that identifying and thinking about a key quotation or symbol in a novel can help a reader extract greater meaning from the work; and that a paper analyzing literature should follow a logical organization. The…

Based on "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," this lesson plan presents activities in which students work collaboratively to evaluate four stages in the life of Malcolm X, each corresponding to a different name he used; consider how each name Malcolm X used reflected that period in his life; and draw conclusions in a written essay about how his life…