OUTLINES FOR CONCEPTUAL UNITS
If you would like to recommend additional titles for this list, please send the title, author, and appropriate unit to smago@uga.edu. If you have a whole outline (texts and key concepts and problems) for a unit not listed here, please send it along as well, and I'll be happy to credit you. And if you have any Handy Links that I've overlooked, I'd be grateful if you'd share them with me. Thanks!
Also: Please keep in mind that this project is a work in progress. Some of the units--or perhaps all of them--are still under construction. I always appreciate your comments and suggestions on how to improve and expand them.
This page provides outlines for conceptual units of instruction of the sort found in the Virtual Library of Conceptual Units. For each unit I provide a set of possible texts and a possible conceptual focus. Keep in mind that my intention here is to suggest possibilities rather than to prescribe a curriculum; there are many other units that you could develop, and different texts and focuses for each of the units that I outline. The lists of texts are intended to be responsive to a range of readers in terms of age, reading ability, interests, and so on, so that the unit themes could be adapted to readers of different grade levels, communities, etc. The lists include both canonical works and less familiar texts, including literature, film, and popular music. There are far more texts listed than you would ever teach in any single unit; rather, the idea is to provide an idea of what is possible for teaching a particular theme. I would always hope that any teacher using these lists would use her own knowledge and imagination to make the instruction work for her own students and circumstances.
I've also tried to make this site as versatile as possible. In addition to the links to websites related to the various themes, I've linked (when possible) each text to an online version so that you can preview the literature when considering possibilities. I've further provided links to images and news stories that fit with each unit focus. And wherever possible, I link themes to teen writing available on the web.
DIRECTORY OF CONCEPTUAL UNIT OUTLINES
THEMES
Adolescent Relationships
The
American Dream
The Banality of Evil
Censorship
Changing Times
Coming of Age
Conflict
with Authority
Coping with Loss
Courageous
Action
Cultural Conflict
Discrimination
The Family
Friends and
Enemies
Gangs, Cliques, and Peer Pressure
Gender
Roles
Generations
Immigration
Influences on Personality
Justice
The Leader
Loss of Innocence
Love
Loyalty
Mental
Health and Mental Illness
New Kid on the Block
Optimism and Pessimism
The
Outcast
Progress
The
Psychology of British Literary Characters: From Chaucer to the Moderns
The Puritan Ethic
The Quest for
Power
Responsibility
Rites
of Passage
Self Reliance
Social
Responsibility
Success
Taking
Perspective
Technology, Nature, and Society
Terrorist or Freedom Fighter?
Time
Travelers
Utopias and Dystopias
Values under Stress
War
and Peace
GENRES & ARCHETYPES
Allegory
Comedy
The
Detective
The Epic Hero
The
Folk Hero
Frontier Literature
Gothic
Literature
Hard-Boiled
The
Journey
Metafiction
Mystery
The Mythic Hero
Mythology
New Perspectives on Old Stories
Parody
The Picaresque Hero
Pinkbooks
Protest Literature
Pulp
Fiction
Romance
Satire
Science Fiction
Street
Fiction
Travel Writing
The
Tragic Hero
The Trickster
The
Western
Wilderness Adventures
STRATEGIES
Animals as Symbols
Character
as Symbol
Characterizing an Author's
Style
Connotation and Imagery
Irony
Persuasion
Point
of View
Prediction
Propaganda
Reading Media
LITERARY
PERIODS
British Aestheticism
and Decadence
British Age of Sensibility
(or Age of [Samuel] Johnson)
British Augustan Age
(or Age of [Alexander] Pope)
British Caroline
Age
British Commonwealth Period (or Puritan
Interregnum)
British Edwardian Period
British Elizabethan Age
British
Middle English Period
British Modern Period
British Neoclassical Period
British
Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period
British Renaissance
British Restoration
British
Romantic Period
British Victorian Period
Classic Greek Period (800-200 BCE)
Classic
Homeric or Heroid Period (1200-800 BCE)
Classic Patristic
Period (c. 70 CE-455 CE)
Classic Roman Period (200 BCE-455
CE)
U.S. Beat Generation
U.S.
Colonial Period
U.S. Contemporary Period
U.S. Counterculture
U.S.
Early National Period
U.S. Harlem Renaissance
U.S. Jazz Age
U.S. Lost Generation
U.S. Modernist Period
U.S.
Revolutionary Age
MOVEMENTS
Amatory fiction
The
Augustans
Black Arts Movement
Black
Mountain Poets
Bloomsbury Group
Cavalier
Poets
Chicago Renaissance
Confessional
poetry
Dada
Dark Romanticism
The Enlightenment
Existentialism
Imagism
The Lost
Generation
Magical Realism
Metaphysical
Poets
Minimalism
Modernism
Naturalism
New
York School
Nihilism
Oulipo
Postcolonialism
Postmodernism
Pre-Raphaelitism
Realism
Romanticism
Southern
Agrarians/New Critics
Stream of Consciousness
Surrealism
Transcendentalism
REGIONS
A
Sense of Place
British Lake Poets
Literature, Music, Images, and Tastes of the U.S. States
Southern Fiction
AUTHORS
Author
Links
Shakespeare
Handy Links
Adolescent
Romantic Relationships by Sarah Sorensen
Affairs
of the Heart Matter to Boys, Too, Sociologists Find
Adolescent
Romantic Relationships as Precursors of Healthy Adult Marriages
In
the Virtual Library, see:
The
Spectrum of Relationships (1998) by Dana Miller and Amanda Moneyhan
Relationships
(1999) by Charlie Hollingshead and Sandra Wood
The Youth Perspective:
A Study of Literature from Young Adults by Young Adults (2000) by Badia Askari
Making
Connections (2000) by Jennifer Swann & brian williams
Peeling off our
Labels: Changing Minds and Changing Lives (2002) by Melissa Leanne Givens
R-E-S-P-E-C-T:
Finding Out What It Means to Me--A six-week unit on respect (2003) by Phaedra
Adu, Shenika Glenn, Ruth Johnson, & Emily Moore
Life Paths
and Destinations: Toward Meaningful Textual Transactions for a 12th Grade British
Literature Class (2005) by Jeremy T Headrick
Negotiating Boundaries:
Making it Through Adolescence Alive (2005) by Ronnie Ficco
Recognizing
and Resolving Problems: Connecting Students to Their World (2006) by Helene Halstead
Rebirth
(2000) by Kasey Barrett, Tara Dean, Amanda Endres, Julie Stinchcomb
Online
Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Media Literacy: Examining the World of Lizzie McGuire
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: The Search for Self: Voices of Adolescence in Literature
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute : Discovering the Voice Within: Encouraging Students
to See Themselves as Writers
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Uncovering Your Students' Authentic Voice
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Survivor: Not Just a TV Show -- An exploration of the
character traits of survivors of the teenage years
Novels
Sapphire:
Push
Songs
Shakur,
Tupac: Brenda's Gotta Baby
Images
of Adolescent Relationships
Key Concepts and Problems: What sorts of
relationships do young adults develop? With whom do they develop them? To what
is it extent to characterize a relationship as "healthy" or "unhealthy"?
What factors contribute to good relationships? What can undermine a relationship?
How can young adults consider the quality of their relationships through reading
and producing texts?
Handy Links
Wikipedia
entry on the American Dream
The
American Dream and Experience in Literature
American
Dream Bibliography
Quest
for the American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun
In the Virtual Library,
see:
Working
Within/Against Our Limitations as Americans (1998) by Tiffany Lee and Kathryn
Johnson
The
American Social Drama (1999) by Jobie Johnson
Exploring
Struggle in American Plays (2000) by Heather V. Rachmuth & William J. Shuler,
Jr.
