English IV

English Historical Newsletter Project

This is the major research activity for my senior English students enrolled in MHS average English. It is a term-long project that coincides with their ongoing thematic portfolios in British literature. These portfolios with other class ingredients (including this research activity) culminate in a final showcase portfolio which is their final exam. Students pick (first come, first served) from a list of decades (i.e. 1790-99, 1800-1809, etc.) and become an English subject of that decade. In this role, they are to publish a documented newsletter reflecting a week (covering 10 areas) of their life in the decade. They must also generate an annotated bibliography to document their multiple types of sources (20). Students must report on 3 required items (popular writer's latest effort, a new invention from the decade and a new clothing fashion). The remaining 7 areas come from a supplied list: a concert they attended, a new medical discovery, etc.

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

By Joe Huddleston.

The Great Chaucer Challenge: A cooperative learning game to review the Prologue

This game employs the cooperative learning group format to review thoroughly Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales and "The Pardoner's Tale" and "The Nun's Priest's Tale."

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

By Julie Shaw.

Listen to a Poem

Use the poems "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and "Sea Fever" to teach the poetic devices of rhythm, meter and scansion.

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

By Linda McBane.

The Trial of Hamlet

In this lesson students have the chance to research courtroom procedure to try Hamlet for the murder of Polonius. Then, with some students in the roles of characters from the play, the class will conduct the trial of Shakespeare's most famous anti-hero.

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

By Ross White.

Lesson plans on the web

Analyzing character in "Hamlet" through epitaphs

Students compose epitaphs for deceased characters in Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, paying particular attention to how their words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provider: 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)

Provider: 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)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

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)

Provider: 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)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

An introduction to “Beowulf”: Language and poetics

This lesson provides an introduction to the Old English language and the poetics of Beowulf. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

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)

Provider: 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, Music Education, and English Language Arts)

Provider: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

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 World, and Fahrenheit 451. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Propaganda techniques in literature and online political ads

This lesson suggests using Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to introduce students to propaganda techniques used in literature and popular culture. This short unit would be appropriate to use with various novels and when discussing advertising campaigns used in government elections. (Learn more)

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

Provider: 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)

Provider: 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 of Renaissance Humanism. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 12 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

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)

Provider: IRA/NCTE