Tag Archives : Writing


Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Description

In creative writing, it is very important to create strong and dynamic characters. In addition, characters within a story need to have strong motivation, and their interactions with other characters need to add interest and appeal to the reader.

Included within this resource is a visual reminder to students in creative writing when it comes the time to incorporate characters in their work.

Also included is a worksheet that will guide students in creating a strong main character and a second worksheet for orchestrating dynamic and plot-driven secondary characters that will keep the reader interested until the end of the story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
3 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Thematic Poetry Unit – EDITABLE (Digital copy included)

Description

***EDITABLE RESOURCE****

**** A non-editable version of this resource is available at a lower cost. Click here to preview the unit. Thematic Poetry Unit

***A digital copy of the student activities in Google Slides is included as well for distance learning.***

The comprehensive poetry unit that teachers, as well as students, can enjoy. I want to demystify poetry, and I make it my goal for students to enjoy the reading and studying of poetry.

At the beginning of every poetry unit, I ask my students this question, “How do you feel about poetry?” My heart always sinks when most admit to disliking it. I make students this promise, and now I am making you this promise, with this unit, I might not convert you into a poetry lover, but I promise that you won’t hate it. (We need realistic expectations.) This unit includes a variety of poetry genres and activities to help students understand that poetry is not about finding the correct answer but appreciating someone else’s point of view on a subject (even if students don’t quite understand or like it). In short, this unit teaches students how to approach, think, and write about poetry. Each lesson focuses on an element of poetry that will further students’ ability to analyze, to read between the lines, and to become independent learners.

The unit includes:

❒Student worksheets and poems

❒15 complete lessons (with an introduction, transitions and activities, and conclusion). The lessons also include the learning goals for students.

❒A comprehensive answer key for all worksheets, annotations to all poems, examples of paragraphs for students.

❒A final unit test (PPT – editable) with the answer key. Includes student success criteria and an evaluation grid. The poem on the test is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Masks.” For copyright purposes, the poem cannot be published on the test. However, I have left room on the editable test for the teacher to insert a copy of the poem.

A comment sheet for easy and meaningful retroaction on students’ test is also included. This will facilitate the marking process. (editable)

❒A Jeopardy game to review figurative language (PPT)

***All pages are editable in a PowerPoint document. The background has been secured to ensure proper formatting.

Summary of lessons included:

❒ Lesson 1: Introduction to poetry – Includes a journal prompt, notes on how to approach poetry, an activity to familiarize students with poetry further, and a review on figurative language (with notes.)

❒ Lesson 2: Figurative Language Review – The lesson includes a journal prompt (a creative poetry activity), students will play Figurative Language Jeopardy (PPT) to review figurative language.

❒ Lesson 3: Introduction to analysis – The lesson includes a journal prompt, students will learn to analyze poetry using Walt Whitman’s “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “The Quiet Patient Spider.”

❒ Lesson 4: Fun with metaphors – This lesson includes a journal prompt, a “Fun with Metaphors” worksheet to help students further understand metaphors, students will analyze William Blake’s “A Poison Tree,” and will complete the worksheet on the poem.

❒ Lesson 5: Fun with allusions – This lesson begins with a journal prompt, a “Fun with Allusions” worksheet, students analyze Simon and Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” (poem not included) However, a blank (editable) page is included in the document to paste the lyrics from the internet. This will help you create a more cohesive looking unit.

❒ Lesson 6: Tone and Attitude – Students will do a video (or song version) comparison analysis by completing the “Video Comparison” worksheet.

❒ Lesson 7: Symbolism – Students will complete the “Fun with Idioms” worksheet, will analyze Robert Frost’s poems “The Road not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” they will complete the worksheets for both poems, and learn how to write a PEEL paragraph using the notes provided.

❒ Lesson 8: Writing about poetry – This is a writing clinic of sorts where students will learn to identify strong topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. An example of a well-developed paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 9: Historical allusions: This lesson begins with a journal prompt, students will analyze Cara Dillon’s song “There were Roses” and complete the accompanying worksheet. (Please note that this poem is not included.)

❒ Lesson 10: Thematic connections – Students will work in collaborative groups on the “Thematic Connections” worksheet, which compares two of the poems studied in the unit. *An optional activity is included: Students will write a comparative paragraph comparing one similar theme in both poems. An example of a paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 11: Allusions and analysis – this lesson begins with a journal prompt, The study of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” by watching a Ted Talk, analyzing Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave,” and completing the worksheet. (Please note that the song lyrics are not included.)

❒ Lesson 12: Connections – students will learn to make important connections in poetry by completing the worksheets of the “Battle of the Pronouns” and “Cave vs. Cave” to further develop the themes in Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave.”

❒ Lesson 13: Theme review – Students will refine and review how to develop a theme in a poem (which applies to any work of literature) by completing the worksheet “The Cave – Themes and Meanings,” students will then write a theme in paragraph form.