The
American Dream: Fact or Fiction? (2001) by Jennifer Howell
The
American Dream (2001) by Jay Blanton, Heather Wicker and Brad Williams
Beyond
Tacos and Pinatas: A Unit On Hispanic Literature (2001) by Beth Wright, Stephanie
Rosenberg, Kelly Hellman, Angie Furney
Passing
to the American Dream (2002) by Jennifer Bogdanich and Erin Butler
Ideal
Destruction: Constructing Realistic American Dreams (2002) by Rebecca Moon
Bridging
the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip Hop Movement (2003) by Kristy Mulkey & Kasha
Wharton
The
American Dream and The American Reality of the Jazz Age (2004) by Melissa Page
East
Asian American Literature: A Unit of Study and Lesson Plan (2004) by Ian Altman
& Nick Tang
Outsider
American Literature (2005) by Casey Nissenbaum & Annie Tremoulis
Working Against
Mainstream Culture: The Voices of Two Female African American Authors from The
Harlem Renaissance to the Present (2005) by Sarah Segrest
Contemporary
African American Literature (2005) by Kristal Stripling
Online Lesson
Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Varying Views of America
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: American Voices: The Varied Carols We Sing
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Hearing Latino Voices in American Literature as a Way
for Students to Understand Their Own Hispanic Identity
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Voces Latinas: Cultural Identity through Poetry and
Lyrics
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: The Photographed Environment in America
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Latino Cultures and Communities
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Representations of American Culture, 1760-1960: Art
and Literature
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Race and Ethnicity in Contemporary Art and Literature
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Other Voices - Latino and Chicano Literature and Identity
in America
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Epic, Romance and the American Dream
Learn
NC: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s “I Have A Dream” speech
Learn
NC: Paving the Road to the Constitution
Learn
NC: "We the People"
Learn
NC: "The American Dream"
Learn
NC: The Declaration of Independence
Learn
NC: "I Declare, I believe this document May Flower!"
Learn
NC: Hamilton and Burr: Compare and contrast
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's Pen
search engine for writing by teens about patriotism
Poetry
Hughes,
Langston: I, Too, Sing America
Sandburg,
Carl: Cool Tombs
Sassoon, Siegfried: The Case for the Miners
Teasdale,
Sara: Barter
Whitman, Walt: I
Hear America Singing, Song of
Myself, Song of the Open Road
Williams,
William Carlos: Pastoral
Short Story
Gordon, Roxy: Pilgrims
Owens, Louis: Soul-Catcher
Tallmountain, Mary Randle: Tender Street
Novels
Amis, Martin: Money
Bellow, Saul: The Adventures of Augie March
Burns, Olive Ann: Cold Sassy Tree
Cooper,
James Fenimore: The Deerslayer
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister
Carrie, An
American Tragedy
Ellison, Ralph: Invisible Man, Juneteenth
Erdrich,
Louise: The Beet Queen, The Bingo Palace, Love Medicine
Fitzgerald,
F. Scott: The Great Gatsby
Kesey, Ken: Sometimes a Great Notion
Lewis, Sinclair: Babbitt
Mailer,
Norman: An American Dream
Miller, Sue: Family Pictures
Mitchell, Margaret:
Gone with the Wind
Momaday, N. Scott: House Made of Dawn
Morrison, Toni:
Beloved
Proulx, E. Annie: The Shipping News
Redding, J. Saunders: Stranger
and Alone
Rolvaag, O. E.: Pure Gold
Twain, Mark: The
Gilded Age, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
Tyler, Anne: Saint Maybe
Updike, John: Rabbit Run
Wharton,
Edith: Ethan Frome
Wright, Richard: Native Son
Nonfiction
American
Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology
Bradford,
William: The Mayflower Compact
Faulkner,
William: Nobel Prize acceptance speech
Hamilton,
Alexander, Madison, James, and Jay, John: The Federalist Papers
Jefferson,
Thomas: Declaration of Independence
Kennedy,
John Fitzgerald: Inaugural address
King,
Martin Luther: Christmas sermon on peace
The
Lincoln Douglas debates
Malcolm
X: Message to the Grass Roots
Moon, William Least Heat: Blue Highways
Obama,
Barack: Speech on Race (a.k.a. "A More Perfect Union")
Rawick,
George P. (Ed.): The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography
Thoreau,
Henry David: Walden
Steinbeck, John: Travels with Charley
Whitman,
Walt: Democratic Vistas
Drama
Albee, Edward: The American Dream
Miller, Arthur: The Death of a Salesman
Serling,
Rod: Requiem for a Heavyweight
Autobiographies
Brown, Claude: Manchild
in the Promised Land
Cofer, Judith Oritz: Silent Dancing
Dillard, Annie:
An American Childhood
Franklin,
Ben: Autobiography
Hellman, Lillian: An Unfinished Woman
Kingston,
Maxine Hong: The Woman Warrior
Powell, Colin: My American Journey: An Autobiography
Graphic
Novels/Manga
Kaiji Kawaguchi: Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President
Grant
Morrison, John Dell, Howard Porter: JLA Vol. 2: American Dreams
Films
Citizen Kane
The Godfather Trilogy
It's a Wonderful Life
Meet John
Doe
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Songs
Trick
Daddy: Thug Holiday
Key Concepts and Problems
What is the American
Dream? What is American about it? To what extent is it relative to time and place?
To what extent is it stable and enduring? How can the dream turn into a nightmare?
How can it be an illusion? With what does the American Dream come in conflict?
Handy
Links:
Wikipedia
entry on the Millgram experiment
The
Evil of Banality by Michael Rothbard
Wikipedia
entry on the Nuremberg Trials
Wikipedia
entry on the My Lai massacre
Wikipedia
entry on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal
Wikipedia
entry on the Stanford Prison Experiment
Kosovo
- The "Banality of Evil" by Gilles d'Aymery
Wikipedia
entry on the Panopticon
Wikipedia
entry on the Kymer Rouge
Wikipedia
entry on Ethnic Cleansing
Wikipedia
entry on the Pogroms
Wikipedia
entry on the Irish Potato Famine
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Investigating the Holocaust: A Collaborative Inquiry Project
Writing
by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about the Holocaust
Poetry
Heyen,
William: Shoah Train (collection of poems)
Short Stories
Jackson,
Shirley: The Lottery
Novels
Bradbury, Ray: Farenheit 451
Clark,
Walter Van Tilburg: The Oxbow Incident
Dick, P. K.: Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep?
Giordano, Mario: Black Box
Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
Le Guin,Ursula K.: The Dispossessed
Rendell, Ruth: 13 Steps Down
Sleater,
William: The House of Stairs
Strasser, Todd: The Wave
Twelve Hawks, John:
The Traveler
Drama
Rose, Reginald: 12 Angry Men
Film
American Experience: The Nuremberg Trials
Judgment at Nuremberg
The Oxbow
Incident
The Specialist
Das Experiment
Conspiracy
High Noon
Blade
Runner
Song
Destroy:
Banality of Evil
Genesis:
Just a job to do
Pink
Floyd: On the Turning Away
Sylvian,
David: The Banality of Evil
Graphic Novels/Manga
Spiegelman, Art:
Maus: A Survivor's Tale; Maus II: From Mauschwitz to the Catskills
Osamu Tezuka:
Adolf
Comics
Doonesbury
8-16-08
Images of the Banality of Evil
News Stories on the Banality of Evil
Key Concepts and Questions: What is the banality of evil? What is the individual's role in relation to authority? What responsibility do individuals have when groups act in ways that can be considered evil? Are individuals evil when they do not contest the behavior of the groups they belong to if they think that behavior is wrong? Is there a clear answer to the degree of responsibility an individual bears for uncontested group behavior?
Handy Links
Wikipedia
entry on Censorship
Censorship,
the Internet, Intellectual Freedom, and Youth
American
Library Association Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A
Free
Speech
The Censorship
Pages
In the Virtual Library, see:
Testing
the Boundaries: A Unit on Censorship in America (2002) by Valerie Aveni, Erica
Barbakow, Meg Ingram, & Bonnie Stewart
Censorship:
Breach of Freedom or Exception to the Rule? (2004) by Molly Livingston
Looking at Our Past and Our Present through
Our Future: Expanding and Interpreting Text (2007) by Carrie Greynolds
Online
Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Censorship in the Classroom: Understanding Controversial Issues
Read-Write-Think:
Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language: Examining the Pledge of Allegiance
Learn
NC: Defining Risk: A Search for Theme in Fahrenheit 451
Key Concepts and Questions: Why are books and other texts banned? What is the difference between censorship and other forms of text banning? What does the banning of a text reveal about the people who want it banned? What does it reveal about the text itself? What can and should people do when censorship takes place? Why should we care whether a text is banned or not?
