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A host of resources for teaching semicolons (and a colons). Includes handouts, practice problems, quizzes in both multiple choice and editing-in-context formats, as well as a couple of lessons involving constructing thesis statements using semicolons.

So much here! In this zip, containing over 40 files, you'll find lesson plans, quizzes, group activities, vocabulary, paper assignments (over 10 options to choose from), discussion questions, literary criticism, even grammar! There are so many possible options for your classroom that you will never be able to get to all of them, which is the point: pick and choose what serves you best and explore! FYI: As a rule, my zip files for teaching a novel do not lay out step-by-step plans how to teach t

Resources--activities, quizzes, essay options, discussion questions, etc.--for Frankenstein. As with all of my unit plans, I do not lay out for you specifically how to teach the unit step-by-step, though in this case a few of the documents do have schedules. Instead, I give you all of my resources--and they are extensive here--and you pick and choose what works for you, in the manner that suits your style and your students best. Having said that, you'll find everything you could possibly need h

As part of an American Dream unit with my junior Am lit students, I have my classes investigate their own dreams and pursuits by researching a possible career they'd like to pursue as adults. It's a fun and informative project for them, and it pushes research and synthesis skills, particularly early on in the year when I schedule it. Students write not only narrative work but do a literature review that requires them to look at multiple sources of information to get a sense of things. You'll nee

Resources--activities, quizzes, essay options, discussion questions, etc.--The Great Gatsby As with all of my unit plans, I do not lay out for you specifically how to teach the unit step-by-step, though in this case a few of the documents do have schedules. Instead, I give you all of my resources--and they are extensive here--and you pick and choose what works for you, in the manner that suits your style and your students best. Having said that, you'll find everything you could possibly need he

Included in this doc are 7 fantastic prompts for use with 1984--try them out as essays, in-class quickwrites, summative assessments, etc. Six are literary analysis-oriented; the other is a great exercise in reader response.

I spend about 3-5 days on Dickinson, much to my students' chagrin. But one of the ways we make it interesting is by dropping the veil, so to speak, and trying several different approaches to 'seeing' her, including formalist methods, gender analysis, new historical, etc. There's several really good thinking and writing assignments included, and I always get great results from the parody project.

Resources--activities, quizzes, essay options, discussion questions, etc.--for Ordinary People. As with all of my unit plans, I do not lay out for you specifically how to teach the unit step-by-step, though in this case a few of the documents do have schedules. Instead, I give you all of my resources--and they are extensive here--and you pick and choose what works for you, in the manner that suits your style and your students best. Having said that, you'll find everything you could possibly nee

A lot here to talk about. So say you wanted your students to write a narrative or reflective essay focusing in on one particular moment... Well. Here's what we've got: at least two pieces of model prose (Langston Hughes' "Salvation" and Paula Grace's "Butterflies") with handouts for the other pieces (Rau's "By Any Other Name", Dillard's An American Childhood, and an excerpt from Zinsser's Writing Well) I use. These handouts cover the bases: the writing assignment, its rubric, prewriting tasks,

Save yourself the time and trouble of developing a participation assessment device with this handy tool! I usually give the students a copy so they know what I'm looking for; when I factor in the grade, I just circle the criteria and give them back a copy of this rubric.

Quizzes, assignments, activities and essay response options to Dr. King's famous argument. A great teaching resource for showing argumentation or how to write persuasively!

Contains worksheet, practice problems and quiz for a common grammatical error!

This is an intriguing, intellectually stimulating synthesis prompt that can be easily adapted for the AP Language classroom. The topic/issue is on limiting/enabling choice, with several of the documents dealing with the "nudge" debate that popped up in 2008. The visual stimuli included should spark conversation as well. Would be a great summative assessment for an argumentative writing unit as well.

I run a Lincoln-Douglass style debate with my sophomores during spring semester: I find it's a good way to develop speaking skills while enhancing the ability to writing research-based persuasive writing. Included here are dozens of handy resources, from assignment sheets to rubrics to reflective responses. Doing debates takes up a serious amount of class time--I have students do a Research FAQ and a script before speaking--so while you'll find schedules inside my zip, I'd advise you to decide w

This handout is for teaching a sociological lens when analyzing literature. You'll note that the excerpt is from Jane Eyre, but you can replace it with any text you choose; the core concept remains the same. Great for AP students!

Okay, let's be clear: there's a lot here. It's also unorganized and not laid out for. I was intending on teaching MacBeth this past year, and so had begun to prep for instruction when my fellow sophomore teachers changed course and went with Caesar instead...as such, you're looking at a 75% complete vision of what could have been. Having said that, you'll find here quizzes, vocab lists and assignments, discussion questions and more. You'll have to put together the sequence and fill in some blan

Using lit theory in class can be challenging; however, the rewards of letting students see outside their own perspective are immense. Here, I've given a simple sheet with questions I've used--with sophomores!--to get them to understand how gender, particularly women, is constructed in fiction. I've used it with everyting from Scarlet Letter to Lord of the Flies!

Attached are 11 pages of resources for Albert Camus's most famous piece of existential short fiction, "The Guest." In addition to handouts on existentialism, the download also features a Reading Level Response journal assignment based on Hillocks's tenets of reading comprehension; there is a followup activity for class discussion that follows along these lines. You can use these resources in any way you see fit--let me know how it works for you!

This document can be used as a series of in-class activities or as a guide/worksheet for students when preparing for comparison-contrast analysis. Here's what's so invaluable about it: I've come up with a method to teach students how to construct their theses, and subsequently organize their response, by theme/idea, which is often difficult to express to students (especially more simplistic organizing devices are so easy and familiar to them.). This doc. is especially helpful for comparative lit

If you're planning on doing reading or literature circles with your class, the resources included herein may be helpful to you. I do not use the Harvey Daniels-minded set of tasks that many do, though I do assess a discussion leader for each session; instead, I have students prepare very deep questions--the format is included--to inspire discussion. There is a book list in this zip--note that I used this in an Am lit class so it's all American authors--but you can select any books of your liking