Literary Analysis Teacher Resources

Packed with activities, presentations, projects, and assessments, first-time instructors and seasoned veterans will find much to like in this unit based on William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies. An 18-slide presentation includes...

So much of a poem's tone is determined by the author's word choice as it relates to the poem's meaning. Explore the concept of tone in poetry with a literary analysis unit, which includes an explanatory slideshow presentation and five...

When is a theme not a theme? The resources in this collection explain the difference between subject, motif, and theme, model how to determine the theme(s) in literature and art, and offer opportunities to practice identifying the themes...

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol offers students a chance to practice their close reading skills. Using the provided worksheets, readers examine context clues to determine the meanings of words, direct and indirect characterization...

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the anchor text for a three-lesson unit module. The first instructional activity models for readers how authors use direct and indirect characterization to establish their characters. Other lessons...

Luke Skywalker meets Hamlet in a 10-lesson plan unit based on Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope (WSSW). Using Star Wars® as source material, Doescher has transformed Lucas's film into a Shakespearian...

A collection all about Roald Dahl's novel, Matilda, contains eleven lessons. Each lesson contains a theme and covers a different subject: literacy, social-emotional learning, science, and geography. Scholars work collaboratively and...

Eight guides comprise the Core Knowledge seventh grade English Language Arts Curriculum Set. The guides, developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation, are designed “to advance excellence and equity in education for all children.” Unit 1...

To download or not to download is often the question for teacher’s guides, especially for instructors who are old hands at using the bard’s plays in their classrooms. These guides are the stuff teachers dream about, full of background...

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...

A two-part lesson examines the works and biographies of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. Part One focuses on the authors’ narrators and asks readers to consider whether the narrators of “A Tell-Tale Heart” and “Occurrence at Owl Creek...

Who says a play must be realistic? Certainly not Tennessee Williams, who chose to use expressionistic techniques to tell his tale of Tom, Amanda, and Laura Wingfield. A three-lesson unit module has readers examine how Williams uses these...

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...

The lessons in the Lord of the Flies Unit examine the dystopian novel as a microcosm for society. Pupils listen to an interview with William Golding as he elaborates on his rationale for selecting a remote island populated with only...

With all the hyperbole of an election year, it can be difficult to find the facts, just the facts about candidates, issues, and ballot measures. Young political scientists, with the help of 21 resources from a nonpartisan, information...

A music therapy STEM integrated project combines science and language arts. Pupils listen to music, learn about music physics, build and play instruments, write songs, and share their musical creations. They study different intervals and...

Kate Chopin's tale, "The Story of an Hour," is the anchor text in a six-lesson unit designed for ESL and ELD students. Lessons provide learners with background knowledge of the role of women in 19th-century America and the author. Each...

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...

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...