English IV

Resources on the web

Weaving the multigenre web

In this lesson, students read novels, analyze the literary elements, and create a multigenre project to present information to their peers. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

So what do you think? Writing a review

After examining samples of movie, music, restaurant, and book reviews, students devise guidelines for writing interesting and informative reviews. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Renaissance Humanism in Hamlet and The Birth of Venus

Students use visual and literary tools to identify, analyze, and explain how elements in Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus and examples from Shakespeare's Hamlet illustrate the philosophy... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Reading literature in translation: "Beowulf" as a case study

This lesson introduces students to the verse form and poetic techniques used in various translations of Beowulf. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

A poem of possibilities: Thinking about the future

Inspired by John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player,&rdquo each student creates a poem or prose poem presenting a vivid picture of who he or she will be five years in the future. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Paying attention to technology: Exploring a fictional technology

This lesson asks students to complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology and then compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology (such as 1984, Brave New... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9 and 11–12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Monsters

In this lesson, from ARTSEDGE, students use Beowulf to investigate views about “monsters” in society. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Music Education)

Provided by: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Literary scrapbooks online: An electronic reader-response project

This lesson leads students to reflect on and respond to literature by creating an online scrapbook. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

In literature, interpretation is the thing

This lesson challenges students to examine the relationship between the text and a reader’s interpretation. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Identifying and understanding the fallacies used in advertising

Students examine the fallacies that they encounter daily through exposure to advertising. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Geography and history in songs

Students look at some historical paintings on the Internet and describe the things the paintings reveal about the places depicted in the paintings. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: National Geographic

From Dr. Seuss to Jonathan Swift: Exploring the history behind the satire

In this lesson, after exploring the historical allusions in Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book, the whole class discusses the history behind a passage from Gulliver’s Travels. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Focus on first lines: Increasing comprehension through prediction strategies

In this lesson, students examine opening sentences in literary works and make predictions about the content of the texts they will read later. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying": Crossing the River

Students consider the symbolism of the river crossing in As I Lay Dying and how Faulkner's use of multiple narrative perspectives relates to the author's thematic concerns. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: 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)

Provided by: National Endowment for the Humanities

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)

Provided by: National Endowment for the Humanities

Draft letters: Improving student writing through critical thinking

This lesson challenges students to think critically about their writing on a specific assignment before submitting their work to a reader. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

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)

Provided by: 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... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Audio broadcasts and podcasts: Oral storytelling and dramatization

In this lesson, students explore the historical information surrounding the broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds and develop criteria for producing their own podcast of a literary work. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE