Mark Jordan

This anacrostic puzzle is an excellent followup activity to reading "Most Dangerous Game." It is replete with vocab words as they are used in context. Anacrostic puzzles highlight a long quotation as well as terms and concepts germane to the puzzle's theme. Students will quickly learn how they work and, if my experience of distributing them to students for twenty years is an indication, will become big fans of them ... big, quiet fans. Once you pass them out, students, working solo or in gro

This quotation puzzle -- AKA anacrostic, acrostic, etc. -- provides a great way to inject one of Shakespeare's most memorable passages into the minds of your students (Out, out, brief candle...) in a painless, highly cognitive way. Pass them out, explain how to solve it, give them a few freebies, and you'll have a quiet classroom for the rest of the period ... guaranteed. You really need to try it and see.

This anacrostic puzzle is an excellent followup activity to reading Poe's "Cask of Amontillado." It covers Poe's rich use of unique vocabulary as well as general information and trivia about Poe's life and work. Anacrostics highlight a long quotation - this one from "Cask of Amontillado" - as well as terms and concepts germane to the puzzle's theme. Students will quickly learn how they work and, if my experience of distributing them to students for twenty years is an indication, will become b

This anacrostic puzzle is an excellent followup activity to reading Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." It captures the tragic essence of the novel as well as the local color Steinbeck employed. Anacrostic puzzles highlight a long quotation -- this one from "Of Mice and Men" -- as well as terms and concepts germane to the puzzle's theme. Students will quickly learn how they work and, if my experience of distributing them to students for twenty years is an indication, will become big fans of them .

This puzzle, an anacrostic, is themed around a quotation from "To Kill a Mockingbird" which your students will solve by answering questions about the book and other cultural references. These puzzles help students from high school through college dig into the theme of a book in an unusual and highly engrossing way. They're a guaranteed class period of silence after you've handed them out and briefly explained the process.

A quotation puzzle (an anacrostic) based on Hamlet's "What a piece of work is a man" speech. Its theme is Hamlet and Shakespeare but there are general info and pop culture questions which make it a well-rounded, enjoyable activity. Students usually need 5 minutes of instructions on how to do the puzzle then they're off, silent for an entire period, completely engaged. I've used them in both high school and university classes to great success.

This puzzle is an excellent way to introduce science fiction to students. It is an "anacrostic," a puzzle that highlights a long quotation and as well as terms and concepts germane to the puzzle's theme. Students will quickly learn how they work and, if my experience of distributing them to students for twenty years is an indication, will become big fans of them. They can be worked on in class, in pairs or groups or alone and they make an excellent homework assignment. They're easy to grade

This quotation puzzle from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet helps students learn quotes from The Bard as well as Shakespearean concepts. It's a great, fun review after having read the play ... and it keeps kids QUIET for an entire class period as they work alone or with partners solving it. Sometimes this kind of puzzle is called an "Anacrostic," sometimes "Acrostic," and sometimes just "Quotation puzzle." I have 34 years of classroom experience to prove these are one of the best puzzle

Students will enjoy this quotation puzzle based on the Bard's famous "Seven Stages of Man" passage. While it isn't necessary to have read the play to answer the questions, it is a great followup to having read it. The questions are themed around it and Shakespeare in general. Puzzles such as this really help students dig into and remember the great quotes of literature. And they're guaranteed to give you one entire class period of intense student involvement ... and peace and quiet :)

Students will enjoy this quotation puzzle (also called an anacrostic) which is themed around a quote from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." It's an excellent way to review the novel and to engage students in a meaningful way ... and it's guaranteed to give the teacher a blissful class period of silence and students pore over the clues.

Try this anacrostic puzzle to see how effectively they can be used in the classroom. They're addictive, they're brain-demanding, and they are great at wedging quotations into the minds of your students. Once you teach your kids how to solve them, you'll have a quiet classroom for the rest of the period ... guaranteed.

This, the first of 180 "Entry Points" into teaching English classroom concepts, is a great way to introduce your classes to the true, deep, mysterious difference between the math class and the English class. It's designed to awaken them to the world of abstract, conceptualized thinking. It has the additional benefit of providing you, the English teacher who must assign subjective grades to written work, with a strong defense for the grade-hounding that is sure to come your way.