❒ Lesson 14: Evaluation (test) – editable with answer key and comment sheet to facilitate marking

Check out the free sample lesson: Free Poetry Lesson on Metaphors

You may also be interested in the following products:

Free Thesis Writing Activity

Poetry Lesson: Analyzing Poetry

Poetry Unit for Senior Students

Teaching the Essay Package

The Yellow Wallpaper No Prep Mini-Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

❒Brave New World Student Notebook

Essay Writing Flip Book

Frankenstein Bundle

Hamlet Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
78 pages and 28 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks


Free Inference Cheat Sheet

Description

Do your students insert examples and quotes into their texts without properly analyzing them? Without proper analysis, an essay can sound like a long, drawn-out list written in complete sentences. We teach students to infer and to analyze, but they sometimes forget to incorporate this into their texts and essays.

I have created an “Inference Cheat Sheet” with key inferencing words and phrases to remind students that after inserting a piece of evidence, they need to explain its relevance.

Included are:

❒ Two different styles of the at-a-glance “Cheat Sheet.”

❒ An inference poster (8.5×11) – as seen on the cover.

❒ Two different styles of letters for an inference bulletin board.

❒ A copy of ALL the phrases used on the Cheat Sheet to create a bulletin board in class.

I hope that this resource will be helpful to students in your classes.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Analyze This!

English Grammar Cheat Sheet

Essay Writing Flip Book

Parts of Speech Grammar Circles

Poster: Developing Themes in Literature

Teaching the Essay Package

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
24 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Description

In creative writing, the only thing that will keep the reader engaged in your story until the last page is by building effective suspense. This resource includes a visual chart of the different types of suspense to include in writing and includes relevant examples and tips to achieve it.

In addition, also included in this resource are two suspense building activities and 4 pages of notes on how to effectively build suspense within any type of story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
6 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Rubrics: Self Evaluation and teacher assessment rubrics

Description

Self-evaluation grids are a great way to guide students in their evaluations. Students will know exactly what is expected of them and will be made responsible for their own success. This package can also easily be changed to be used as peer evaluations.

Included within this document are over 20 different self-evaluation grids.

These self-evaluation grids are also very helpful to teachers:

Helps the teacher justify the final mark;

❒ Helps the teacher create meaningful evaluation grids;

❒ Helps to identify students’ weaknesses and strengths;

❒ Helps parents and students better understand the task required;

❒ Helps teachers create rubrics for the final evaluation.

This package was created in a Word document in order to be easily modified and changed according to the individual teacher’s needs.

This self-evaluation package contains self-evaluation grids for:

❒ Newspaper article

❒ Short story writing (intermediate and senior)

❒ Essay writing (various different types)

❒ Essay evaluation rubrics (for teacher –with and without sources)

❒ Independent study unit

❒ Research paper

❒ Skits

❒ Board game

❒ Group work

❒ Opinion piece

❒ Editorial

❒ Friendly letter

❒ Debate

❒ Movie review

❒ Journals

❒ Scrapbook

❒ Seminar

❒ Speech

❒ Riddle writing

You may also be interested in the following products:

Comment Bank

ELA Report Card Comments

Group Work Assessment Tool

Opinion Letter with the Novel Holes

Opinion Piece Bundle

Poster: Developing Themes in Literature

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
27 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Opinion Piece Bundle

Description

How to write an effective Opinion Piece Bundle includes:

❒ notes for students (What is an opinion piece? How do we write an opinion piece?…)

❒work process sheets to help students organize their ideas

❒ work process sheets to help students organize their ideastool for teaching)

❒ a student self-evaluation and teacher evaluation

You may also be interested in the following products:

ELA Literature Study Unit

English Grammar Cheat Sheet

How to Write a Paragraph

Opinion Letter with the Novel Holes

Sentences Grammar Circles For Easy & Effective Grammar

Spelling Flip Book

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
6 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Free Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Description

As an introduction to story writing and the creative writing process, these visual notes are a great way for students to understand what that process is and what it is not.

Note sheet includes the following topics:

❒ What makes a story good?

❒ What about the plot?

❒ Narrative unity

❒ Building suspense

❒ Includes practical examples as explanations

The resource also includes a chart to help students think about the important elements in their own stories.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Thematic Poetry Unit (Digital copy included)

Description

***Please note that other than the evaluation and game, the documents are non- editable in a PDF document. An editable version can also be purchased using this link: ***EDITABLE Thematic Poetry Unit

***A digital copy of the student activities in Google Slides is included as well for distance learning.***

The comprehensive poetry unit that teachers, as well as students, can enjoy. I want to demystify poetry, and I make it my goal for students to enjoy the reading and studying of poetry.

At the beginning of every poetry unit, I ask my students this question, “How do you feel about poetry?” My heart always sinks when most admit to disliking it. I make students this promise, and now I am making you this promise, with this unit, I might not convert you into a poetry lover, but I promise that you won’t hate it. (We need realistic expectations.) This unit includes a variety of poetry genres and activities to help students understand that poetry is not about finding the correct answer but appreciating someone else’s point of view on a subject (even if students don’t quite understand or like it). In short, this unit teaches students how to approach, think, and write about poetry. Each lesson focuses on an element of poetry that will further students’ ability to analyze, to read between the lines, and to become independent learners.

