The house lights dim, the curtain parts, lights slowly come up, revealing the stage. Before the actors appear, before a word is spoken, the audience is drawn in by the lighting, by the colors, by lines of the set, by the props, and...

Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...

Inflate your knowledge, not the economy! Pupils learn more about inflation with detailed worksheets and exciting activities such as role play, an interactive PowerPoint presentation, and a project in which they design a podcast on...

How do you read non-fiction, informational text?  How do you recognize the rhetorical devices a writer is using? How do you determine the tone of such a document? Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address provides a perfect vehicle for learners...

New ReviewWhat makes heroes and villains? A six-part unit plan asks young scholars to explore the concept of heroism and the characteristics they consider heroic and unheroic. Groups create character maps that focus on how characters are shaped by...

"Yo, what's up?" "Nuttin!" While such a dialogue might be appropriate between friends, it would be ill-advised in more formal situations. A mini-lesson asks young writers to consider how to adjust the voice they use to bring their...

Building one idea at a time. Scholars complete a close read and multiple activities related to Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon to build upon their understanding of central ideas and motifs. They take part in meaningful discussion...

It's time to put it all together! Using the resource, scholars complete an end-of-unit assessment. They write a multi-paragraph essay, comparing either Audre Lorde's "From the House of Yemanjá" or "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton"...

How does style contribute to the power and persuasiveness of a speech? With the question in mind, scholars continue reading "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton." They complete a Rhetorical Impact Tracking Tool to guide them in their...

How does the theme of gender inequality develop in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Shakespeare's Hamlet? Pupils craft a multi-paragraph response to analyze the relationship between the texts. They use evidence from both works to...

There's a fine line between madness and genius. Using the resource, scholars complete a mid-unit assessment based on their study of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. They write a multi-paragraph response, analyzing how two central...

What was Shakespeare's youth like? Virginia Woolf considers the question in her nonfiction text, A Room of One's Own. Scholars begin reading Woolf's work before analyzing some of the text. Next, they write an objective summary and...

Revenge, mortality, madness—what are the central ideas from Shakespeare's Hamlet? Scholars answer the question by writing multi-paragraph responses. They also identify and discuss literary devices from the play. 

All's well that ends well does not apply to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Using the resource, scholars read Act 5.2, discovering the play's tragic resolution. Pupils complete a Quick Write analyzing how Hamlet's downfall contributes to the...

Using the resource, scholars read Act 3.3 of Shakespeare's Hamlet. They analyze two soliloquies and engage in a discussion about how Shakespeare develops the characters. 

Scholars read, analyze, and evaluate argumentative writing. Discussion about arguments of mass incarceration evolves from The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Learners participate in group discussions and...