Handy
Links:
Tradition
vs. Change: The South Valley in the 21st Century
In the Virtual Library,
see:
Humanity
and Voice in Literature: Building Bridges among the Past, Present, and Future
(2003) by Katherine Dodd, Elizabeth Garrard, & Audrey Welshhans
Poetry
Arnold, Matthew: The
Buried Life, Dover
Beach, Stanzas
from the Grand Chartreuse
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: AEolian
Harp, Dejection:
An Ode
Hardy,
Thomas: The Darkling Thrush
Keats, John: Ode
on a Grecian Urn, To
Autumn
Masters, Edgar Lee: Spoon
River Anthology
Yeats,
William Butler: The Second Coming
Short Stories
Faulkner, William:
Go Down, Moses
Irving, Washington:
Rip Van Winkle
Anderson,
Sherwood: Winesburg, Ohio
Novels
Achebe, Chinua: Things Fall Apart
Aluko, T. M.: One Man, One Wife
Faulkner, William: The Hamlet, The Town,
The Mansion, The Rievers
Kesey, Ken: Sometimes a Great Notion
Lampedusa,
Giuseppe di: The Leopard
Mahfouz, Naguib: Midaq Alley
Marquez, Gabriel
Garcia: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Mitchell, Margaret: Gone with the Wind
Paton, Alan: Cry, the Beloved Country
Tarkington, Booth: The Magnificent
Ambersons
Wharton,
Edith: Age of Innocence
Wolfe, Thomas: You Can't Go Home Again
Autobiographies
Eastman,
Charles Alexander: From the Deep Woods to Civilization
Mandela,
Nelson: Long Walk to Freedom
Drama
Hellman, Lillian: The Little
Foxes
Wilder, Thornton: Our Town
Williams, Tennessee: The
Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire
Films
The Last Picture
Show
Water (Deepa Mehta, Dir.)
The Misfits
Song
Haggard,
Merle: Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?
Shakur,
Tupac: Changes
Shakur,
Tupac: Keep Ya Head Up
Springsteen,
Bruce: Glory Days
Key Concepts and Problems
How has society changed
over time? What are the old values and conditions? What are the new values and
conditions? What has caused these changes? How do the characters adapt to the
changes? What is the author saying about human nature through the action in the
story?
Handy Links:
Wikepedia
entry on Coming of Age
In the Virtual Library, see:
Coming
of Age (1998) by John Melton
Coming
of Age (1998) by Scott Porter and Don Horacek
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Gaining Background for the Graphic Novel Persepolis: A WebQuest on Iran
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Coming of Age in Ethnic America
Writing by
Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about coming of age
Poem
Cofer, Judith Ortiz:
Crossings
Short Stories
Anderson,
Sherwood: I'm a Fool
Chukovski, Nicolai: The Bridge
Hurst, James:
The Scarlet Ibis
Lessing, Doris: Through the Tunnel, A Sunrise on the Veld
McCullers, Carson: Like That
Munro, Alice: Red Dress
Updike, John:
A & P
Walker, Alice: Everyday Use
Wright, Richard: The Man Who Was
Almost a Man
Novels
Alcott,
Louisa May: Little Women
Arguedas, Jose Maria: Deep Rivers
Baldwin,
James: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Bennett, Kay: Kaibah
Conway, Jill
Ker: Road from Coorain
Dorris, Michael: Guests
Grass, Gunter: The Tin
Drum
Guest, Judith: Ordinary People
J-Love: That White Girl
Kincaid,
Jamaica: At the Bottom of the River
Kingsolver, Barbara: Bean Trees
Knowles,
John: A Separate Peace
Laye, Camara: The Dark Child
Le Guin, Ursula:
Very Far Away from Anywhere Else
McCullers, Carson: The Heart is a Lonely
Hunter
Milosz, Czeslaw: The Issa Valley
Parks, Gordon: The Learning Tree
Paterson, Katherine: Jacob Have I Loved
Rolvaag, O. E.: The Third Life
of Per Smevik
Sister Soulja: Coldest Winter Ever
Twain,
Mark: Tom Sawyer
Autobiographies
Beauvoir, Simone de: Memoirs of
a Dutiful Daughter
Dillard, Annie: An American Childhood
Mitchell, Emerson
Blackhorse: Miracle Hill: The Story of a Navajo Boy
Singer, Isaac Bashevis:
A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw
Films
Wikipedia
Coming of Age Film list
Graphic Novels/Manga
Satrapi, Marjane: Persepolis
Webcomics
Wikipedia
Webcomics links
Key Concepts and Problems
What is the definition of
maturity? What examples of immature behavior do the protagonists exhibit before
their coming of age experiences? What examples of mature behavior do they exhibit
after their coming of age experiences? What is the key incident that causes the
protagonist to change? What particular characteristics does this incident have
that affect the protagonist so profoundly? What are the similarities among the
experiences of the characters in the various stories? How truly do these experiences
reflect those of real people? In what ways does the reader have empathy for the
protagonist? How does this empathy affect the reader's comprehension?
Handy
Links:
Rage
Against the Machine: Media and Youth,Cultures of Violence
Writing by
Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about conflict
The Bible
The
Golden Calf (Exodus 32, 33:1 6)
Poetry
Alexie, Sherman: The Lone
Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Short Stories
Baldwin, James:
The Man Child
Cather,
Willa: The Sentimentality of William Tavener
Deal, Bordon: Antaeus
du Maurier, Daphne: The Old Man
Lavin, Mary: The Story of the Widow's Son
Ortiz, Simon J.: Woman Singing
Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.: Harrison Bergeron
Wright, Richard: The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Novels
Alcott,
Louisa May: Little Women
Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
Louis,
Adrian C.: Skins
Mathews, John Joseph: Sundown
McNickle, D'Arcy: The Surrounded
Orwell, George:
Animal Farm
Potok, Chaim: The Chosen
Steinbeck, John: The Red Pony
Autobiography
Fisher,
Antwone Quenton: Finding Fish
Drama
Chayefsky, Paddy: The Mother
Shakespeare,
William: Romeo and Juliet
Images of Conflict with Authority
Key Concepts and Problems
Who is the
authority figure? What characteristics does this figure have? From what sources
does the authority derive his or her power? What are the characteristics of the
protagonist? What causes them to clash? What is the outcome of the clash? How
is the clash resolved? What does the protagonist learn through the clash?
