LitDocs

Use this handout as a guide for students as they read "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. These questions encourages students to read the text through a dystopian lens, focusing on a variety of dystopian genre elements. There is no answer key provided, as most of the questions can be answered with multiple examples from the text. The questions serve as a great discussion starter in the classroom.

This resource sheet and practice activity are designed to help students move beyond simply “dropping in” evidence and instead introduce sources in a way that builds ethos and strengthens their argument. By comparing weak and strong examples, students see how naming the author or organization, along with briefly establishing credibility, makes their writing more persuasive and trustworthy. The “Try It Yourself” section gives students structured practice using real, researchable sources, allowing

This handout is ready to print or display for student to use while writing constructed responses. Organized by text type (non-fiction, fiction, and poetry) it provides a list of sentence starters to support students in introducing and explaining evidence in their responses. This is best fit for middle and high school students as they begin to move away from the cookie-cutter sentence frames learned in earlier grades and begin to use a more sophisticate style in their written responses.

This bundle includes a slide deck and paired student handout/worksheet which help teach students the key skills of writing in a formal style. The activity is inquiry-based: students first brainstorm, individually or in groups, what formal writing does and does not look like. Next, they review sample sentences from a student essay comparing two familiar texts ( The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Tortoise and the Hare). The sentences feature common style errors such as vague wording, informal languag

These student-friendly materials are designed to accompany the novel We Beat the Street by The Three Doctors and Sharon Draper. The PDF includes: A student-friendly overview of Literature Circles A template for students to create group guidelines A role assignment sheet for each reading section Color-coded individual role sheets Printable bookmarks featuring vocabulary words for each section I like to have each group keep their materials organized in a shared binder, so they can easily refer b

These student-friendly materials are designed to accompany any novel. The PDF includes: An overview of Literature Circles A template for students to create group guidelines A role assignment sheet for each reading section Color-coded individual role sheets I like to have each group keep their materials organized in a shared binder, so they can easily refer back to previous sections during discussions. Simply place students into reading groups, hand out these Lit Circle resources, and they’ll b

This form helps students reflect on their performance across different grading categories. I created it after repeatedly encountering frustration around students questioning why a high test score didn’t significantly raise their overall grade, when they often overlooked missing or incomplete assignments in the homework or classwork category. Students complete this independently using our online gradebook, recording the weights of each grading category, and analyzing their performance in each on

This worksheet is designed to complement a slide deck (included in the bundle) and helps teach students the key skills of writing in a formal style. The activity is inquiry-based: students first brainstorm, individually or in groups, what formal writing does and does not look like. Next, they review sample sentences from a student essay comparing two familiar texts ( The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Tortoise and the Hare). The sentences feature common style errors such as vague wording, informal

This Slide Deck is designed to complement a student facing worksheet (included in the bundle) and helps teach students the key skills of writing in a formal style. The activity is inquiry-based: students first brainstorm, individually or in groups, what formal writing does and does not look like. Next, they review sample sentences from a student essay comparing two familiar texts ( The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Tortoise and the Hare). The sentences feature common style errors such as vague wor

This student-facing packet prepares students to participate in a fishbowl-style discussion after reading both "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and The Giver by Lois Lowry. The packet includes instructions and a rubric, nine discussion questions formatted in a graphic organizer which requires students to provide text evidence, and space for note taking during the discussion. Discussion questions are divided into three categories: Theme, Character/Setting, and Personal Reflection. I typically div

This worksheet is designed to be used with any novel-to-film pairing. Students work in groups, with each group assigned one narrative element—characters, setting, conflict, point of view, or plot events—to track throughout the film. As they watch, students collect evidence and make connections to the original text. After the viewing, they compare the two mediums and develop an argument about which version more effectively incorporates their assigned element. This activity fosters critical thinki

This worksheet is designed to accompany a classroom viewing of Stargirl. Students work in groups, with each group assigned a specific narrative element (characters, setting, conflict, POV, or plot events) to track throughout the film. As they watch, students collect evidence and make connections to the novel. After the viewing, students compare the two mediums and develop an argument about which version more effectively incorporates their assigned narrative element. This activity encourages cri

The first sentence of a narrative is key to hooking the reader and to helping a writer gain momentum in the drafting process. This worksheet is designed for middle and high school students to use before beginning a first draft. I’ve found that when students complete this organizer first, they face less writer’s block, and I rarely hear the dreaded, “I don’t know where to start.”

Use this checklist as students decode the NJSLA released rubrics and sample prompts for all three writing tasks: Informative/Explanatory, Narrative, and Argumentative. This can be used throughout the year, or as a review of key terms and elements used in each type of writing.