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...

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...

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...

A three-lesson unit module has scholars examine the many schisms and divisions in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. The first lesson looks at the fractured nature of Raskolnikov and other characters. The second lesson focuses on...

The lessons in the "Beyond Rosa Parks: Powerful Voices for Civil Rights and Social Justice" unit module introduce young historians to four African-American women who made significant contributions to the modern civil rights movement....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Oh no! An emergency has emerged, and there is no time to leave plans for a substitute. Never fear; help is here in the form of an Emergency Sub Plan kit. Create a boldly labeled folder or basket and keep it near your desk where subs will...

For a culminating project in the final unit of Module 1, fifth-graders demonstrate what they have learned about human rights by crafting scripts for a Readers Theater performance. The unit begins with class members reading informational...

Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption serves as the central text of a three-unit module that examines Japanese-American relations during World war II. In Unit 1, middle schoolers build...

In the second unit of Module 3A, eighth-graders continue their study of forced invisibility by reading a case study of the American soldier, Louie Zamperini, imprisoned by the Japanese and Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American interned in the...

Nonfiction and dramatic text take center stage in a three-unit module that focuses on how authors convey and develop central ideas. In Unit 1, E. B. White’s “Death of a Pig” provides sophomores with an opportunity to analyze the...

How does an author’s culture influence their perspective and point of view? Moreover, how does an author’s purpose affect their point of view? These are the questions middle schoolers investigate in a three-unit module that uses works by...

The first unit in this three-module set introduces sixth-graders to a study of how authors’ culture influences and is evident in their writing. Laurence Yep’s novel, Dragonwings, and his biography The Lost Garden serve as the core texts....

In the second unit of Module 3A eighth-graders continue their study of forced invisibility by reading a case study of American soldier Louie Zamperini imprisoned by the Japanese and of Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American interned in the US...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the anchor text in a three-unit module that has eighth graders examine how Shakespeare develops the theme of control. Young scholars look at why and how the characters seek control and the results of...

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States takes center stage in a three-unit module that focuses particularly on The Little Rock Nine. Carlotta Walls LaNier’s, A Mighty Long Way, and Shelley Tougas’ photo essay, Little Rock Girl...

In the three units in Grade 8, ELA Module 2A, eighth-graders continue their study of the theme of taking a stand. In Unit 1, scholars develop their close reading skills as they examine speeches of real people taking a stand. They...

What makes stories powerful? That’s the question seventh-graders consider in a three-unit, eight-week module. Scholars analyze how Frederick Douglas, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, uses figurative language and word...

An eight-week module has seventh-graders investigate the impact of the Second Sudanese Civil War on the peoples of Southern Sudan. Using Linda Sue Park’s novel, A Long Walk to Water, and informational texts, young historians learn how to...