IdeaLit Resources

This activity includes a table (fully editable as it is a Word Document) that has three poems thematically relating to Beowulf: "Grendel's Brother," "Thanatopsis," and "Ozymandias" on the left. The right column includes a series of close-reading/analysis questions aimed at helping AP students to hone their skills of poetry interpretation. The second section of the activity includes a prompt from a released AP Exam (poem included) and asks students to create a thesis statement only for the pro

NPR and "This American Life" helped to create one of the most intriguing podcasts of all time. An investigation into the unanswered questions about the murder of a Maryland high school student in 1999, this podcast provides students opportunities to evaluate data and create an argument regarding which of the "characters" is telling the actual truth about what happened the day teenager, Hae Min Lee, was killed. This fully-customizable Word document download presupposes that your students have r

Originally designed for a dual-enrollment course on Argument (ideal for 11th and 12th grade students in advanced studies) and created with elements of BOTH AP English Literature and AP English Language in mind, this 92-slide editable and customizable PowerPoint presentation provides the instruction needed for an entire unit on George Orwell's 1984. Total duration of the unit will vary due to a number of factors. This was designed with 80-minute block periods in mind and, with a few interrupt

This fully editable Word Document can either be used as an electronic document each student will fill out on his/her own computer if you have those resources, or you can widen the boxes and print the document for students to fill out by hand. This worksheet was designed to be used for one, 80-minute class period but can be adapted for your individual purposes. In this activity, students can use ANY works of literature, articles, videos or other resources you've studied to evaluate the nature

This fun game encourages students to use their competitive spirits and their interest in games to conduct a closer reading of Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. The product includes 3 different (and editable) "BINGO cards," and one (editable) directions sheet. As students read the vignettes, they consider the themes, symbols, and motifs, literary devices, and the author's purpose and her argument. It was initially designed for 9th grade students, but is appropriate for all ages (and

This PowerPoint presentation includes 23 slides of basic, introductory information including definitions for and basic effects of rhetorical devices such as epizeuxis, anecdote, allusion, and hyperbole to name a few. The presentation also includes a copy of the text of "The Gettysburg Address" with a brief assignment/activity to help students practice some of the basics of rhetorical analysis. Designed for beginners, this presentation is also good as an early precursor to studies in AP English L

Breaking this novel into 7 daily readings (which you can assign to be due every day, every-other day or use whatever pacing is best for your students), this set of questions is NOT your typical work packet. These questions are thought-provoking and are designed to spark discussion. With this set of 10 questions for each reading section (2-3 chapters apiece), you can have your daily lessons completely planned out already! Just use these homework questions as the starting points for a large-grou

This packet includes: * 40 open-ended critical thinking questions broken down by reading section. * A complete essay prompt with writing guidelines and expectations * A chart to schedule your assignments with students If you're looking for sincerely thought-provoking, higher-order thinking questions to accompany or guide your teaching or daily lessons on 1984, this packet is for you. Often, I've found that an online search of "critical thinking questions" or "reading questions" for a novel yi

Included are fully editable quizzes for Acts I, II, III and V of Macbeth. The first three quizzes include 10 open-ended or "short answer"-style questions that promote close reading and text analysis. The final quiz is only 5 questions of the same style. Answers for the quizzes will vary and are up to teacher discretion, but a key is available for $.50. This is also a part of the Macbeth AP Literature Bundle Pack. Purchasing the entire pack does provide you with a greater savings!

This mini-lesson includes 10 discussion questions and a casually-phrased Q&A about why authors might include scenes of sex and/or violence in literature. With reference to the book, "How to Read Literature Like a Professor," this mini-lesson explores three texts (all available online for free): "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti "Janus" by Ann Beatty "Out, Out--" by Robert Frost While this lesson does not require knowledge specifically of other texts, there are reference

I realized some time back that when I look online for "discussion questions" for a literary work, I often find VERY low-level questions about plot and characters. I find this frustrating. This is a set of over 25 questions (with space for written answers if you choose simply to print and hand this to students) allows students to think beyond the obvious. These are truly discussion questions where there are multiple possible answers and there is plenty of room for healthy disagreement, debate,

Included are two fully editable worksheet tables that include 18 total carefully selected passages from the novel and include spaces for students to respond to the passages' literary devices, word choices, themes and motifs and how those passages relate to the meaning of the work as a whole. Also included are tips for students on how to fill out the table and improve the sophistication of their close reading and analysis of literature with specific regard to the AP Exam.

Designed for use with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the high school freshman level (but editable to work with other sources if you prefer), this 7-page document walks students through how to select quotes, how to cite by act, scene and line number, how to use reasoning to determine one's goals for writing, how to create good body paragraphs, how to write good commentary (with visual "formulas" for struggling writers), and how to figure out what to "say" in an essay overall. Also embedded in

This handout is editable, but is ready-to-go for upper-level high school students who are looking to improve and perfect their writing. The focus is on literary or rhetorical analysis writing. It starts with basic tips such as how to use an author's name properly in an essay. Then, it moves on to information about how to take writing to the next level, making suggestions about word choice, types of oratory being used, and characterizing diction in a text. This guide was written for AP Englis

This fully editable Macbeth final test includes multiple choice, true/false and essay sections. Included are questions relating to the plot and characters of the play, key quotations, the historic Macbeth, the significance of this play to Jacobean England and character relationships. Answer key is included.

How many times have you told your students they cannot just let the quoted material they use in their academic writing float out there all by itself? How many times have you told them to stop using the word "says" or the word "writes" to talk about text? This activity asks your students to view a movie or documentary (of your choice -- I use a biographical movie like "Lincoln" or "Malala") to take notes and practice using "power verbs" to construct meaningful commentary. Note: "power verbs"

While students read Black Boy, Richard Wright's autobiography, they can use this guide to collect ideas, prepare remarks, practice rhetorical analysis and construct a complete essay. This was designed to be completed over multiple days with different steps due on different days. It is a fully customizable Word document and it utilizes clipart that is open-source and free to use. *Note: this presumes students already generally know how to complete some rhetorical analysis. It is based on an e

Writing rubric for grades 9 and up: Word Document -- completely editable for your own needs Includes information regarding how to calculate grades (percentages on a 0-100% grading scale -- regardless of your letter grade system) Includes information on how to make the rubric work for ANY student regardless of his or her individual skills, needs or current level of ability Perfect for improving GROWTH MINDSET Encourages students to improve with each essay over any period of time th

This fully editable Word Document test file allows your students to choose their own adventure, so-to-speak. There are different options for students who would like to aim for an "A," a "B," and so on. This is currently based on a 10-point, traditional grade scale where 90-100 is an A and so on down, but it is, again, editable. The different "levels" of writing prompts for this take-home essay test are designed with 9th grade students in mind, though would work for anything from 7th-12th since

This product includes an editable chart and thinking questions that require students who are conducting Multiple Choice practice (for the AP exam or any other assessments) to defend their answer responses. Multiple Choice questions and answers are not included. This is a resource to be used with any Multiple Choice practice you may already be conducting. The focus here is for AP language as the students are required to consider argument, author's purpose and other elements normally assessed i