American Literature Teacher Resources
Find American Literature lesson plans and worksheets
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Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude
How does Gabriel Garcia Marquez make the magical elements in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seem real? That is the essential question for readers of his acclaimed novel to tackle in a three-lesson unit module. Scholars begin by...
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Student Copy of Gatsby and the Jazz Age: American Dream or Nightmare:
F. Scott Fitzgerald's intent in The Great Gatsby, was "to state the American dream as dramatically, as passionately, as possible – and at the same time, to hold it up to moral judgment, to see what lies and terrors lay beneath its...
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American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
A three-lesson curriculum unit examines the history and conventions in the American literary humor of Mark Twain, George Washington Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Lesson One, scholars read “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras...
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Crash Course Theater and Drama
Forsooth! Here’s a collection that has everything you ever wanted to know about the theater and drama—everyone from Aristotle to Chikamatsu, from Moliere to Shakespeare to Williams. From Banraku to Zaju, every type from comedy to...
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Words That Heal: Using Children's Literature to Address Bullying
Books can create empathy. Books can build self-esteem. Books can offer insight and coping strategies. Books can encourage anti-bullying. Books can heal. The five discussion guides in the "Words That Heal: Using Children's Literature to...
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Ken Burns in the Classroom: Hemingway
Hemingway: BH, AH. Before Hemingway and after Hemingway. A collection of PBS lessons, authored by Julia E. Torres, uses clips from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary to EXPLORE the influence events in Hemingway’s life had on his...
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Kindred
Four resources comprise a unit module designed for Octavia E. Butler's Kindred instructors to use in their classes. The first resource in the series, a packet designed for instructors, includes an overview of the unit, a day-to-day...
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Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Form of a Funeral
Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner's Southern Gothic novel, As I Lay Dying, is the anchor text in a six-lesson unit module that examines Faulkner's place in American literary history. Learners research one aspect of Faulkner's...
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The Letters and Poems of Emily Dickinson
The three lessons in the “Letters and Poems of Emily Dickinson” unit module offer high schoolers an opportunity to meet the woman behind the poems. Scholars read letters she wrote to the Atlantic Monthly editor Thomas Wentworth Higginson...
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Melville’s Moby Dick: Shifts in Narrative Voice and Literary Genres
A three-lesson unit module has readers of Moby Dick examine the narrative voice and dramatic perspective Herman Melville uses to contrast Ishmael and Captain Ahab. In addition, scholars analyze how the author incorporates various...
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Creative Writing Unit: Analyzing, Interpreting, Discussing and Writing Various Genres of African-American Literature
A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...
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Native American Literature
Celebrate and honor Native American culture with this set of graphic organizers that showcases literature like The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and A Boy Called Slow as well as three other Native American literature books. Learners compare...
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Integrative Lesson on Genres of American Literature (Senior, Literature)
To begin this lesson plan, the instructor will present a PowerPoint detailing the genres of Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism. Learners will follow along with an instructional sheet that will aid in the identification of setting,...
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Annotated Timeline of The American Literary Movement
Study the transformation of American literature starting from Colonial times up until the present. Each of the nine periods (Romanticism, Realism, Postmodernism, etc.) is introduced and important literary agents from that period are...
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Importance of American Flag in American Literature
Betsy Ross - fact and myth. As an introduction to American Literature, class members become detectives and search web sites to find information about the flag, prominent places it has been displayed (on the moon, at ground zero, in...
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Colonials & Revolutionaries: Background Historical & Cultural Information
The four major trends of the 18th century (The Enlightenment, the Great Awakening, British global ambitions, and economic disagreements) are the focus of a PowerPoint that places in context such influences as deism, mercantilism,...
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African American Literature in Art
Students compare art and literature by examining a contemporary painting by Glenn Ligon and the essay by James Baldwin that inspired it. They write an essay about a personal experience that relates to the theme of being an "outsider."
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Early American English Lit Writing Assignment (Senior, Literature)
To better understand early American literature, which was usually written by Puritans coming to the new world, learners pretend they have just landed on Mars. They compose a letter home describing their experiences, the new landscape,...
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Carl Sandburg's "Chicago": Bringing a Great City Alive
Carl Sandburg composed poetry that conveyed a time and place in American Literature and history. Learners identify the literary techniques he uses to describe the historical and cultural context of living in Chicago. They define the...
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Native American Literature: A Paradigm Shift
Young scholars explore Native American literature. In this cultural diversity lesson plan, students read selected Native American books and analyze the themes of the books and familiarize themselves with the vocabulary used in the books.
National Endowment for the Humanities
In Emily Dickinson's Own Words: Letters and Poems
Analyze the depth and beauty of American Literature by reading Emily Dickinson's letters and poems. The class analyzes Dickinson's poetic style and discusses Thomas Wentworth Higginson's editorial relationship with Dickinson. They pay...
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American Literature Authors and Their Works
Students match American Literature authors with their short stories, poems, and books. In this American Literature lesson plan, students are given an overview of the authors and their main works. Then students independently do a...
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A Literature of Democracy
Read excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson's speech "American Scholar" to address and analyze passages from American literary works. Seniors will discuss three quotations from the text and read excerpts from the address. They then work in...
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The South, the North and the Great Migration: Blues and Literature
Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...
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