The Crucible
Lesson plans and teaching resources

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The Crucible

Teacher Guide to The Crucible
How might students use storyboards to demonstrate and to extend their learning? Check the resources here. Includes five-act structure, character maps, themes, symbols, and motifs, essential questions, vocabulary, more. Note: Storyboard That helps sponsor this site.

Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction
This site's subtitle is "Picky, Picky, Picky" because it lists some of the historical facts Miller altered for the sake of the drama. It also acknowledges his artistic license to do so. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for some insightful essay topics.

The Crucible
This site offers theme openers, crosscurricular activities, research assignments, and suggestions for related reading.

The Crucible
Study guide and links to related sites.

The Crucible
An extensive list of post-reading activities.

The Crucible
An extensive list of post-reading activities, including vocabulary, comprehension, and literary analysis.

The Crucible Anticipation/Reaction Guide
Students explore their attitudes toward specific statements both before and after reading the play. MS-Word or compatible application required for access.

Salem, Massachusetts
The town that was called Salem during the witch trials is today known as Danvers, Massachusetts. This page shows what Salem might have looked like during the trials. It also provides an aerial view of Salem.

Suggestions for Pairing Contemporary Music and Canonical Literature
A list of songs that were inspired by reading literature. Organized by the last name of the author (e.g. Chinua Achebe, William Butler Yeats), the list includes song title, performer, year of release, and more. The list includes 9 songs inspired by The Crucible.

A Teacher's Guide to Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Questions for prereading, during reading (divided by act), and postreading; writing prompts; and research questions. This 6-page document requires Adobe Reader for access.

Teaching The Crucible with the New York Times
This collection of resources includes reviews of the play from the 1950s, essays by Arthur Miller on why he wrote the play, articles related to recent "witchhunts," reviews of the film, biographies of Miller, and many other related articles on McCarthyism, the historical witch trials and other related newspaper stories. Most, but not all, of the links are to free resources.

Vocabulary from The Crucible:

Words are presented in context and with definitions. Click on a word for pronunciation, synonyms, examples of use, more.

The Crucible: Other Related Nonfiction

What Happened to the Girls in Le Roy
Nonfiction article about an incident that may or may not be mass hysteria among young women in a small town in New York.