Words with Friends

This bundle contains reading check quizzes, a handout for dialectical journals, a handout for a Socratic Seminar, a project, and non-fiction articles and a poem that relate to themes of the novel.

This bundle includes lessons, poetry, artwork, reading check quizzes, a Socratic Seminar handout, a dialectical journal handout, and a project (PBL). A note on the reading check quizzes: The highlighted questions are questions that are answered by SparkNotes or other online resources. If you want to make sure your students aren't relying solely on those methods, avoid the highlighted questions.

Because my students read this novel almost completely out of class, my quizzes are simple reading check quizzes. My objective is to make sure they are keeping up, and if they're not, to get them back on track. I teach 3 sections, so most of the time, I give these quizzes orally and choose five questions at random. I use different questions for every class to cut back on cheating.

Because my students read this novel almost completely outside of class, my quizzes are simple reading check quizzes. My objective is to make sure they are keeping up, and if they're not, to get them back on track. I teach 3 sections, so most of the time, I give these quizzes orally and choose five questions at random. I use different questions for every class to cut back on cheating.

These lessons have revolutionized how I teach grammar and writing! They come from a workshop I attended at NCTE, led by Dr. Lisa Waner. I have created 6 assignments in this file, all with questions that relate back to Macbeth. Essentially, students receive the assignment on a Monday and turn them in on a Friday. It is only two sentences, but they must be perfect. If they are not, I put a check mark on the line with the mistake, and it's up to the students to find their error, fix it, rewrite th

I love teaching this lesson! I taught most of it on a block day, but it could be stretched to 2-3 days. This lesson focuses on a passage from The Kite Runner that begins on page 240. I incorporated a poem and a painting to get kids thinking deeply about theme across genres and mediums. The idea comes from a session at NCTE, and I incorporate the term "binaries" to get students thinking about opposites and what can be determined by looking closely at what an author or artist contrasts. From

This lesson can be used for a block schedule or divided up over two days. In this lesson, students examine a photograph, an excerpt from a book, a poem, and a short documentary to answer essential questions on topics such as the role of media in society and the responsibility to bear witness.

Because my students read this novel almost completely out of class, my quizzes are simple reading check quizzes. My objective is to make sure they are keeping up, and if they're not, to get them back on track. I teach 3 sections, so most of the time, I give these quizzes orally and choose five questions at random. I use different questions for every class to cut back on cheating.

This bundle includes six Perfect Paragraphs, a Socratic Seminar handout, a character questionnaire, three poetry pairing handouts, and a tracking motif handout. Enjoy!

Because poetry is so tough for my students and because it always ends up on the end-of-course exam, I try to weave in poetry lessons throughout the year. I've found it works best if the poems share themes with our anchor texts. This can be split up throughout the week as quick mini-lessons at the beginning of class. Usually, I do the "title" and "paraphrase" sections on Monday, "connotations" on Tuesday, and so on...

I've been trying to get my students to "think about the work as a whole," which is a buzz phrase in AP Literature. The dialectical journals force them to think about a literary technique and how the device could advance the theme of the novel. They are also required to give a personal reaction to the text. In the beginning of a novel, they are unable to determine a theme without reading more. Usually, we do some background research before we begin the novel to help the students know which th

I love doing these with my students. Once they are comfortable with the format (and classroom discipline), I sit outside the circle so they are truly talking to each other, not to me. Because they must use textual evidence, this forces students to find information from the novel to back up their opinions. In my classroom, a seminar is a 30-point grade. Students understand that they are expected to make three meaningful contributions in order to get full credit. In response to an earlier r

My students always struggle with theme. I made this graphic organizer so that they can track different motifs as we read The Tragedy of Macbeth. After we finish, I ask them to review the motifs and textual evidence and write a theme for the play. I find that having them track while reading forces them to notice different important aspects of the play. One teaching tip: students often confuse motif and theme and use them interchangeably. Make sure to define the two before you begin. Then, when t

Because poetry is so tough for my students and because it always ends up on the end-of-course exam, I try to weave in poetry lessons throughout the year. I've found it works best if the poems share themes with our anchor texts. This can be split up throughout the week as quick mini-lessons at the beginning of class. Usually, I do the "title" and "paraphrase" sections on Monday, "connotations" on Tuesday, and so on...

Over the years, I've found that Socratic Seminars can spin off on tangents if you don't ask the students to back up their points of view with textual evidence. This handout forces them to think deeply about these discussion questions AND defend their answers. On a side note, I've started doing these with an inner and outer circle. At first I thought it would be a hot mess, but it actually works really well. If you need help with this, send me a message and I'll be happy to share some tips I've

Because my students read this novel almost completely out of class, my quizzes are simple reading check quizzes. My objective is to make sure they are keeping up, and if they're not, to get them back on track. I teach 3 sections, so most of the time, I give these quizzes orally and choose five questions at random. I use different questions for every class to cut back on cheating. The highlighted questions cover material that appears on Spark Notes.

Because my students read this novel almost completely out of class, my quizzes are simple reading check quizzes. My objective is to make sure they are keeping up, and if they're not, to get them back on track. I teach 3 sections, so most of the time, I give these quizzes orally and choose five questions at random. I use different questions for every class to cut back on cheating. The highlighted questions cover material that appears on Spark Notes.

Because my students read this novel almost completely out of class, my quizzes are simple reading check quizzes. My objective is to make sure they are keeping up, and if they're not, to get them back on track. I teach 3 sections, so most of the time, I give these quizzes orally and choose five questions at random. I use different questions for every class to cut back on cheating. The highlighted questions cover material that appears on Spark Notes.

In this one-hour lesson, students are asked to look critically at a poem that explores the complex relationship between fathers and sons. Ultimately, I tie this in with The Kite Runner and the relationship between Amir and Baba. This lesson can be done at any point during the novel, but students will most likely draw conclusions about the book after they've read through chapter 11. I love doing debates with my high school students; they are so competitive that they are driven to do the work wel

This is a great activity to do after Act II when the students are familiar with most of the characters. It's fun to hypothesize what Lady Macbeth would do at a concert, for example, but it also leads students to think deeply about the traits of the character he/she chose.