Lesson Plans

John Steinbeck recognized that one of the most criticized elements of The Grapes of Wrath was his alternating use of inner chapters or “generals” that interrupt the narrative of the Joads. In this lesson, students will first determine the function of Steinbeck’s opening chapter which acts as the first “inner chapter.” Then, they will explore the relationship between inner chapters and the Joad narrative chapters throughout the novel.

John Steinbeck drew from Tom Collins’s Arvin Migrant Camp reports to compose "The Grapes of Wrath." In this lesson, students consider how an author uses nonfiction sources to affect the reader’s perception of the novel’s authenticity.

In this lesson students will examine the various visions of three active agents in the creation and management of Great Britain’s empire in North America: British colonial leaders and administrators, North American British colonists, and Native Americans.

Expose middle school students to a first taste of Shakespeare from the angle of the ghost story and launch into the subject of verbs. In this lesson, they learn how Shakespeare uses verbs to move the action of the play. Students then distinguish generic verbs from vivid verbs by working with selected lines in Hamlet’s Ghost scene. Finally they test their knowledge of verbs through a crossword interactive puzzle.

This lesson plan is designed for young learners at the beginner or beginner-intermediate level of proficiency in Spanish. The activities in this lesson plan will help students learn ten colors in Spanish and also provide them with practice to use them in context.

This lesson examines the ways in which Great Britain and France countries challenged American neutrality during the Thomas Jefferson administration.

This lesson examines the ways in which France challenged American sovereignty between 1796 and 1801.

This lesson will examine the ways in which Great Britain challenged American sovereignty in the early republic.

This lesson invites students to reconfigure Meg’s journey into a board game where, as in the novel itself, Meg’s progress is either thwarted or advanced by aspects of her emotional responses to situations, her changing sense of self, and her physical and intellectual experiences.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, la primer gran poeta de América Latina, es considerada una de la figuras literarias más importantes del continente americano y una de las primeras feministas. En el siglo XVII, defendió su derecho a la educación, proponiendo la mayor participación de las mujeres en la cultura y la pedagogía en una sociedad dominada por los hombres.