Handy
Links:
Coping with
Death
Death:
An Inquiry into Man's Mortal Weakness
Young
adult reactions to death in literature and in life
The
WiSSP Resource Library: Coping with Loss in Literature
Literature
and the Healing Arts
In the Virtual Library, see:
Journeys
of Grief: the Quest of War, Inward and Out (2007) by Naomi White
Writing
by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about death
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about funerals
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about loss
Teenlit
writing by teens about 9-11
Wordsmiths:
An Anthology of Writing by Teens on the Web:
Volume No. 44, Remember September 11, Special Edition
Prayers
Last
Rites
Mourner's Kaddish
Poetry
Brooke,
Rupert: The Dead
Browning,
Robert: My Last Duchess
Burns,
Robert: Auld Lang Syne
Dickinson, Emily: Because
I could not stop for Death; I
heard a Fly buzz when I died
Frost, Robert: Out,
Out; After
Apple Picking; Fire and Ice
Gray, Thomas:
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Hopkins,
Gerard Manley: Spring and Fall to a Young Child
Housman,
A. E.: To an Athlete Dying Young
Keats, John: Ode
to a Nightingale, La Belle Dame
Sans Merci
Poe, Edgar Allan: The
Raven, Annabel Lee
Stevens, Wallace:
Domination of Black
Tennyson,
Alfred: In Memoriam
Thomas,
Dylan: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Whitman,
Walt: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed
Short Stories
Borges,
Jorge Luis: The Circular Ruins
Chekhov,
Anton: Enemies
Faulkner, William: A Rose for Emily
Harjo, Joy: The
Woman Who Fell from the Sky
Hemingway, Ernest: Hills Like White Elephants
Joyce, James: The
Dead, A Painful
Case
Kafka, Franz: The Judgment
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia: Tuesday
Siesta
Porter, Katherine Anne: The Grave
Steinbeck,
John: Flight
Novels
Agee, Philip: A Death in the Family
Devoto, Pat Cunningham: My Last Days as Roy Rogers
Guest, Judith: Ordinary
People
Tolstoy, Leo:
The Death of Ivan Ilych
Nonfiction
Baldwin, James: Notes of a Native
Son
Drama
Arrabal, Fernando: Picnic on the Battlefield
Galsworthy,
John: The Apple Tree
Miller, Arthur: A View from the Bridge
Song
Bugguss,
Suzy: Letting Go, In Heaven
Clapton,
Eric: Tears in Heaven
Johnny
Clegg & Savuka: Osiyeza (The Crossing)
McEntire,
Reba: The Greatest Man I Never Knew
Shakur,
Tupac: I Ain't Mad Atcha
Shenendoah, Joanne: Dance of the North
Wolf,
Kate: Medicine Wheel
Key Concepts and Problems
What is lost? What
do the characters lose through the loss? What do they gain? How do the characters
cope with grief? How does their coping affect them? How do they change? How are
the grievers treated by others? How does this treatment affect them? What is the
author saying about the human ability to cope with great loss?
Online
Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Boys Read: Considering Courage in Novels
Read-Write-Think:
Examining Island of the Blue Dolphins through a Literary Lens
National
Geographic: John Brown and the Underground Railroad
Writing by
Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about courage
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about heroism
Teen
Ink writing by teens about heroes
Mythology
Hercules
Poetry
Kipling, Rudyard: Gunga Din
Short
Stories
Agee,
James: A Mother's Tale
Buck, Pearl: Guerilla Mother
Connell,
Richard: The Most Dangerous Game
Freeman,
Mary E. Wilkins: The Revolt of Mother
Hemingway, Ernest: A Day's Wait
London, Jack: To Build
a Fire
Poe,
Edgar Allan: The Cask of Amontillado
Vasconcelos, Jose The Boar Hunt
Novels
Carter, Forrest: The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales
Cather,
Willa: Death Comes to the Archbishop
Crane,
Stephen: The Red Badge of Courage
Ellison, Ralph: Invisible Man
Hemingway,
Ernest: The Old Man and the Sea
Markandaya, Kamala: Nectar in a Sieve
Trumbo,
Dalton: Johnny Got His Gun
Welty, Eudora: The Robber Bridegroom
Autobiographies
Angelou, Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Giovanni, Nikki: Gemeni
Yevtushenko, Yevgeny: A Precocious Autobiography
Drama
Buck, Pearl:
The Rock
Fletcher, Lucille: Sorry, Wrong Number
Nonfiction
Wiesel,
Elie: Night
Films
The Lost Weekend
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Wooden Camera
3:10 to Yuma
Graphic Novels/Manga
Miller, Frank:
300
Key Concepts and Problems
What is the definition
of courage? What key incident tests the protagonist's courage? How does the character
respond to this challenge? Is the character's action courageous? Why or why not?
What values in conflict bring about situations calling for courage? Would a courageous
action in one situation necessarily be regarded as courageous in the context of
another? Why or why not?
Handy Links:
Conflicts
and Challenges of Jewish Culture
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Exploring Language and Identity: Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and
Beyond
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about culture/traditions
Teen
Ink writing by teens about
cultural experiences
Poetry
Chrystos:
Not Vanishing
Hardy, Thomas:
The Man He Killed
Owen, Wilfred: Anthem
for Doomed Youth, Strange
Meeting
Peters, Lenrie: Parachute
Rubadiri,
David: Stanley Meets Mutesa
Short Stories
Achebe, Chinua: A Man
of the People
Buck, Pearl: The Frill
Isherwood, Christopher: The Berlin
Stories
Kipling,
Rudyard: The Man Who Would Be King
Nicol, Abioseh: The Devil at Yolahun
Bridge
Popkes, Opal Lee: Zuma Chowt's Cave
Tapahonso, Luci: The Snakeman
Warrior, Emma Lee: Compatriots
Novels
Alexie, Sherman: Reservation
Blues, Indian Killer
Beti, Mongo: Mission to Kala
Conrad,
Joseph: Heart of Darkness
da Cunha, Euclides: Rebellion in the Backlands
Ekwensi, Cyprian: People of the City
Forster, E. M.: A Passage to India
Gaup, Ailou: In Search of the Drum
Gordimer, Nadine: Livingstone's Companions
Greene, Graham: The Human Factor
James,
Henry: The American
Lawrence,
D. H.: The Plumed Serpent
Louis, Adrian C.: Skins
Mourning Dove:
Cogewea: The Half-Blood
Munonye, John: The Only Son
Orwell,
George: Burmese Days
Power, Susan: The Grass Dancer
Qoyawayma, Polingaysi:
No Turning Back
Scott, Paul: The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion,
The Towers of Silence, A Division of the Spoils
Silko, Leslie Marmon: Ceremony
Tan, Amy: Joy Luck Club
Thiongo, Ngugi wa: The River Between
Nonfiction
(Essays)
Cheng, Nien: Life and Death in Shanghai
Orwell,
George: Shooting an Elephant
Twain,
Mark: Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress
Autobiographies
Danticat, Edwidge: Brother, I'm Dying
Fire Lame Deer, Archie: Gift of
Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man
Rogers, John: Red
World and White
Song
Johnny
Clegg & Savuka: Third World Child
Johnny
Clegg: Orphans of the Empire
Yothu Yindi:
Treaty, Djäpana,
Stop That,
many others
Spoken
Word
Beatty, Daniel: Duality
Duel
Curry, Julian:
Niggers Niggas & Niggaz
Film
Dances with Wolves
Once Upon
a Time in China
Once Upon a Time in China II
Once Upon a Time in China
III
Who am I?
The Wooden Camera
Graphic Novels/Manga
Henry (Yoshitaka)
Kiyama: The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924
Key Concepts and Problems
In what ways are
the cultures different? Is one culture more powerful than the other? If so, in
what way? In the author's view, is one culture superior to the other? If so, in
what ways? Do you agree with the author's judgment? What is the outcome of the
clash? Is the outcome "fair"? Why or why not? How do characters change
as a result of their experience with another culture?
Handy
Links:
The
Invisible People: American Art and Literature Represents the Marginalized and
Disenfranchised
Teaching
the Concept of Equality Through Literature
The
United States of America’s Long Journey: The Concept of Equality in America
from 1619-1863
In the Virtual Library, see:
Social
Stratification and Discrimination (1999) by Jeff Deroshia
Online Lesson
Plans:
Read-Write-Think:
Comic Makeovers: Examining Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Media
Read-Write-Think:
Child Labor: Giving Voice to Child Laborers Through Monologues
Read-Write-Think:
Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action
Read-Write-Think:
Seeing Integration from Different Viewpoints
Read-Write-Think:
Using Picture Books to Explore Identity, Stereotyping, and Discrimination
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Gordon Parks' Photography: Breaking Down Racial Barriers
with Real Life Stories
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: African American History: A Photographic Record
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: The Blues Impulse in Drama: Lessons on Racial Pain
Yale-New Haven Teachers
Institute: Racism and Nativism in American Political Culture
Learn
NC: Respecting differences
Learn
NC: Differences Across the Curriculum: Part 1
Learn
NC: Differences Across the Curriculum: Part 2
Learn
NC: Jim Crow and segregation
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about the elderly
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about handicaps
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about poverty
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about prejudice
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about racism
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about slavery
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about stereotypes
Poems
Maya
Angelou: On the Pulse of Morning
Langston
Hughes: Mother to Son
J.
