Describes an assignment for high school or college literature classes in which students focus on a particular character, answer a list of questions about that character, and eventually write an imagined yet realistic dialog with that character. Notes that this helps students grasp a character's complexity and depth. (SR)

Presents guidelines for introducing secondary students to "King Lear" before and during engagement with the text. Includes providing opportunities to (1) improvise, (2) examine specific speeches in depth, and (3) speed write about a character's thoughts. Presents questions used during auditions and explanations of characterization in…

This lesson plan highlights one episode in the "Divine Comedy" to provide students with an introduction to Dante's poem. After a brief introduction to the opening of the "Divine Comedy," which portrays Dante as a pilgrim guided by the poet Virgil on a journey through the Christian afterlife toward God, students read Canto 5 of…

Describes how to enhance the benefits of using the Carmen Sandiego educational software programs by building in generous amounts of creative fun and writing activities. Discusses journal writing, character sketches, letter writing, writing a book, and report writing. (RS)

Describes a series of writing assignments in which entry level graduate students in a personality theory class wrote four short papers interpreting the personality of a character from a children's story or comic strip. Explains that each paper utilized a different theoretical orientation: psychoanalytic, dispositional, phenomenological, and…

Outlines a unit of study of Baz Luhrmann's 1997 film version of "Romeo and Juliet" for Year 10 students in Australia. Includes a series of lessons/questions and activities that include directing students (1) to consider speed and editing and character analysis; (2) to engage in language comparison; and (3) to generate extended responses.…

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…

Discusses the teachable qualities of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice." Examines the vigorous diction, plausible characterization, and comic vision that make the novel so effective in stimulating students' thought. (SR)

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…

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…

Aiming to bring a new sense of adventure to teaching and learning by focusing on the lives of historical figures, artists, and scientists, this book is a "how-to" for teaching the most important lesson of all: becoming human. Each chapter includes several "Actions" designed to bring the human aspect of various disciplines center stage while…

Describes a multicultural unit for fifth graders in which each students receives a prop, develops a character around it, and writes a sketch which is videotaped and critiqued. Describes how students' characters identify their differences and figure out how to get along. Notes that students' ongoing relationships with eighth-grade penpals provided…

Argues that traditional textbook approaches to teaching literature alienate students from literature. Describes effective alternatives in which students learn interpretive strategies as they analyze and discuss their own important values in life, and then those of characters in a story; and learn to deal with irony. Outlines writing activities…