Reading into Words with Multiple Meanings

Learn to use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in this interactive tutorial. You'll learn how to identify and apply three important types of context clues: synonyms, antonyms, and inferences. This tutorial features passages about some of the world's most incredible child prodigies.

Read more from the fantasy novel The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald in Part Two of this three-part series. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to compare and contrast the archetypes of two characters in the novel.

Make sure to complete all three parts of this series!

Click  to view "Archetypes -- Part One: Examining an Archetype in The Princess and the Goblin."

Click HERE to view "Archetypes -- Part Three: Comparing and Contrasting Archetypes in Two Fantasy Stories." 

Learn to determine the key traits of a main character named Princess Irene in excerpts from the fantasy novel The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. In this interactive tutorial, you’ll also identify her archetype and explain how textual details about her character support her archetype.  

Make sure to complete all three parts of this series! 

Click  to view "Archetypes -- Part Two: Examining Archetypes in The Princess and the Goblin."

Click HERE to view "Archetypes -- Part Three: Comparing and Contrasting Archetypes in Two Fantasy Stories." 

Learn to identify aspects of setting and character as you analyze several excerpts from “The Yellow Wallpaper," a chilling short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. You'll also determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting better reveal her emotional and mental state.

This interactive tutorial is Part One in a two-part series. By the end of Part Two, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting. Click below to launch Part Two.

Continue to examine several excerpts from the chilling short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. In Part Two of this tutorial series, you'll determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting reveal its impact on her emotional and mental state. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click  to launch "The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part One." 

Explore the mysterious poem “The House on the Hill” by Edwin Arlington Robinson in this interactive tutorial. As you explore the poem's message about the past, you’ll identify the features of a villanelle in the poem. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the form of a villanelle contributes to the poem's meaning.

Continue to explore the significance of the famous poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, lines from which are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. 

In Part Two of this two-part series, you’ll identify the features of a sonnet in the poem "The New Colossus." By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the form of a sonnet contributes to the poem's meaning. 

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two.

Click  to launch "A Giant of Size and Power -- Part One: Exploring the Significance of 'The New Colossus.'"

Continue to explore excerpts from the beginning of the historical fiction novel The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez in Part Two of this two-part series. In Part Two, you'll examine how setting influences characters.

Make sure to complete Part One first. Click  to launch "Analyzing the Beginning of The Red Umbrella -- Part One: How Setting Influences Events." 

In Part One, explore the significance of the famous poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, lines from which are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. 

This famous poem also happens to be in the form of a sonnet. In Part Two of this two-part series, you’ll identify the features of a sonnet in the poem. By the end of this tutorial series, you should be able to explain how the form of a sonnet contributes to the poem's meaning. Make sure to complete both parts!

Click HERE to launch "A Giant of Size and Power -- Part Two: How the Form of a Sonnet Contributes to Meaning in 'The New Colossus.'"

Explore excerpts from the beginning of the historical fiction novel The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez in this two-part series. In Part One, you'll examine how setting influences events. In Part Two, you'll examine how setting influences characters.

Make sure to complete both parts! Click  to launch Part Two.

Explore the poem “The Twelfth Song of Thunder” from the Navajo Mountain Chant. In this interactive tutorial, you'll examine how a refrain in the poem better develops a theme of the poem. 

Explore the poem “The Railway Train” by Emily Dickinson in this interactive tutorial. Learn about personification and vivid descriptions and determine how they contribute to the meaning of a poem. 

Examine the topics of transformation and perfection as you read excerpts from the “Myth of Pygmalion” by Ovid and the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. By the end of this two-part, interactive tutorial series, you should be able to explain how the short story draws on and transforms source material from the original myth. 

This tutorial is the second in a two-part series. Click HERE to launch Part One.

Examine the topics of transformation and perfection as you read excerpts from the “Myth of Pygmalion” by Ovid and the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. By the end of this two-part, interactive tutorial series, you should be able to explain how the short story draws on and transforms source material from the original myth.  

