re-writing the classics

1. You must give full credit to the original work--in every instance. You could handle this with footnotes.
2. You must again give full credit to the original work. You can add a footnote that says, "adapted from."
3. I'm not sure of the legalities of this. It would probably be OK as long as you explain what you're doing.
4. Listing the author is not enough. And it doesn't matter whether the original author is alive or dead. The issue here relates to copyrights. If the work you're using is taken from published materials, you must give full credit to the original work.

Full credit (for books): author's name, title of work, location of publisher, name of publisher, year of publication, page numbers.

Roberta, thankyou. so very much. It is very generous of you to take the time to answer our questions.

I'm glad to be able to help.

I've been thinking, and I'm concerned about how much of the original material you intend to use. You might need to get written permission from the publisher.

There are other possibilities, but I'm getting way off course.

Well, let's be clear here. Plagiarism and copyright infringement are two entirely different things. If you're only interested in avoiding charges of plagiarism, then all you have to do is acknowledge your sources. That's not a legal requirement, that's just an honesty thing.

On the other hand, if you don't want to infringe on somebody's copyright, that gets into legal issues. I don't know how "classic" your classic works are, but if they're more than a hundred years old, they're probably in the public domain, and you can do whatever you want with them. If they're still subject to copyright, however, you are severely limited in what you can do with that work. Without going into detail, I'll just note that, if the source material is still subject to copyright, you can't do anything that you propose doing, except maybe developing the lesson plans, and even that is unlikely.

I think it's a matter of degree. If you're planning to pick up whole chapters, Joe is right. You can't do that. If you're planning to pick up a paragraph here and there, you can do it with acknowledgments and credits.

It would probably be best for you to consult someone who's knowledgeable about publishing issues. This person would be able to see what you're planning and the degree of material you're planning to use and tell you what you can and can't, should and shouldn't do.

I also agree with Joe about the age of the material. Some publications are old enough to be in the public domain. You need to check on this.