I love the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. After reading the book with my 11th graders, I could hold the Seneca conversation on kindness and use the quote – “Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for …
Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” is a modern tale seen in classrooms more and more often. This epic story contains a major theme of forgiveness. When teaching this story, I would connect it to the conversation with Mahatma Gandhi on …
The little known Civil War set story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, pairs perfectly with the conversation on Sacrifice with Mahatma Gandhi. After reading this short story, and discussion the surprise ending, I would lead students in a discussion …
In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, various family members compete for the fulfillment of their dreams. But for each, there is the vision, and then there are the uncertain “facts.” The Einstein conversation allows students to consider whether …
Washington Irving’s short story “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a classic American twist on the age-old theme of selling your soul to the devil. The conversation with Dr. Seuss about Ambition connects perfectly to a pre-reading class discussion of …
The March from Selma to Montgomery was one of the seminal events in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, due in large part to its successful use of civil disobedience as a form of protest. The Henry David Thoreau …
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is an primary source to explore the theme of conflict and how human beings deal with it. I could have the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. conversation just before introducing excerpts from Lincoln’s speech as …
Civic Responsibility is a common theme in American history embraced by men and women such as Ida Tarbell, Dorothea Dix, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., all of whom tried to change society through protest or some other means. At the …
Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Raven” sets a grieving lover against the silhouette of an aloof raven whose only answer to his increasingly despairing questions is, “Nevermore.” The Theodore Roethke conversation on perspective will allow students to consider whether darkness …
In Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, the main character loves her unique name until she goes to school, where she is embarrassed and bullied about her 13-letter moniker.Chrysanthemum never stands up for herself; only when a beloved teacher celebrates her beautiful …
In leading America through the Great Depression and implementation of the New Deal, FDR had to convince Americans to see the world through a new hopeful perspective in the midst of anxiety and fear. Staging the Theodore Roethke conversation just …
In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza says, “I knew then I had to have a house…One I could point to. But this isn’t it…For the time being, Mama says…But I know how these things go” (Cisneros 5). Esperanza (“Hope”) …
