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This is one of my favorite lessons. After reading the short story, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, the students are always perplexed by the ending. What just happened? How did she die? These questions quickly float around the classroom. Place students in groups and tell them that today's class will be an interpretation contest-CSI style. The winner must prove that Mrs. Mallard died due to psychological trauma, physical causes, or a little of both. Evidence will be gathered from the

Overview: This updated 32-page packet includes everything your students need to write a literary analysis research paper that will prepare them for college. In fact, many of my students choose to keep this packet to take with them for future reference. Students read and take notes on any classic and compose an essay based on the topic of their choosing. The assignment requires both primary and secondary sources. Included in the packet: 1) Assignment overview 2) Research terminology 3)

I've finally settled on a reading guide that enables students to grapple with Fitzgerald's prose in traditional and creative ways. I use this guide to help me assess what students understand as they read at home. If interested, please see my other classroom activities on this novel as they build on the concepts in this guide. This 14-page packet includes the following: 1) Directions on how to use Post-Its to analyze Fitzgerald's prose 2) Traditional study guide questions 3) Guided dire

This 20-page packet covers all components of a character analysis essay for Shakespeare's Macbeth. The first section of the packet is the pre-write and should be distributed when students begin the play. Following Macbeth or Lady Macbeth, students write lines spoken by or about their character. Then, there is a section covering thesis and topic sentence creation. An optional outline for organization is included, as well as a strategy to incorporate quotations into a paper. Finally, a peer e

You will be so proud of your students after they grapple with this challenging poem. I've included all of my materials to make the teaching of this poem engaging and manageable for both teachers and students. This 18-page document includes the following: 1) Complete text of the poem 2) First reading of the poem (homework assignment) 3) Collaborative group analysis of the poem (split into six parts) 4) Teacher's key 5) Art poster project to conclude the unit 6) Teacher's notes (includ

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth is responsible for physically murdering King Duncan, yet the murder would never have occurred without Lady Macbeth's ambitious plan. Split the class into two large groups (or four smaller groups in which you would hold two separate trials) and give students a position to defend or persecute Lady Macbeth. This packet includes two preparation sheets for students as well as a suggested time frame for the trial. The time frame can easily be changed based on how l

I look forward to this inquiry-based project every year! After studying transcendentalism or persuasive techniques, students work together to create their own school. I promise your students will be motivated and excited over the course of this project. It took me a few years to refine the steps, and I am attaching detailed work to make the project easy to implement. This project includes the following: 1) Project overview sheet which includes all requirements for the presentations 2) G

I love when we begin reading The Great Gatsby and that one student in the class (the inquisitive one) looks at the cover and says, “Are we going to find out what all this stuff means?” I assure the class that, yes, we will attempt to come up with some answers later. This project fulfills that promise. Highlighting three symbols from the text, students create their own cover for a specific target audience. To do this, students conduct detailed discussions about the progression of the symbols

This 22-page study guide includes a blank study guide copy for students as well as a key with extensive teacher's notes. The study guide has literary terms for each act ranging from allusion to irony. The questions ask students to look for evidence in the play before they respond. There are also many interpretive and evaluative questions. This guide will ensure that students have a thorough understanding of the play.

Once students comprehend the basic plot in Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, I put them into groups to analyze Nick’s narration. I love to watch their faces once they look again and realize that Nick’s prose (the information many students carelessly skip over) gives readers all the clues they need to understand the motivations of the main characters. “Oh, I see! Fitzgerald uses the word conspire!” This activity works best in groups. I would suggest either allowing students to work on the ent

This unit on the short story "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, serves as a fantastic introduction to the Puritan era or as an accompaniment to The Crucible or The Scarlet Letter. Included are vocabulary terms and a study key with detailed keys. Additionally, I have included a dramatic skit activity. Students are assigned groups and a section of the story and must re-enact the scene in the front of the classroom. There are specific and different instructions for each group.

By the time students get to Chapter 7 of the novel, I notice that some of my students begin to resort to skimming or Sparknotes. How do I combat this issue? A storyboard! I’ve intentionally selected four passages from Chapter 7 for students to reread and analyze. The end result will look like a comic with four drawings, four lines, and four sections of their own inferences or explanations. My students usually have fun with this activity and see so much more in the novel on the second reading

What goals do your students have for the next five years? What do their goals and their daily schedules show about what they individually value? This experiment asks students to behave as sociologists and to make observations about American society from the Revolutionary era to modern times. Students begin by creating their own goals and a daily schedule. Then, students’ compare their ideas to both Benjamin Franklin’s schedule from The Autobiography and Jay Gatsby’s schedule in Chapter 9. By t

This is a week-long unit on the short story "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" by Bret Harte. The focus of the story can be on stereotypes or on Realism/Regionalism in American Literature. The unit includes notes, a desert island journal entry, a study guide with a key, and directions for group skits. All directions are very detailed. For example, the group skits are broken down into sections of the story in which I highlight the characters needed and the major plot points which need to be perform

My students love this project! After reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, students replicate Hester's punishment through a creative project/speech. Students choose a flaw and create their own "letter or shame" to wear for the day. Finally, students give a speech to the class about their chosen topic. This newly updated packet includes 1) Project overview 2) Speech preparation sheet 3) Detailed rubric

After students finish the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, have students work with a partner or groups to cast modern-day actor/actresses for a contemporary movie version of the play. This four page packet reviews all major characters from Malcolm to Hecate to, of course, Macbeth. Students are asked to review character traits and major scenes for each character. If time permits, students can present their proposals to the class in hopes of scoring a movie deal with a group of producers (

This two-three day group work on the first two chapters of The Great Gatsby will ask students to focus on one area of the setting: West Egg, East Egg, or the Valley of Ashes. After online investigation and a careful reading of Fitzgerald's description, students will create a home similar to their area. For the presentation, students will showcase their home, their area, and the characters who reside there. Finally, students will make inferences about the characters and their area by comparing

This creative writing assignment is best used as a review after studying various authors from the Transcendentalism and Realism time periods. In groups, students choose six authors that will live in a house. The setting (influenced by Thoreau) must be a Utopian community. Students will write a pitch to sell to producers using the authors or the content of the authors' stories. Students can then present their pitches to the class, and the class can choose a winner. Honors classes may want to