Category: Literature
Teaching Personification with ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’
When teaching a text, I make sure that I have an anchor skill that I want my students to practice while reading. I find evaluating text structure to be one of the more difficult standards to teach, b... Read More
Interpreting Imagery with Harlem by Langston Hughes
My students of all ages have a difficult time incorporating textual evidence into their writing. Once we get past the punctuation hurdles, not to mention choosing evidence that actually works as suc... Read More
The Sniper: Writing for Pacing
The Sniper, by Liam O’Flaherty, is a great short story to teach the basic elements of a story, including setting, climax, resolution, and plot twist. I also find it an excellent story to intro... Read More
Of Mice and Men Unit Reading Packet and Activities
Of Mice and Men is one novel that I have had consistent success teaching to students of many different backgrounds. I’ve taught this book to ELLs, struggling readers, gifted readers, reluctan... Read More
Shakespeare Vocabulary Bingo
At the start of a Shakespeare unit, I like to start with some easy games to assuage the fears of some intimidated students. To familiarize them with common, high-frequency Shakespeare vocab, we play... Read More
To Build A Fire by Jack London
Below is a PowerPoint I use when teaching the popular story, To Build A Fire, by Jack London. I use this story to teach characterization and character development, and how they are established by th... Read More
Gothic Horror Complete Unit
Here is a Gothic Horror unit I use with middle schoolers, although the language in these antiquated texts is complex enough that it could be done with high school students as well. This unit can tak... Read More
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
Below is a PowerPoint and vocabulary organizer I use when teaching Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter, usually as part of a larger short story unit. It’s a great model text for showcasi... Read More