G. Saxe: The Six Blind Men
Juanita Bell: Indian Children Speak
Soyinka,
Wole: Telephone Conversation
Peter Blue Cloud: The Old Man's Lazy
Len Margaret: Night School
Elizabeth Brewster: Jamie
Alden
Nowlan: He Sits Down on the Floor of a School for the Retarded
Short
Stories
Maria Campbell: Play with Me
Kurt
Vonnegut: Harrison Bergeron
Shirley Jackson: After You, My Dear Alphonse
José Antonio Burciaga: Romantic Nightmare
Ray
Bradbury: All Summer in a Day
Abrahams, Peter: Tell Freedom
Hutchinson,
Alfred: Road to Ghana
Johnson, Dorothy M.: A Man Called Horse
Le Guma,
Alex: Where Are You Walking Around, Man?
Luthuli,
Albert: The Dignity of Man
Muro, Amado: Cecilia Rosa
Thomas, Piri:
Puerto Rican Paradise
Walker, Alice: Everyday Use
Novels
Alexie,
Sherman: Reservation Blues, Indian Killer
Ekhart, Alan: A Sorrow in Our Hearts
Gaines, Ernest: A Lesson Before Dying
Goines, Donald: White Man's Justice,
Black Man's Grief
Greene, Bette: The Drowning of Stephan Jones
Griterson,
David: Snow Falling on Cedars
Hinton, S. E.: The Outsiders
Hurston, Nora
Zeal: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Lee, Harper: To Kill a Mockingbird
Louis, Adrian C.: Skins
Markandaya, Kamala: Nectar in a Sieve
Morrison,
Toni: Beloved, The Bluest Eye
Mourning Dove: Cogewea: The Half-Blood
Silko, Leslie Marmon: Ceremony
Walker, Alice: The Color Purple
Walker,
Margaret: Jubilee
Weisel, Elie: Night
Wright, Richard: Native Son
Nonfiction
(Essays)
Baldwin, James: The Discovery of What It Means to Be an American
Hughes, Langston: Fooling Our White Folks
King,
Martin Luther, Jr.: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Longauex y Vasquez,
Enriqueta: The Mexican American Woman
Redding, Saunders: American Negro Literature
Nonfiction (Books)
Debo, Angie: And Still the Waters Run
Greene,
Melissa Fay: Praying for Sheetrock
Terkel, Studs: Division Street: America
Weatherford, Jack: Native Roots, Indian Givers
Autobiography
Angelou,
Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Frank, Anne: Diary of a Young Girl
Wright, Richard: Black Boy
Drama
Hansberry, Lorraine: A Raisin in the
Sun
Shakespeare,
William: Othello
Shaw, George
Bernard: Pygmalion
Wilson, August: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Films
Clearcut
Crash
Dance Me Outside
Do the Right Thing
Guess
Who's Coming to Dinner?
In the Heat of the Night
The Long Walk Home
Once Were Warriors
Shindler's List
Smoke Signals
Swing Kids
A
Soldier's Story
X-Men
Song
Harry Belafonte: Kwela (Listen to the
Man)
Johnny Clegg:
One (Hu)man, One Vote,
Inevitable Consequence of Progress,
Asimbonanga
Bob Marley &
the Wailers: War
Dave
Matthews Band: Cry Freedom
The
Weavers (and many others): Sixteen Tons
Vanessa
Williams: Colors of the Wind
Documentary Films
Eyes on the
Prize series
Martin Luther King, Jr.: From Memphis to Montgomery
Key Concepts and Problems
Why is the character
being discriminated against? In what ways is the character different from the
group that's discriminating? Does the character want to be accepted? Why or why
not? What forms of discrimination is the character subject to? How is the character
affected by discrimination? How is the conflict resolved? What in the environment
leads to discrimination? What makes discrimination more likely in one environment
than in another?
Handy Links:
The
Traditions, Culture and Family of New Mexico
Wikipedia
entry on Family Life in Literature
In the Virtual Library, see:
Family (2002)
by Emily Davis
The
Dynamics of Family (2002) by Kimberly A. Evans
The
Changing American Family (2004) by Erin Bailey
Relationships:
Authority, Family and Peer (2000) by Patrice Loggins, Rustina Thomas, and Brooke
Taggart
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
The Year I Was Born: An Autobiographical Research Project
Read-Write-Think:
Exploring and Sharing Family Stories
Read-Write-Think:
Investigating Names to Explore Personal History and Cultural Traditions
Read-Write-Think:
My Life/Your Life: A Look at Your Parents’ Past
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Family Finding: Exploring Multicultural Families Using
Film
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: American Family Portraits (Section I)
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: American Family Portraits (Section II)
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Family Ties in Latin American Fiction
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Images of the American Family
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: The Family in Literature
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: The Changing American Family: Historical and Comparative
Perspectives
Learn NC:
Grandparent Interview
Learn
NC: Family Story with Research
National
Endowment for the Humanities: Families in Bondage
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's Pen
search engine for writing by teens about brothers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about divorce
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about the elderly
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about the family
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about fathers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about home
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about marriage
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about parents
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about pets
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about siblings
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about sisters
Teen
Voices Online: Guatemalan Girls Raise Their “Voces de Cambio”: Mothers
Poetry
Bode, Carl: The Bad Children
Brooks, Gwendolyn: The
Children of the Poor
Carver,
Raymond: Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year
Dickey, James:
The Bee
Hayden,
Robert: Those Winter Sundays
Roethke,
Theodore: My Papa's Waltz
Plath, Sylvia: Daddy,
The
Disquieting Muses
Short Stories
Bambara, Toni Cade: Raymond's Run
Boles, Paul Darcy: The Night Watch
Chekhov,
Anton: Enemies
Freeman,
Mary E. Wilkins: The Revolt of Mother
Gray, Nicholas Stuart: The Star
Beast
Hesse,
Hermann: A Man by the Name of Ziegler
Jackson, Charles: A Night Visitor
Kelley, William Melvin: Brother Carlyle
Morrison, Toni: Recitatif
Steinbeck, John:
Flight
Stuart, Jesse: Love
Williams,
William Carlos: The Use of Force
Novels
Allende, Isabel: House of
the Spirits
Bell, Betty Louise: Faces in the Moon
Blue, Rose: Goodbye,
Forever Tree
Burns, Olive Ann: Cold Sassy Tree
Cross, Gillian: On the
Edge
Dorris, Michael: Morning Girl
Irwin, Hadley: What About Grandma?
Lamott, Anne: Rosie, Crooked Little Heart
Maloney, Ray: The Impact Zone
Mazer, Norma Fox: Three Sisters
Smiley, Jane: A Thousand Acres
Stowe,
Harriet Beecher: Uncle Tom's Cabin
Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club
Autobiographies
Allende, Isabel: Paula
Angelou, Maya: Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin'
Merry Like Christmas, Gather Together in My Name
May, Lee: In My Father's
Garden
McBride, James: The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White
Mother
McCourt, Frank: Angela's Ashes
Schlissel, Lillian (ed.): Women's
Diaries of the Westward Journey
Nonfiction
Griffin, Garah Jasmine (Ed.):
Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends
Drama
Shepard, Sam: Paris, Texas
Film
A River Runs Through It
Soul Food
Song:
Jackson,
Alan: Please Daddy don't get drunk this Christmas
Shakur,
Tupac: Dear Momma
Spoken Word
Bill Cosby: Chicken
Heart, To Russell my Brother whom I slept with, Sneakers, Street Football,
The Water Bottle, Christmas, The Giant, My Wife and Kids, Bill's Marriage, Ennis'
Toilet, Two Daughters, Two Brothers, Wives, My Father, My Brother Russell, Mothers
and Fathers, the Grandfather
Key Concepts and Problems
What is the definition of
a family? What do family members share? What types of conflicts occur within families?
