Amanda Cavanaugh

The Broadway hit Hamilton is full of nuance and literary elements, and one of the most interesting decisions Miranda made was how to infuse characterization in the lyrics of each song. In this lesson, students will tackle the age old question "but did the author really mean that?" by analyzing the Broadway version of Eliza Hamilton's "Burn" versus the "First Burn" which was noted by Miranda to be the original version of the song. Students will determine what changes were made to the song and h

In this lesson, students compare and contrast the literary elements each writer uses to create meaning and how tone, repetition, and rhetorical questions are used to deliver author's message.

This lesson examines how Allusion helps to create depth and meaning in a text by looking at both Springsteen's and Rage Against the Machine's versions of "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Students will determine how the tone of each song differs to create meaning and how alluding to biblical texts, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and even covering a song can add layers of meaning that need to be negotiated in order the understand the song.

Literary analysis is hard, and so is writing about it! For my students that need a more concrete process to understand how to analyze a text and write about it, I've developed a process that closely mimics the Scientific Method! In the bundle, you'll find the analysis process guide, data collection worksheets for Symbolism and Characterization, as well as a blank analysis template, and writing guides that focus on data collection before argumentation. The focus here is how to data collect for a

In this lesson, students compare and contrast each writer's use of literary elements to create meaning and to explore the complex relationships in the respective pieces.

In this lesson, students examine tone, shifts, and characterization as they compare Kendrick Lamar's "DNA" and Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" to see how each artist creates complexity.

This worksheet helps students create an argumentative thesis that addresses the counterclaim, takes a position, and uses analytical reasoning to support it.