Davis' Oasis

{2/22/21 UPDATE: The CST (or STAR, as it was alternately known, is a long-gone test, replaced by Common Core/SBAC tests). While I can guarantee there's some overlap in what I prepared for some ten (?) years ago, I cannot guarantee full correspondence between this resource and *exactly* what you might need to prepare ELA students in CA post-2020. I'll likely be teaching English once again next year, and I'll definitely be utilizing this once more, but I'm certain I'll also be making some modifica

Freshly Updated on 2/19/2026 ... Many positive changes made.I'm a perfectionist, and this is one of my babies. These assessments are plug and play. 12 pages: 6 Quizzes, 6 Answer Keys, beautifully formatted and precisely formulated to ascertain if the student read (or was paying attention while you read/discussed) and get him or her to "think through" the material on a few levels. There are fill in the blanks (FITB), multiple choice, true/false, yes/no, and short answer questions. Most questions

From the movie or play of Reginald Rose's "12 Angry Men." 10 multiple choice questions on 2 pages; the third page is the answer key. For #3, you may want to reword "strong curtain," since it doesn't appear to be a common term anymore (consider 'moment of tension,' 'cliffhanger,' etc.). For #7, make sure protagonist, antagonist, and foil characters are terms you've presented to students. For #9, if students aren't familiar with "bigoted," change it to "prejudiced." This could also be used as a st

Look at this as a means to get some well-written multiple choice questions, since it may not be expedient to use all of them at the same time. I just finished this after five long, but fun, hours.The topics included are: Theme (including universal) Conflict (internal vs. external) Conflict (Character vs. Character, Nature, Society, Self) 5 Parts of a Plot (Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution) Inciting Incident Assonance Alliteration Consonance Juxtaposition Simile P

This tests, in multiple choice fashion, the spelling and definitions of 10 words from chapters 1-3 of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The free preview is simply a list of the words tested here. There are 20 questions, 10 relating to spelling, 10 relating to the definitions. Please download the free sample of this format I have available for Saki's short story, "The Interlopers" if you are confused as to how I can test spelling and definitions in such a concise way. See also the Jeopardy-li

This group activity is designed to help students ferret out concrete examples of certain literary terms & elements of an essay. Students are asked to pull them out of a decent sample essay written by me. The essay itself is a free download (sample essay anti-war prompt). The downloadable preview of the activity is #1-5. #1-17 of the actual activity relate to essay elements, style, and ELA literary terms that students need to know. #18-25 simply asks students to find 8 unfamiliar words and define

I'm offering this up cheaper since it is slightly less polished than my other test packs. A few chapters are combined with another (e.g. Chapters 1 & 2 are tested together), and the other quizzes are one chapter at a time. Ten quizzes, 5 or 10 points each. There are no answer keys. Download the free preview...

This PowerPoint is essentially modeled after a specific TV Game Show -- a great whole-class, group, or individual exercise to practice ten words from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." I've broken classes up into groups and made it an extra credit game; I've thrown it up and blazed through it just prior to handing out the test. It works (and it has cool sound effects). Can be used in conjunction with the crossword puzzle and the vocab test that are also available. Thanks!

This is 10 words, divided by part of speech (1 adverb, 2 verbs, 3 nouns, 4 adjectives) from the first 3 chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I'll be uploading resources as I do them; this is my first year teaching the novel. Download the preview for a printable and distributable list of the words. There's a vocab test for them available, too, employing my "patented" multiple choice method (see The Interlopers Vocab Test free download). This is similar to the Alex Drabek-hosted game:

This goes along with my CST Prep Literary Terms & Vocab List for the CA 9th/10th grades English standards. Of course, these terms should be known everywhere in the states; there is nothing esoteric here. Check out the list for details about words. You don't need the list for this test to be useful, but it's tailored to it. Also available is a practice activity that gets at a lot of the terms on this list (and it's free).

This is a 12 page, 12 pack of quizzes, chapter by chapter, of William Golding's novel, The Lord of the Flies. Most of the questions are more nuts and bolts regarding plot development (i.e. "did you read?"), but about 20% require deeper thinking. No answer keys are included, but they should be easy for a teacher to come up with. There's no thumbs to look at because TPT makes it look as if the formatting's off. Please download the free preview... Please consider purchasing also my 75 word vocab li

I use this in every class I teach at the beginning. Many students will blow through this and then be surprised they didn't do well. They assume they know it all...but we can help with that. 1 Worksheet, 1 (detailed) Answer Key. Enjoy!

We like Harper Lee! Anyway, this goes along with the testing of 10 words that I have available. This is somewhat similar to Jeopardy. 2 Adverbs, 6 Adjectives, and 2 Nouns. Adjectives divided into two columns. The free preview is simply a list of the words in the order they appear in the book. They apply to this PowerPoint and the To Kill a Mockingbird 2 Vocab Test on Chapters 4-6.

This one's on me--hope it's useful. I've popped this on students before and then, after letting them experience the pressure of a timed situation, gave them credit after the fact for simply doing it. A decent introduction to pressurized writing situations for Freshmen. Let me know what you think. As with all my material, I want to know what & how I can improve. Thanks!

This assignment would be particularly appropriate as a makeup or extra credit assignment. It consists of 2 essay topics from which a student could choose to write in response to the Drew Barrymore movie, Ever After (A Cinderella Story). Of course, if you showed the movie in class, then it could work for an entire class assignment. It's fairly simple, with one topic easier to write on than the other, so the students who want to extend themselves are able. Don't forget to type in the due date!

These notes lead in well to my FREE "Children's Story Group Activity." Big font, 4 pages, simple, tweak 'em if you need to...

Verbal, Situational, and Dramatic Irony are each defined on the same page. Post in your room, project for students to take notes, print and hand out as a study guide for my test on types of irony.

4 Pages: 2 are activity, 2 are answer key. This activity could be a group or individual one. I used it with my list of literary terms as a practice for my test on the same. Though it is specifically geared to CA ELA 9th/10th standards, these are things every student in the states should be aware of and there's probably a high correspondence between your state standards and CA's. I think this is a very useful part of preparing for any standardized test in any high school in America. It was a cha

Template for a permission slip for the Americanized version of The Lord of the Flies, from 1990. Show the rated R movie in class (just don't forget to tweak it first!). Also check out my 12 quiz test pack as well as my vocabulary list & test pack for William Golding's novel, The Lord of the Flies!

If you were doing some type of Heritage or Family History project with your students, and wanted them to produce a powerpoint, this is a decent sample for high school level. It has pretty neat animations and covers the students grandparents, country of origins, ethnicity breakdown, religious affiliations, etc. It's not real long, but it's pretty polished. I used it as part of a project for sophomores entitled: "Where I'm From, Where I'm Going" that was designed to help with cultural awareness am