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The Preamble is the introduction to the United States Constitution, and it serves two central purposes. First, it states the source from which the Constitution derives its authority: the sovereign…
Long before the first shot was fired, the American Revolution began as a series of written complaints to colonial governors and representatives in England over the rights of the colonists.
This lesson provides students with tools to analyze primary source newspaper articles about the Great War (1914–1917) in order to understand public opinion regarding the U.S. entry into the war…
Download each section of the lecture by clicking on the part subtitle so that you can mark it up as you read. We recommend that you read the lecture twice.
This lesson is designed to apply Common Core State Standards and facilitate a comparison of informational texts and primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys trials of the 1931 and 1933,…
Learn how to make the most of STEM in your humanities classroom and how to incorporate nonfiction into STEM with the National Library of Medicine's lesson plan resources.
This short video contains excerpts from David Walker's famous "Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World," a very significant document in American history. It is a call to freedom and to rising…
This lesson focuses on the slave narrative of Solomon Northup, a free black living in the North, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. Slave narratives are autobiographies of…
The corrupting influence of slavery on marriage and the family is a predominant theme in Solomon Northup’s narrative Twelve Years a Slave. In this lesson, students are asked to identify…
This essay written by a distinguished historian of American literature, gives an overview of the American slave narrative tradition, discusses five representative slave narratives, and provides a…
In this lesson, students examine the contrasting view of two free black men in nineteenth century America abolitionist David Walker and black nationalist John Day. After reviewing background…
In this triumph of magical realism, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," chronicles a century of the remarkable Buendía family’s history in the fictional Colombian town of Macondo. The three lessons…
In this lesson students will determine whether or not Albert Sabin acted ethically in his use of prisoners for experimentation; learn how to approach ethical questions using primary and secondary…
This collection focuses on presidential inaugurations across U.S. history and includes audio and video excerpts of speeches, links to full texts of speeches, lesson ideas, and other resources for…
This lesson invites students to describe and analyze Eudora Welty’s use of characterization and setting in her short story, “A Worn Path.”
This lesson provides a study of the dramatic and theatrical aspects of Thornton Wilder’s play, "Our Town," an exemplar for CCSS grade 11 – CCR.
This lesson provides a Common Core application for high school students for Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. Students will undertake close reading of passages in Things Fall…
Through close readings of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, students will analyze how Hurston creates a unique literary voice by combining folklore, folk language, and…
In this lesson, students will practice close reading of passages from Galileo’s Starry Messenger concerning his observations of the stars and constellations through a telescope. They will…
In this lesson, students will examine a preselected set of newspaper articles drawn from the "Chronicling America" website. They will determine the right each article illustrates and the…
Adapted from the What So Proudly We Hail curriculum, provides background materials and discussion questions to enhance your reading and understanding of Willa Cather’s short story “The Namesake…
On the third Monday of January, Americans celebrate the life and achievement of one of our most respected citizens -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students align original FSA photographs from the 1930s and the author’s own journal entries, to trace parallel elements John Steinbeck then incorporated into passages in The Grapes of Wrath…
We know General George Washington crossed the Delaware River to attack Britain’s Hessian army at Trenton on Christmas night in 1776. At the mention of this event, most Americans imagine a heroic…
This holiday season learn about different cultural traditions of Mexico! Attend a fiesta, break a piñata, make a traditional feast, sing popular songs, and decorate with poinsettias, a flower…
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…
The selections within this listing represent frequently taught authors and texts in AP English Literature and Composition.
For each of the twenty-one poems or poetic forms for AP Literature and Composition, students and teachers will find a link to the poem and additional multimedia resources. These include EDSITEment…
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…
Use this feature to understand the lives of people in Southern Italy before, during, and after the famous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, as well as learn how it inspired Neoclassicism.