How are they resolved? What goals do families have? How do family needs affect
the behavior of the characters in the story? What outside influences affect the
family? Are these influences good, or bad? Why?
Handy
Links:
Friendship
Selections
Yahoo
Links to Friendship Poetry
In the Virtual Library, see:
Friendship
(1998) by Scott Morgan and Marla Sciara
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about friendship
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about hatred
Short Stories
Fante, John: The
Odyssey of a Wop
Galsworthy,
John: The Apple Tree
Oliver,
Diane: Neighbors
Drama
Maugham, Somerset: The Letter
Novels
Auel, Jean: The Clan of the Cave Bear
Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451
Bridgers, Sue Ellen: Home Before Dark
Cary, Joyce: The Horse's Mouth
Cervantes,
Miguel de: Don Quixote
Dumas,
Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Forster, E. M.: A Passage to India
Greene, Bette: Summer of my German Soldier, Morning is a Long Time Coming
Greene,
Graham: Brighton Rock
Guy, Rosa: The Friends
Hesse, Hermann: Demian,
Narcissus and Goldmund, Siddhartha
Hunt, Irene: Across Five Aprils
Kazantzakis,
Nikos: Zorba the Greek
Kerr, M. E.: I'll Love You When You're More Like Me
Knowles, John: A Separate Peace
Lawrence,
D. H.: Women in Love
Le Guin, Ursula: Very Far Away from Anywhere Else
Mahy, Margaret: Catalogue of the Universe
Myers, Walter Dean: Hoops
Oates, Joyce Carol: Solstice
Paterson, Katherine: Jacob
Have I Loved, The Bridge to Terabithia
Puig, Manuel: The Kiss of the
Spider Woman
Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men
Strasser, Todd: Friends
Till the End
Zalben, Jane Breskin: Here's Looking at You, Kid
Drama
Serling, Rod: In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Film
Ma Vie en Rose
(My Life in Pink)
Twilight of the Golds
Role Playing Games
Darling
Grove: A Game of Suburban Drama and Friendship
Key
Concepts and Problems
What draws friends together? What causes people to be
enemies? How do the characters try to settle their differences? How are the conflicts
resolved? What is the author trying to say about the nature of friendship? What
is the author trying to say about the nature of conflict?
GANGS, CLIQUES, AND PEER GROUP PRESSURE
Handy Links:
Juvenile
Delinquency in the U.S.: Deconstructing the Recipe
When
the Good Go Bad: Why Juveniles Become Delinquent
In the Virtual Library,
see:
Peer
Relations, Peer Influence and Conformity (1998) by Terri Avery & Jennifer
Hood
Gangs,
Cliques, and Peer Pressure (2002) by Julia Bateman
Recognizing
Reductionism: Identifying the Stereotypes Placed on Individuals and Groups by
Society (2002) by Bethany Bishop
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
A High-Interest Novel Helps Struggling Readers Confront Bullying in Schools
Read-Write-Think:
No More Bullying: Understanding the Problem, Building Bully-Free Environments
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about conformity
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about fitting in
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about outsiders
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about peer pressure
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about popularity
Teen
Ink writing by teens about fitting in and being different
Short
Stories
Andreyev, Leonid: Nippie
Cozzens, James Gould: The Animals'
Fair
Hwang, S. T.: The Donkey Cart
Langdon, John: The Blue Serge Suit
Stafford, Jean: Bad Characters
Taylor, Elizabeth: Nice and Birds and
Boy
Vaca, Nicolas C.: The Purchase
West, Jessamyn: Live Life Deeply
Novels
Hinton, S. E.: Rumble Fish, The Outsiders
Morrison, Toni: The Bluest Eye
Peterson, P. J.: Corky and the Brothers Cool
Drama
Rose, Reginald:
Dino
Shakespeare,
William: Romeo and Juliet
Films
The Breakfast Club
Colors
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles
West Side Story
Images of Gangs, Cliques, and Peer Pressure
Key Concepts and Problems
What are the values of the group
applying pressure? Why have they adopted these values? Why do they try to impose
them? In what ways is the protagonist different from the group? How does the protagonist
respond to the pressure? How does the protagonist change during the story? What
are differences among gang, clique, and peer group? Why do kids join? Why do such
groups form?
Handy Links:
GenderTalk
Radio by Topic
Gender
Issues in the Language Arts Classroom. ERIC Digest
Gender
roles (ENotes)
Fairy
Tales and Gender Roles
Teaching
Gender Roles at a Christian Liberal Arts College
In the Virtual Library,
see:
Women
in Literature (2001) by Allison Trice
Emerging
Identities and Socially Constructed Gender Awareness (2005) by Pamela M. Amendola,
Devon McCarthy, & Ryan L. Neumann
Gender
Roles in American Literature (2006) by Tanya Martin,
Maggie Taylor, Mimi Voyles, & Chris Woodward
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Analyzing Character Development in Three Short Stories About Women
Read-Write-Think:
Avoiding Sexist Language by Using Gender-Fair Pronouns
Read-Write-Think:
Critical Literacy: Women in 19th-Century Literature
Read-Write-Think:
From Friedan Forward—Considering a Feminist Perspective
Read-Write-Think:
Enchanting Readers with Revisionist Fairy Tales
Read-Write-Think:
He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Women Writers in Latin America
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Women's Voices in Fiction
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: American Maid: Growing Up Female in Life and Literature
Yale-New Haven Teachers
Institute: Gender, Race, and Milieu in Detective Fiction
National
Endowment for the Humanities: Cultural Change
National
Endowment for the Humanities: Scripting the Past: Exploring Women's History Through
Film
Learn NC: Women of
the South in a Changing Society
Writing by Teenager
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about body image
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about boy stories
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about feminism
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about gay issues
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about gender roles
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about girl stories
Fairy Tales
Cinderella
Hansel
and Gretel
Poetry
Allerton,
Ellen P.: Woman's Work
Angelou,
Maya: Woman Work
Chester, Laura: Eyes of the Garden
Dorman,
Karla J.: A Woman before she is a Child
Naheed, Kishwar: I am not that
woman
Saphra, Jacqueline:
A Woman's Work
Schroeder,
Bethany: Woman's Work
Scott,
C. A.: Women's Work: A Poem
Short Stories
Faessler, Shirley: A
Basket of Apples
Freeman,
Mary E. Wilkins: The Revolt of Mother
Hemingway,
Ernest: The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
Huang, Veronica: Backstage
Hurston,
Zora Neale: Sweat
Rau, Santha Rama: Who Cares?
Thurber,
James: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Toer, Pramoedya Ananta: Inem
Walker, Alice: Everyday Use
Novels
Arnow, Harriette: The Dollmaker
Chopin,
Kate: The Awakening
Goines, Donald: Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp
Hurston,
Zora Neale: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Langton, Jane: Her Majesty, The
Boyhood of Grace Jones
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow: Gift from the Sea
Walker,
Alice: The Color Purple
Drama
Shaw,
George Bernard: How He Lied to Her Husband
Hatcher,
Jeffrey: Compleat Female Stage Beauty
Mamet, David: Oleanna
Film
9 to 5
Bintou
Offside
Tootsie
Underground
- Short Film by Kristen Dehnert & Aimee Lagos
Victor/Victoria
Waitress
Water
Documentary Film
Hurt, Byron: Beyond, Beats, and Rhymes
Graphic Novels/Manga
Hagio Moto: They Were Eleven
Takahashi, Rumiko.
Ranma
Judd Winick: Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned
Songs
Kate
Bush: This Woman's Work
Johnny
Clegg: Daughter of Eden
Judy
Collins: Albatross
Meredith
Brooks: Bitch
Shania
Twain: Man, I Feel Like a Woman
Helen
Reddy: I am Woman
Spoken Word
Bill Cosby: The Difference between
Men and Women
TV programs
Mad Men
Key Concepts and Problems
How are the roles of males
and females presented in the literature? What is the point of view of the narrator
toward these roles? What is the point of view of the author toward these roles?
How do these roles reflect the values of the culture and era of the story's setting?
