English III

Jonathan Edwards and the art of persuasion

In this lesson, students will study the elements of persuasive writing in Jonathan Edward's “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” according to the following criteria: speaker, audience, occasion, and means of persuasion, and then analyze a contemporary piece of writing, such as an advertisement, for similar elements.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

By Dave Guiley.

One, Two, Three...Go POE!

In this lesson, students will be able to compare and contrast three short stories they have read by Edgar Allan Poe. The assignment will be divided into three parts: (1) They will have read and discussed or completed other classroom activities on each of the three stories. (2) They will work in small groups to brainstorm and create comparison/contrast charts that will be shared with the class. (3) Students will create their own graphic organizers based on the ideas shared in step two and then create a draft and final paper.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

By Janie Peak.

Selecting Evidence to Support an Argument

This is a strategy lesson to teach students how to select evidence from a text to support an argument for an essay. It was designed to take two class periods and is comprised of three mini-lessons; these lessons include teacher modeling strategy to large group, student practice with strategy in small groups, and student practice with strategy individually on what will ultimately be the essay that they write.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

By Caroline Sain.

Lesson plans on the web

Analyzing the purpose and meaning of political cartoons

In this lesson, students evaluate political cartoons for their meaning, message, and persuasiveness. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 and 11 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Analyzing the stylistic choices of political cartoonists

In this lesson, students learn terminology that describes comics and political (or editorial) cartoons and discuss how the cartoonists' choices influence the messages that they communicate. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 and 11 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Argument, persuasion, or propaganda? Analyzing World War II posters

In this lesson that can be used in both English and social studies classes, students analyze World War II posters to explore how argument, persuasion, and propaganda differ. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Audio listening practices: Exploring personal experiences with audio texts

In this lesson designed to develop students’ involvement with media literacy, students keep a daily diary that records how and when they listen to radio, music (e.g., songs on MP3 players, podcasting), and other streaming media or archived broadcasts. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–11 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

A Biography Study: Using Role-Play to Explore Authors' Lives

In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students select American authors to research. They create timelines and biopoems about their authors and then collaborate in teams to design and present a panel presentation where they role-play their authors. The final project requires each student to synthesize information about his or her author in an essay that will be posted online at the U.S. Literary Map Project website. Extension activities include writing a formal research paper and reading other works by the selected authors.

(Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Broken worlds

This lesson, one of a multi-part unit from ARTSEDGE, provides a variety of options for conducting comparative analysis between two plays. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 Theatre Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provider: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Building Vietnam War scavenger hunts through web-based inquiry

After reading a book about the Vietnam War, students, working in small groups, adopt the perspective of members of a group involved in the war (e.g., soldier, nurse, doctor, photojournalist, TV reporter) and conduct Internet research to explore how that particular group was affected. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Computer Technology Skills)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Connotation, character, and color imagery in The Great Gatsby.

Students explore the cultural connotations of the colors associated with the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and write a character analysis based on their findings. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Copyright infringement or not? The debate over downloading music

In this lesson, students investigate the controversial topic of downloading music from the Internet as part of a persuasive debate unit. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Cultural change

Students examine the arguments used to win the vote for American women and explore the cultural dimension of these arguments. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 10–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Decoding “The Matrix”: Exploring dystopian characteristics through film

In this lesson, students are introduced to the definition and characteristics of a dystopian work by watching video clips from The Matrix and other dystopian films. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Designing museum exhibits for “The Grapes of Wrath”: A multigenre project

In this lesson, students read The Grapes of Wrath and create multigenre projects that explore issues from the Depression era. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the unreliable biographers

Students become literary sleuths, attempting to separate biographical reality from myth. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Exploring audience and purpose with a single issue

In this lesson, students explore the rhetorical concept of audience and purpose by focusing on an issue that divided Americans in 1925—the debate of evolution versus creationism raised by the Scopes Monkey Trial. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Families in Bondage

Uses letters written by African Americans in slavery and by free blacks to loved ones still in bondage to give students a glimpse into slavery and its effects on African American family life. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying": Burying Addie's Voice

Students consider the role of Addie Bundren in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, the effect she has on the other characters, and the impact created by Faulkner's use of multiple narrative perspectives on revelation of character and exploration of themes. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

From Friedan forward—considering a feminist perspective

In this lesson that focuses on feminism, students are challenged to think about how opinions develop and change based on such things as age, experience, time, and place. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE