By closely reading historical documents and attempting to interpret them, students consider how Arthur Miller interpreted the facts of the Salem witch trials and how he successfully dramatized them in his play, "The Crucible." As they explore historical materials, such as the biographies of key players (the accused and the accusers) and transcripts of the Salem Witch trials themselves, students will be guided by aesthetic and dramatic concerns: In what ways do historical events lend themselves (or not) to dramatization? What makes a particular dramatization of history effective and memorable?

This is a lesson for preschool students. In this lesson, students will learn about the importance of eating healthy and how to make good food choices. They will learn about the five food groups and be able to categorize food into the correct food groups. This lesson follows the following core standards: Strand 4: Nutritions- Students will understand why food choices are important, Standard HE 4.1 Identify a variety of healthy foods, Standard HE 4.2-Identify healthy food and begin to categorize into food groups, Standard 4.3  Try new foods from a variety of food groups.Image Citation: food healthy flyer landscape by yellow bananas from Canva created by Suzanne McMillan

We are naturally curious about the lives (and deaths) of authors, especially those, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce, who have left us with so many intriguing mysteries. But does biographical knowledge add to our understanding of their works? And if so, how do we distinguish between the accurate detail and the rumor; between truth and exaggeration? In this lesson, students become literary sleuths, attempting to separate biographical reality from myth. They also become careful critics, taking a stand on whether extra-literary materials such as biographies and letters should influence the way readers understand a writer's texts.

In celebration of Day of the Dead, listen to 2020 New Mexico Poet Laureate, Levi Romero, explore the meaning of remembrance in his poem “El día 29 de Agosto.” This video is one of the 2021 Dead Poets Open Mic Series created by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in collaboration with Mouthfeel Press.

When students are given the opportunity to express themselves, they need creative options and a variety of formats available to meet their needs. See how AI supports the student's content through design and publishing process in tools like Sway and Stream to allow students to share professionally designed work without wasting time and energy on executive tasks.

Emily Dickinson's poetry often reveals a child-like fascination with the natural world. She writes perceptively of butterflies, birds, and bats and uses lucid metaphors to describe the sky and the sea.

English Literature: Victorians and Moderns is an anthology with a difference. In addition to providing annotated teaching editions of many of the most frequently-taught classics of Victorian and Modern poetry, fiction and drama, it also provides a series of guided research casebooks which make available numerous published essays from open access books and journals, as well as several reprinted critical essays from established learned journals such as English Studies in Canada and the Aldous Huxley Annual with the permission of the authors and editors. Designed to supplement the annotated complete texts of three famous short novels: Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, each casebook offers cross-disciplinary guided research topics which will encourage majors in fields other than English to undertake topics in diverse areas, including History, Economics, Anthropology, Political Science, Biology, and Psychology. Selections have also been included to encourage topical, thematic, and generic cross-referencing. Students will also be exposed to a wide-range of approaches, including new-critical, psychoanalytic, historical, and feminist.

In this lesson, students will look behind the story at the historical, social, and cultural circumstances that shape the narrative throughout Esperanza Rising. The lesson also invites students to contemplate some of the changes Esperanza undergoes as she grows into a responsible young woman and the contradictions that she experiences.

Practice working with elementary documents by comparing accounts of the Chicago Fire and testing the credibility of a Civil War diary.

This lesson plan is the third in the "Incredible Bridges: Poets Creating Community" series. It provides a video of the United State Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, reading the poem "Every Day We Get More Illegal" and a companion lesson with a sequence of activities for use with secondary students before, during, and after reading to help them enter and experience the poem.

This lesson explores how The Giver addresses issues of personal identity, memory, and the value of reading and education. It also examines how this newer read relates to other famous classics in this genre and books that students may have read on their own.

This lesson utilizes the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation (UIT) tale, “The Eye Juggler Coyote” to enhance comprehension skills, provide an introduction to how force affects motion and give information about the UIT. The students will read the tale and then use the story to learn about gravity and balanced forces. The connection of the Ute people to the bison will also be explored. The Ute people tell stories about Coyote and other animals to their children. Based on Coyote’s mistakes, the elders teach children about proper behavior and positive attitudes. The lessons learned help them avoid making the same mistakes Coyote made and suffering the consequences in their own lives.

One of the most famous political speeches on freedom in the twentieth century was delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union message to Congress. This lesson examines the rhetorical use of "freedom" with the objective of encouraging students to glimpse the broad range of hopes and aspirations that are expressed in the call of and for freedom.

As some of the foundational texts for beginning readers, fairy tales are a staple of many classrooms. This lesson allows students to engage with fairy tales from different regions around the world and compare important cultural elements of these stories.

Fairy Tales offer a common theme for early learners.  Students are able to follow along with the story and characters and what is happening.  Help students identify the main parts of a story (characters, setting, theme, problem, events, solution) in stories that they read.  Then have students create their own fairy tale story.Materials: Fairy Tale TemplateBook(s): The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka, The Paperbag Princess by Robert N. Munsch, Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'MalleyLesson Plan:1. After reading familiar fairy tales and storie with students, have them identify characters, setting, theme, problem, events, and solution.  2. Share some "other" fairy tale stories from the books suggested above.  3. Let students brainstorm and come up with ideas they would like to use for their own fairy tale stories.  Have them use the Fairy Tale Template to help them organize their storyies and share ideas with others.4. You can have students write with partners or on their own to create their stories.  Allow them time to make an illustration as well.  Display their stories and allow for time to share their stories outloud with others.

Research project and presentation based on the novel The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom. 

This lesson is designed to help middle school students understand the Fantasy Genre in literature.  What makes fantasy different than realistic fiction or historical fiction.  They will learn the elements of fantasy and then act out a short 5 minute fantasy using those elements.  

Caring for the Earth is an important part of responsible decision-making and global citizenship. Our Father Sky and Mother Earth provide for our most basic needs. We need to protect and care for our environment. Through this lesson, students will strengthen thier social and emotional learning skills by reading a Navajo legend - "Father Sky and Mother Earth." Student will explore how they can be good stewards of the Earth and Sky in protecting our natural resources. 

William Faulkner's self-proclaimed masterpiece, As I Lay Dying, originally published in 1930, is a fascinating exploration of the many voices found in a Southern family and community. The following curriculum unit examines the novel's use of multiple voices in its narrative.

This is a short video describing what some of the aspects of the Fantasy Genre. It is engaging for upper elementary and lower middle school aged students. It touches on magic, other worlds, magic creatures, quest, good vs evil.