To what extent are these roles consistent with attitudes toward gender roles in
your community?
Handy
links:
Save Ellis
Island
Family
History
Introduction
to Genealogy
Family
Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us
Lesson
Plan on Family History and Past Generations
Genealogy
Links
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites
on the Internet
The
Family and Identity
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Family Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Cultural Discovery and Identity Project Generation Journey
Novels
Barber, Lou: The Baker Affair: 3 Generations of an American Family at War
Butler, Octavia: Kindred
Chun, Pam: When Strange Gods Call
Gamble, Terry:
Good Family: A Novel
Gildner, Gary: My Grandfather's Book: Generations of
an American Family (Michigan And The Great Lakes)
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia:
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Paton, Alan: Cry, the Beloved Country
Tan,
Amy: The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Kitchen God's Wife
Short Stories
Halper, Albert: Prelude
Wright, Richard: Almos a
Man
Poetry
Burgess, Frank Gelett: Sestina of Youth and Age
Gibran,
Kahlil: On Children
Suckow, Ruth: Grandpa Schuler
Children's Stories
Woodson, Jacqueline: Show Way
Key Concepts and Problems
Why do people care about
their ancestors? To what extent are people the product of the people who came
before them? What do families pass down from generation to generation? How are
generations different from one another? What defines a family over the course
of generations?
Handy
Links:
Immigration/Migration:
Today and During the Great Depression: Links
Learn
About Immigration
Online Lesson Plans
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Immigration and American Life
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Becoming a "Gringo": Immigrants, Language
Learning and Acculturation
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Remaking America: Contemporary U.S. Immigration
Yale-New Haven Teachers
Institute: Immigrants and American Identity
National
Geographic: Through the Eyes of a Refugee
Learn
NC: Why Come to America?
Literature
Discussing
Immigration through Literature
Crossing
the Border, A Study of Immigration Though Literature
Research
immigration and family histories
Literature
with Immigration Themes
Film
Media
that matter Film Festival: Immigration
Films
on Immigration
Immigration
& the Movies!
Immigration/Migration:
Today and During the Great Depression: Film
God Grew Tired of Us
Songs
Songs
about Immigrants
Thousands
Are Sailing: Irish Songs Of Immigration CD
Immigration
Songs
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Assessing Cultural Relevance: Exploring Personal Connections to a Text
Read-Write-Think:
Audio Listening Practices: Exploring Personal Experiences with Audio Texts
Novels
Bums, Olive: Cold Sassy Tree
Childress, Alice: A Hero Ain't Nothin'
But a Sandwich, Rainbow Jordan
Greene, Hannah: I Never Promised You a Rose
Garden
Lipsyte, Robert: One Fat Summer
Myers, Walter Dean: It Ain't
All for Nothin'
Peck, Robert Newton: Justice Lion
Sleator, William:
House of Stairs
Stewart , Mary: The Crystal Cave
Torchia , Joseph: Kryptonite
Kid
Twain, Mark:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Key Concepts and Problems
What influences do the
characters face? Consider such factors as family, religion, friends, media, laws
and rules, temperament, intellect, talent, and values. Which of these influences
are good? Which are bad? Which influences are the greatest? How does the character
respond to the influences? What is the character's real personality? Do the influences
shape the character into something other than his or her real self? What does
the character discover at the end? How does this realization affect the character?
Handy Links:
Focusing on
Juvenile Justice
Realizing
Our Inalienable Rights Through Literacy and Citizenship
American
Justice and Student Rights
United
States; T.R.I.C.K.Y.: Teenage Reality, Ideals, Citizenship, Keepsakes, and You
Smagorinsky,
P. (1994). Bring the court room to the classroom: Develop civic awareness with
simulation activities. The Social Studies, 85, 174-180.
In the
Virtual Library, see:
Social
Injustice (1998) by Nelie Betress and Bridget Taylor
Understanding
Human Rights through Literature (1999) by Jenny Cockrill, Stephanie Hall, Rebecca
Long
Crime
and Punishment (2003) by Jessica
Hagans and Kate Phillips
The American
Justice System: Does It Work? (2007) by Megan Kingsley
Online Lesson
Plans
Read-Write-Think:
That's Not Fair! Examining Civil Liberties With the U.S. Supreme Court
Read-Write-Think:
What Are My Rights? Exploring and Writing About the Constitution
Read-Write-Think:
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Critical Discussion of Social Issues
Read-Write-Think:
Crit Lit for Kids: From Critical Consciousness to Service Learning
Read-Write-Think:
Fighting Injustice by Studying Lessons of the Past
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Crime and Punishment
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: New Movements For Social Justice: The Latino Struggle
for Equal Rights (1950’s-1970’s)
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: Multiculturalism and the Law
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: The Constitution and Criminal Justice
Learn
NC: Justice for All? To Kill a Mockingbird and A Time to Kill
Poetry
Anzaldua, Gloria: How to Tame a Wild Tongue
Davis, Frank Marshall: Giles
Johnson, Ph.D.
Mirikitani, Janice: Breaking Silence
Mitsui, James: Destination:
Tule Lake Relocation Center, May 20, 1942
Okita, Dwight: In Response to Executive
Order 9006
Okubo, Mine: Holding Center, Tanforan Race Track Spring 1942
Walker, Margaret: For My People
Novels
Bambara, Toni Cade: The Salt
Eaters
Carlisle, Henry, and Carlisle, Olga Andreyev: The Idealists
Dostoyevsky,
Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Faulkner, William: Light in August
Le Guin, Ursula: The Dispossessed
Melville,
Herman: Billy Budd
Steiner,
George: The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.
Taylor, Mildred: Roll of
Thunder, Hear my Cry
Toomer,
Jean: Cane
Uchida, Yoshiko: The Invisible Friend
Wells-Barnett,
Ida B. Crusade for Justice
Wouk, Herman: The Caine Mutiny
Wright, Richard:
Native Son
Autobiographies
Black
Elk with John G. Neihardt: Black Elk Speaks
Mandela,
Nelson: Long Walk to Freedom
Moody, Anne: Coming of Age in Mississippi
Standing
Bear, Luther: My People, the Sioux
Nonfiction
Barbara
Ehrenreich and Deidre English: Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of
Sickness
King,
Martin Luther Jr.: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Thoreau,
Henry David: Civil Disobedience
Drama
Peckinpah, Sam: Noon Wine
Rose, Reginald: Twelve Angry Men
Shakespeare,
William: The Merchant of Venice
Song
Johnny
Clegg & Savuka: Bombs Away
Johnny
Clegg & Savuka: Warsaw 1943
La Farge, Peter: As Long As the Grass
Shall Grow
Key Concepts and Problems
What is the definition of
justice? Where do the characters in the story get their concept of justice? Is
the behavior of the characters in the story just? Why or why not? What are the
difficulties involved in achieving justice? In what ways can punishment be justly
related to crime? What is the relationship between justice and mercy? What is
the source of one's concept of justice?
Short Stories
Deal, Bordon: Antaeus
Guthrie, A. B.,
Jr.: Old Mother Hubbard
Novels
Bonham, Frank: Durango Street
Cormier,
Robert: The Chocolate War, After the First Death, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway
Forman, James: A Ceremony of Innocence
French, Michael: The Throwing Season
Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
Hinton, S. E.: The Outsiders; That
Was Then, This Is Now; Rumble Fish
L'Engle, Madeleine: A Ring of Endless
Light
O'Brien, Robert: Z for Zachariah
Schaefer, Jack: Shane
Stevenson,
Robert Louis: Treasure Island
Twain,
Mark: Tom Sawyer
Zindel, Paul: Harry and Hortense at Hormone High
Film
Dave
Hoosiers
Key Concepts and Problems
What are the qualities of
a leader? Why do others follow such a person? What type of leadership does the
leader offer? What is the leader's purpose? How is this character regarded by
the others in the story? How does the leader change during the story?
