Literature Archives

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Teaching Tuesdays With Morrie? Check Out Our Complete Unit Breakdown

On the surface, Tuesdays with Morrie tells the story of a former student reconnecting with his dying professor. At it’s heart, though, it’s a deeply human (and sometimes uncomfortably honest) look at purpose, relationships, grief, and what actually matters in the limited time we get on this planet. Meanwhile, our students are overwhelmed by academic …

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A Christmas Carol Stations Activity That Brings Dickens’ World to Life

Teaching A Christmas Carol can bring just the right amount of magic into the holiday season while still maintaining rigor. Dickens’ story is packed with social criticism, powerful lessons, a sprinkle of spookiness, and one of literature’s most iconic character transformations. But before students can appreciate Scrooge’s journey, it’s helpful for them to understand the …

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Use This Anticipation Guide for Your Dystopian Lit. Unit

Why Your Dystopian Lit Unit Needs A Strong Hook Dystopian lit units are a fantastic way to allow your students to take a deep dive into relevant topics, and every great unit needs a strong hook. Enter the anticipation guide. Anticipation Guides are one of those simple but powerful activities that always leave you wondering, …

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Teaching Gatsby: 3 Creative Strategies to Spark Curiosity in Your Classroom

There’s a reason The Great Gatsby hasn’t left high school reading lists (and probably never will!). Beneath the glitzy parties, Fitzgerald is asking timeless questions: What does the “American Dream” really mean? Is wealth the key to happiness? What defines success? The American Dream may look a little different for high schoolers, but concepts of …

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Great Gatsby Stations That Will Hook Your Students, Old Sport

Teaching The Great Gatsby doesn’t have to feel like trudging through “a valley of ashes.” If you’re teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic this year, you know the power of setting the stage for Gatsby’s rich themes and historical context. Instead of using your usual introductory slideshow (which, let’s face it, can feel as dull as …

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Five Essential Questions for Secondary ELA

What Are Essential Questions? This term, like so many others, has become a buzzword in education over the last several years, but in secondary ELA, essential questions truly can be helpful for you when developing your units and curriculum. Typically open-ended, essential questions are thought-provoking questions that will allow your students to connect the literature …

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American Literature Curriculum Map With EQs and Texts

Need a year-long American literature curriculum map? We’ve got you covered. Developing a comprehensive and captivating American Literature curriculum can feel like a monumental task. If you’re a seasoned educator, you might need a fresh angle or want to help your students make deeper connections. If you are new to teaching American Lit, the sheer …

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What Is Irony, and How Do You Teach It?

Irony can feel like a tricky concept to teach and for students to learn, but it definitely doesn’t have to be. I’m going to walk you through a simple lesson plan to use to teach the 3 types of irony in a high school English class. Short on time? Scroll to the bottom of this …

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My 3 Favorite Oral Stories to Use in World Literature

Oral stories have laid the foundation for practically every form of literature. Using these stories in your high school classroom is a powerful way to celebrate diverse voices and incorporate an engaging variety of storytelling modes. The following are my 3 favorite oral stories to use in high school World Lit. If you’re short on …

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3 Easy Ways To Celebrate Latinx Voices In ELA

You probably know that Latinx Heritage Month is September 15th through October 15th, but I imagine you want to celebrate Latinx voices all year long in your high school English classroom. Here are some super simple ways to bring in works from a few amazing authors no matter what unit you’re teaching, and no matter …

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Need a World Lit Curriculum Map? Use This Free Download!

Creating a World Lit. curriculum can be overwhelming. Especially if this is your first couple of years teaching it. Do you teach thematically or chronologically? Should you pace your units with the World History class, so that students have some overlap, or should you focus more on topics that feel more relevant to your students? …

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Try This Free Shakespeare Choice Board

Incorporating student choice is a powerful way to engage high school students, and using a Shakespeare choice board at the beginning of your unit can be a fantastic way to do that. Choice boards are a great strategy to build background knowledge before reading new literature selections. All About Choice Boards A choice board is …

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A Step-by-Step Guide for How to Conduct Reader’s Theater with 12 Angry Men

Reader’s theater is an engaging read-aloud strategy that can engage every member of the classroom! Use this step-by-step guide to use 12 Angry Men as an anchor text with your high school students. Each activity will draw your students into the critical conversations this engaging script. What is Reader’s Theater? Reader’s theater is a literacy …

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3 Powerful Ways to Hook Your Students at the Beginning of a Play or Novel Unit

Novel units are the bread and butter of the high school English experience, but introducing a new novel or play can be met with trepidation or groans from students who carry the baggage of struggling with reading. That’s why using a powerful pre-reading activity to hook your students can actually get them excited about the …

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How To Implement Project-Based Learning in Just Mercy Unit Plan

Project-based learning can be implemented with any meaningful text or topic that you choose! In the Just Mercy unit plan, students will engage in research around a real issue and connect the ideas in the book to the world around them. Overview of Just Mercy Unit Plan This just might be your most impactful unit …

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Just Mercy Anticipation Guide

When you start teaching a book (whether fiction or nonfiction) an anticipation guide can be very helpful; this Just Mercy anticipation guide can truly work to grab your students’ attention at the beginning of the unit. Why Teach Just Mercy When I read Just Mercy several years ago I found it gripping and sobering. It …

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An Alternative To The “From” Poem: Teach “My Honest Poem”

When I started teaching 20 years ago, I loved many of the tools and tricks other teachers shared with me. This was especially true with poetry (which was not my strong suit). Some of those methods still work great for me today. For instance, I’ve taught the TP-CASTT method every year I’ve had freshmen …

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How To Use TP-CASTT To Teach Beginning Poetry Analysis

Some students absolutely love poetry. But for many, it’s just not their thing. And that’s totally fine! As English teachers we don’t have to convince every student to love what we love, but we can give them a way to start to understand this genre that alludes many people (not just high school students). One …

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How To Teach the Difference Between Plot Summary and Analysis

Teaching the difference between plot summary and analysis is something that comes up pretty quickly in the school year if you teach 9th or 10th grade students. And getting the distinction clear is critical for your students’ success in being able to analyze literature in high school and beyond. Fortunately there are a few fun …

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How to Teach Grit and Growth Mindset in High School

One of the most important things you can focus on with your secondary students is developing grit through persevering and embracing a growth mindset. Jump to the bottom of this post for a several free downloads: get a complete open-and-go lesson for examining grit in the secondary English classroom. What does it mean to have …

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Provide Student Choice In Assessment: One Outstanding Strategy

Student choice is critical in motivating your high school students. Without it students will be far less likely to find the content of your class meaningful. Since high school students are required to attend your class, there can be a natural disposition to passivity. In their article “The Importance of Student Choice Across All Grade …

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How To Teach The Setting of A Story

What Is The Setting Of A Story? The setting of the story is the time, place, and cultural context of a story. When students understand the setting, they will more fully understand characters and their motivations. Conflicts will be resolved in different ways based on setting. Why Setting Matters Setting is one of the many …

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