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To help my college students construct arguable, specific, and representative thesis statements, I use a series of templates to have them work through their ideas. Included in this word document are a template warm-up exercise, which helps students articulate their core position on the essay topic; and two thesis structures, one for position essays, where they would evaluate the worth or meaning of something, and a proposal structure for when they are making recommendations or providing solutions

This document contains dozens of ideas to develop lesson plans: bellringers/sponges, direct instruction techniques, group activity descriptions, closure exercises. Will inspire you during unit/lesson planning and save you lots of time! This is the one document I consistently return to, both for secondary and postsecondary teaching situations.

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!

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!

What we've got here is perfect for your poetry unit needs: an essay assignment focusing on the skills of definition and analysis--three different response options, all asking for complex responses. The prompts are broad and not poem-specific; design your own unit and use these prompt options to achieve your goals.

Make correct commas choices with restrictive and nonrestrictive elements are among the most difficult grammar concepts for high school English students. Included here is a clear handout, along with practice problems and quizzes.

Handy, graphic-filled comma packet that works particularly well with freshman and sophomores. The major comma rules are explained clearly and are followed with practice exercises.

I use the following outline form when my sophomores are prepping for their essays on Julius Caesar, but it can easily be adapted to any thesis-driven argumentative assignment. The form provides a clear thesis format (if you purchase this and want the accompanying powerpoint template, email me at mrcawn@hotmail.com and I'll send it to you) and asks students to move to the specifics of their topic, particularly the "so what?" element we want all students to grapple with. Perfect for any book!

14 pages of pronoun antecedent madness: problems; quizzes; and a nifty, effective handout to help high school students through it.

handout, practice, two types of quizzes

Simple handout explains how to decide between who/whom, and includes problems to practice with.