This tutorial is the first in a two-part series. .

Explore Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" in this two-part series of interactive tutorials. In Part Two, you'll examine word choices, rhyme, and personification, and explain the impact of specific word choices on the meaning and beauty of the poem.

before starting Part Two. 

Explore Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" in this two-part series of interactive tutorials. In Part 1, you'll examine words with multiple meanings and make inferences about selected key words in the poem. By the end of this series, you should be able to explain the impact of specific word choices on the meaning and beauty of the poem. 

After you complete Part One, .

Study excerpts from a suspenseful, science fiction short story in this interactive tutorial. In this tutorial, you'll study excerpts from "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury. You'll study his use of color imagery, learn about the connotations of particular colors, and analyze the impact of color imagery on the meaning of the text.

Explore two key topics in the classic novel Pride and Prejudice and analyze characters’ actions as they relate to these topics. In part 4 of this four-part, interactive tutorial series, you will use these topics and textual details to determine two themes of the novel. You will also analyze how these themes interact and build on one another.

Make sure to complete all four parts of the series.

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
  

Explore two key topics in the classic novel Pride and Prejudice and analyze characters’ actions as they relate to these topics. This tutorial is Part 3 of a 4-part series. By the end of this series, you will use these topics and textual details to determine two themes of the novel. You will also analyze how these themes interact and build on one another.

Make sure to complete all four parts of the series.

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Explore two key topics in the classic novel Pride and Prejudice and analyze characters’ actions as they relate to these topics. This tutorial is Part Two in a four-part series. By the end of this tutorial series, you will use these topics and textual details to determine two themes of the novel. You will also analyze how these themes interact and build on one another.

Make sure to complete all four parts of the series.

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Explore two key topics in the classic novel Pride and Prejudice and analyze characters’ actions as they relate to these topics. This tutorial is Part 1 of a four-part series. By the end of this series, you will use these topics and textual details to determine two themes of the novel. You will also analyze how these themes interact and build on one another.

Make sure to complete all four parts of the series.

• Part 1
• Part 3
• Part 4

Practice analyzing word choices in "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, including word meanings, subtle differences between words with similar meanings, and emotions connected to specific words. In this interactive tutorial, you will also analyze the impact of specific word choices on the meaning of the poem.

This is Part Two of a two-part series. Part One should be completed before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to open Part One.

Practice analyzing word choices in "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe in this interactive tutorial. In this tutorial, you will examine word meanings, examine subtle differences between words with similar meanings, and think about emotions connected to specific words. You will also analyze the impact of specific word choices on the meaning of the poem.

This tutorial is Part One of a two-part series on Poe's "The Raven." Click HERE to open Part Two.

Learn how to transform words into other words, including nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, adjectives into adverbs, and much more with this interactive tutorial.

Acquire new vocabulary through this interactive tutorial. You'll learn definitions for 15 new words, as well as their parts of speech, their synonyms and antonyms, and you'll practice using them in context.

Learn how to identify use of verbal and dramatic irony in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" in this interactive, two-part tutorial. Students will also examine how Poe's use of irony with first person point of view affects the story. This tutorial is Part Two of a two-part series. In Part One, students read and analyzed the first two excerpts from the story. In Part Two, students will read and analyze the last three excerpts from the story.

Click below to open Part One. 

Learn how to identify use of verbal and dramatic irony in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" in this interactive two-part tutorial. You'll also examine how Poe's use of irony with first person point of view affects the story. You'll read and analyze the first two excerpts from the story in part one, and the last three excerpts from the story in part two.

Click below to open part 2. 

Learn several strategies for determining the meaning of unfamiliar words as you read about the late Dian Fossey's research on mountain gorillas. This interactive tutorial will also help you identify common prefixes and how they affect the meaning of words.

Learn how the choice of words and phrases in a poem impacts the overall meaning and tone. In this interactive tutorial you'll examine Sonnet 43, “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and engage in a critical analysis of the language, reflect on your own interpretations, and write about what you have learned.