Writing
by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about innocence
Mythology
Pandora's
Box
Phaethon
Deirdre
and the Sons of Usna
The Bible
The
Creation and the Fall (Genesis 1 3)
Poetry
Cullen,
Countee: Youth Sings a Song of Rosebuds
Millay, Edna St. Vincent: Childhood
Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies
Roethke, Theodore: Dirty Dinky
Rossetti,
Christina: The Goblin Market
Stafford, William: In the Old Days, Time
Thomas, Dylan: Fern Hill
Short
Stories
Hawthorne,
Nathaniel: Egotism, Or the Bosom Serpent
Joyce,
James: Araby
Shaw, Irwin: Peter Two
Updike, John: You'll Never Know,
Dear, How Much I Love You
Warren, Robert Penn.: Blackberry Winter
Novels
Baldwin, James: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Carter, Forrest: The Education
of Little Tree
Gipson, Fred: Old Yeller
Hawthorne,
Nathaniel: The Marble Faun
Hunter, Kristin: God Bless the Child
Knowles, John: A Separate Peace
Rawlings, Marjorie: The Yearling
Salinger,
J. D.: The Catcher in the Rye
Sister Souljah: No Disrespect
Smith, Betty:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Soyinka, Wole: Ake. The Years of Childhood
Steinbeck, John: The Red Pony
Song
Barenaked
Ladies: Pinch Me
Johnny
Clegg & Savuka: The Promise
Kathy
Mattea: The Innocent Years
Key Concepts and Problems
What is innocence?
In what ways is the character originally "innocent"? What causes the
"fall"? How is the character affected by the fall? Is the character
better off, or worse? Why? What has the character learned from this experience?
Online Lesson Plans
Read-Write-Think:
Finding Poetry in Prose: Reading and Writing Love Poems
Poetry
Bums, Robert: A Red, Red Rose
Donne,
John: The Ecstasy
Graves,
Robert: Symptoms of Love
Herrick,
Robert: Delight in Disorder
Lowell,
Amy: The Taxi
Roethke,
Theodore: Elegy for Jane
Shakespeare,
William: Sonnets 18, 29
Shapiro, Karl: How Do I Love You?
Yeats,
William Butler: The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart
Short Stories
Hughes, Langston: A Good Job Done
Kerckhoff, Joan: Talk To Me, Talk To Me
O'Connor,
Flannery: Everything That Rises Must Converge
Novels
Austen,
Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Bronte,
Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Bronte,
Emily: Wuthering Heights
du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca
Faulkner, William:
Light in August
Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
Joyce,
James: Ulysses
Kundera, Milan: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia: Love in the Time of Cholera
McCullers,
Carson: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Percy, Walker: The Second Coming,
The Moviegoer
Rhys, Jean: Wide Sargasso Sea
Walker, Alice: The Color
Purple
Woolf,
Virginia: Orlando
Drama
Chayefsky, Paddy: Marty
Shakespeare,
William: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo
and Juliet
Films
Brown Sugar
Out of Africa
Key Concepts and Problems
What is the definition of romantic
love? What enables the lovers to become intimate with each other? How do the characters
in the story illustrate the definition of romantic love? How do they fall short
of the definition? Is there such thing as weak love, or can it only be strong?
How does a love relationship affect an individual? How do individuals in love
affect each other? How does romantic love develop?
Handy Links:
Wikipedia entry on Bushido
Muslim loyalty
and belonging: does extremism have a future?
Humanity
Quest Loyalty Resources
Character
Education Links
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about betrayal
The Bible
Abraham
and Isaac (Genesis 22:1 19)
Cain
and Abel (Genesis 4:1 16)
The
Golden Calf (Exodus 32, 33:1 6)
Joseph
and His Brothers (Genesis 37:1 36)
Poetry
Brooks,
Gwendolyn: The Preacher: Ruminates Behind the Sermon
Masters,
Edgar Lee: The Village Atheist
Muir, Edwin: Moses
Nemerov,
Howard: Santa Claus
Prettyman, Quandra: When Mahalia Sings
Shapiro,
Karl: 151st Psalm
Spender,
Stephen: What I Expected
Yeats,
William Butler: The Second Coming
Short Stories
Babel, Isaac: Awakening
Baldwin, James: My Childhood
Chavez, Fray Angelico: Hunchback Madonna
Frame, Janet: The Reservoir
Haycox, Ernest: A Question of Blood
Hughes, Langston: Salvation
Mendoza, Durango: Summer Water and Shirley
O'Flaherty, Liam: The
Fairy Goose
Silko, Leslie Marmon: The Man to Send Rain Clouds
Swados,
Harvey: Claudine's Book
Novels
Anderson, M. T.: The Astonishing Life
of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party; The Astonishing
Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the
Waves
Gipson,
Fred: Old Yeller
Potok, Chaim: The Chosen, The Promise
Nonfiction
Pledge of Allegiance
Chief Joseph of the Nez
Perce: Speech of Surrender
King,
Martin Luther, Jr.: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Lincoln,
Abraham: Gettysburg Address
Red
Jacket: An Indian Speaks
Thoreau,
Henry David: Civil Disobedience
Drama
Chayefsky, Paddy: Holiday
Song
Films
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Curse of the Golden
Flower
On the Waterfront
Songs
Barenaked
Ladies: Off the Hook
Johnny
Clegg & Savuka: Warsaw 1943
Key Concepts and Problems
What is loyalty? What are the
different kinds of loyalty? What causes someone to feel loyal? What forces can
compete with one's loyalty? How does one choose between being loyal or disloyal?
How does one judge someone who has acted disloyally?
MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Handy
Links:
Wikipedia's
List of Mental Illness in Art and Literature
Wikipedia's
List of people who have suffered from depression
Mental
Illness
Mental
Health 3: Mental Health Through Literature
Linking
about: the Victorians and Mental Illness
A
photographer & writer struggling with mental illness
Talking
About mental illness: Teacher's resource
Perceptions
of Mental Illness
In the Virtual Library, see:
Mental
Illness (2004) by Emily Lancaster & Christopher Warren
Online Lesson
Plans
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute:...By Reason of Insanity An Exploration of the Mental
Disease/Defect Defense
Writing by Teenagers
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about child abuse
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about depression
Merlyn's
Pen search engine
for writing by teens about eating disorders
Teen
Ink writing by teens about health issues, including mental health
Novels:
Faulkner, William: As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William: The Sound and the Fury
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Heller,
Joseph: Catch-22
Kesey, Ken: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Lee, Harper:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Salinger, J. D.: The Catcher in the Rye
Play:
Miller, Arthur: Death of a Salesman
Short Stories
Gilman,
Charlotte Perkins: The Yellow Wallpaper
Biography:
Nasar, Sylvia:
A Beautiful Mind
Plath,
Sylvia: The Bell Jar
Film
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Television
programs
24 (Chloe O'Brian, autism spectrum; Brady Hauser, autism spectrum)
All My Children (Lily Montgomery, autism spectrum)
Bones (Dr. Temperance "Bones"
Brennan & Zack Addy, Asperger's syndrome)
Boston Legal (Jerry Espenson,
Asperger's syndrome)
Criminal Minds (Dr. Spencer Reid, Asperger's syndrome)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Gil Grissom, possibly autism spectrum)
Eureka
(Kevin Stark, Autism)
Heroes (Matt Parkman, dyslexia and learning disabilities)
House (Dr. Gregory House, possibly autism spectrum)
Law and Order: Criminal
Intent (Bobby Goren, possibly Asperger's syndrome)
Monk (Adrian Monk, obsessive-compulsive
disorder; Monk's brother, Asperger's syndrome)
Numb3rs (Charlie Eppes, Asperger's
syndrome)
ReGenesis (Dr. Bob Melnikov, Asperger's syndrome)
The Shield
(Mackey Children, Autism)
Wire in the Blood (Tony Hill, Aserger's Syndrome)
Songs:
Barenaked
Ladies: Brian Wilson
Barenaked
Ladies: War on Drugs
Graphic Novels/Manga:
Tobe, Keiko: With the
Light
Video Games
American
McGee's Alice
Images of Mental Illness and Mental Health
Key Concepts and Problems: