JC Productions

This script is arranged to be read by groups of eight students, though this can be modified. With several groups reading or acting it out, everyone is involved with parts and gets inside the story, strengthing comprehension and making discussions more lively. Students highlight their parts before reading so they can anticipate their parts and stay in character. After reading the script, students in groups of four brainstorm and reflect on the questions provided. Next, discuss and share as a cl

A unit on Satire and Parody is not complete without something from The Onion. "Idiot Tornado Tears Harmlessly Through Empty Field" is an amusing 50-second video that features words with strong connotations, irony, and social commentary that is playfully satiric. This would augment a study of Animal Farm or another satire. Key terms involving satire and parody are used. Study questions are given and an answer key is provided. The Preview or Demo is only of page 1. Page 2 has a few thumbnail vis

After you read the short story, you might want your students to read this script. Students love reading scripts as it is very student-centered and gets them involved. I think they retain more when they are part of this kind of a reading. This script is arranged into eight parts, four characters and four narrators, so if you have, let's say, a class of 24, you could have three groups reading it aloud simultaneously, two in the class and one in the hallway. The script itself will take less tha

This is Twain’s first hit and one of his most anthologized and memorable short stories. It was an instant classic and remains as playfully implausible as ever. The story is replete with the ethos of a gambling culture that typifies the Wild West. To keep students engaged, I have rendered this story in a script format, for use in the classroom or onstage for up to ten voices. If you have twenty + students, you could have two groups reading it at the same time. Twain didn’t skimp on his

This is a classroom tested reading comprised of the first half of King's great Letter from Birmingham Jail. I have included the first half for several reasons -- it already is a 10 page reading (5 double sided) with a page of vocabulary words with relevant definitions. Your handout will have space and lines for student responses to 9 study guide questions, which you can assign for reading comprehension or as prewriting in advance of an essay. I have added an answer key. The vocabulary is signi

Maybe you, too, read The Outsiders. This is a pdf that will rock your introduction to the novel. Besides using paper, we use iPads and with some assignments, students take notes on a pdf in Notability. Students will need some background using the STEAL acronym for Indirect Characterization. (S = Speech, T = Thoughts and feelings, E = Effects on others, A = Actions, and L = Looks and appearances.) The paid-for version has a richly completed answer key included -- each of these slides has answers

Reading for and writing about Theme can be called the apex of exploring literature. Here is a visual that puts it there. You can use it to talk about how literary elements form the basis for analyzing literature, and how literary devices build on this foundation. For example, mood can be created from more basic elements, such as the setting, plot events, characterization, and imagery. (Class activity suggestion: You can print out or project this visual onto a white board and have your students

The great story plays well in the classroom for up to 23 students. It has three parts with 4-5 narrators in each part. Rehearsal time is reasonable since it is in these three parts. A Study Guide and Vocabulary List and Quiz are included. Your students will love the kinesthetic experience of acting out this famous story. Download the demo to get a sense of how it is arranged and what's included. Reading scripts helps make our classes more student-centered. It engages students on a peer-to

Teachers value annotations and appreciate ways to guide students into becoming stronger annotators. Unfortunately, the margins of books aren't always our own, so sticky notes are needed. Having teachers review annotations on sticky notes on occasion helps, so collecting them is necessary. (When you review their annotations, you get a vivid, even X-ray sense of how carefully your students read. To make this review process manageable, you can tell your students something like, "I will examine 2

Mark Twain's "A Fable" is a satirical piece that amuses and instructs readers about how our perceptions of what we see in literature or art are often clouded by ourselves -- our preconceived ideas and our imagination. I've taken Twain's "A Fable" and rendered it into a classroom script that allows for up to ten students (six characters and four narrators) to enact it. Also included: the fable in story form for independent reading, a study guide with thought-provoking comprehension questions, an

This short story, written by Giovanni Boccacchio (1313-1375), the great medieval Italian writer, is delightful in how it depicts courtly manners and has a clever irony infused in its plot. It is often paired with O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" and Maupassant's "The Necklace." Boccacchio was friends with Petrarch and influenced Chaucer. This version is translated by Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella, professors and scholars of Italian Literature from Indiana University. I found the story here:

Check out the demo here. It's classic Twain. My rendition of it has 20 vocabulary words set up with definitions, a matching activity and a sentence completion activity, and a study guide. Reading scripts helps make our classes more student-centered. It engages students on a peer-to-peer basis, improves subsequent class discussions, while it gives you feedback on their reading and acting / dramatization skill levels. If you like having your students read scripts of the stories they read in

Stories have competing themes and one often wins out in the end. Jackson's classic story, "The Lottery" is a good example of this. See the Preview for how various possible themes emerge but one stands tall -- the necessity to challenge unhealthy and inhumane societal traditions. This is on a Google Slideshow/Presentation, so it is a "modular experience." Questions are provided, so you can do a "check for understanding" or exit ticket.

If students can understand the difference between a phrase and a clause, then they know an important pillar of English grammar.  I designed this diagram to show visually how clauses are larger grammatical units than phrases. The uppermost phrase patterns are the smallest grammatical units. It’s a hierarchy of sorts. As larger units, clauses often have phrases tucked inside them or attached to them. Likewise, phrases are larger grammatical units than “single-word” (individual) modifiers (adject

Students benefit from understanding the "Plot Mountain" and its stages, especially by seeing how it applies to stories they already know well, such as "Cinderella" and "Jack and the Beanstalk." I also included a plot mountain analysis for Robert Cormier's great short story "The Moustache." This product has compelling color visuals for the plot mountain and its application to these stories as well as black and white versions for paper copies. Suggestions are given for activities and presentatio

Obama's speeches are memorable and powerful for their progressive, spiritual vision and their abundant use of traditional speechwriting techniques, such as parallel structure, balanced phrasing, and alliteration. The class can start by listening to his speech on YouTube to get connected with the language and the moment. The activity (sent to you as a Word doc, which you can modify, and a pdf), contains the speech itself (on Word and a link to a GoogleDoc), with instances of these techniques in

Saki's short story "The Open Window" is a gem for middle school and beyond. Here it is presented as a script (nothing changed but arranged to accommodate its characters and four narrators), so that groups of 8-10 can read it in a classroom setting. Vocabulary words have been provided in bold and defined next to them in smaller text, so readers can keep both pace and comprehension. This is a great feature for ELL students and struggling readers. A version that allows for annotation is provide

Annotating is a foundational skill that helps students comprehend any text on their own. It's an essential skill to have when they are preparing to write "on demand" or "open response" writings. This 19-page packet explains the rationale for persisting and expecting students to engage in annotation and offers activities and rubrics for reflection, scoring and feedback. You will find that students are appreciative of learning this skill and that they benefit from seeing each other's annotation

Twain is at his amusing and sardonic best here with his "Ghost Story." Twain dabbles in the Romantic style of writing to set up his ghost story, but soon shifts to his familiar tongue-in-cheek, unabashed realism. His speaker soon lets the clumsy ghost have it for wrecking the furniture and further undermines its spectral existence until the ghost begs him not to let the story get around. I've set it up as a script for eight readers, which can work well in a classroom large or small. There is a

King Thrushbeard is a great fairy tale recorded by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Here you will receive the fairy tale itself on a Word document, but also a script version that has been carefully rendered and adapted for 8-14 readers, depending on how many narrators you need. Four narrators are included -- to add more readers, two students can share each of the narrator's parts. Whenever description could be shifted into dialogue, this was done -- while preserving the style of the original fairy tale