The unit includes:

❒Student worksheets and poems

❒15 complete lessons (with an introduction, transitions and activities, and conclusion). The lessons also include the learning goals for students.

❒A comprehensive answer key for all worksheets, annotations to all poems, examples of paragraphs for students.

❒A final unit test (PPT – editable) with the answer key. Includes student success criteria and an evaluation grid. The poem on the test is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Masks.” For copyright purposes, the poem cannot be published on the test. However, I have left room on the editable test for the teacher to insert a copy of the poem.

A comment sheet for easy and meaningful retroaction on students’ test is also included. This will facilitate the marking process. (editable)

❒A Jeopardy game to review figurative language (PPT)

***All pages are editable in a PowerPoint document. The background has been secured to ensure proper formatting.

Summary of lessons included:

❒ Lesson 1: Introduction to poetry – Includes a journal prompt, notes on how to approach poetry, an activity to familiarize students with poetry further, and a review on figurative language (with notes.)

❒ Lesson 2: Figurative Language Review – The lesson includes a journal prompt (a creative poetry activity), students will play Figurative Language Jeopardy (PPT) to review figurative language.

❒ Lesson 3: Introduction to analysis – The lesson includes a journal prompt, students will learn to analyze poetry using Walt Whitman’s “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “The Quiet Patient Spider.”

❒ Lesson 4: Fun with metaphors – This lesson includes a journal prompt, a “Fun with Metaphors” worksheet to help students further understand metaphors, students will analyze William Blake’s “A Poison Tree,” and will complete the worksheet on the poem.

❒ Lesson 5: Fun with allusions – This lesson begins with a journal prompt, a “Fun with Allusions” worksheet, students analyze Simon and Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” (poem not included) However, a blank (editable) page is included in the document to paste the lyrics from the internet. This will help you create a more cohesive looking unit.

❒ Lesson 6: Tone and Attitude – Students will do a video (or song version) comparison analysis by completing the “Video Comparison” worksheet.

❒ Lesson 7: Symbolism – Students will complete the “Fun with Idioms” worksheet, will analyze Robert Frost’s poems “The Road not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” they will complete the worksheets for both poems, and learn how to write a PEEL paragraph using the notes provided.

❒ Lesson 8: Writing about poetry – This is a writing clinic of sorts where students will learn to identify strong topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. An example of a well-developed paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 9: Historical allusions: This lesson begins with a journal prompt, students will analyze Cara Dillon’s song “There were Roses” and complete the accompanying worksheet. (Please note that this poem is not included.)

❒ Lesson 10: Thematic connections – Students will work in collaborative groups on the “Thematic Connections” worksheet, which compares two of the poems studied in the unit. *An optional activity is included: Students will write a comparative paragraph comparing one similar theme in both poems. An example of a paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 11: Allusions and analysis – this lesson begins with a journal prompt, The study of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” by watching a Ted Talk, analyzing Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave,” and completing the worksheet. (Please note that the song lyrics are not included.)

❒ Lesson 12: Connections – students will learn to make important connections in poetry by completing the worksheets of the “Battle of the Pronouns” and “Cave vs. Cave” to further develop the themes in Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave.”

❒ Lesson 13: Theme review – Students will refine and review how to develop a theme in a poem (which applies to any work of literature) by completing the worksheet “The Cave – Themes and Meanings,” students will then write a theme in paragraph form.

❒ Lesson 14: Evaluation (test) – editable with answer key and comment sheet to facilitate marking

Check out the free sample lesson: Free Poetry Lesson on Metaphors

You may also be interested in the following products:

Free Thesis Writing Activity

Poetry Lesson: Analyzing Poetry

Poetry Unit for Senior Students

Teaching the Essay Package

The Yellow Wallpaper No Prep Mini-Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

❒Brave New World Student Notebook

Essay Writing Flip Book

Frankenstein Bundle

Hamlet Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
78 pages and 28 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks


Hamlet Unit No prep (digital unit)

Description

NEW addition – The student activities included in this unit are now in Google Docs and Google Drawing. Make distance learning a breeze with this new addition.

(Stay tuned for evaluations in Google Forms)

Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

NOTE: All activities, teacher notes, and lessons are available in PDF format only.

Student activities are also available in Google Docs format and are modifiable in the docs itself.

❒An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

❒A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

❒Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

❒A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

❒18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene) ***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

❒A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

❒Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

❒Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

❒Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

❒Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

❒The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Thematic Poetry Unit: Editable

Hamlet Bundle

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

Death of a Salesman No Prep Unit

Frankenstein No Prep Unit

Lord of the Flies No Prep Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

Romeo and Juliet No Prep Unit

Wuthering Heights Student Workbook

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


English Grammar Cheat Sheet

Description

This “Cheat Sheet” was designed to help students while writing in English. This at a glance 2 page sheet is colorful and has an easy to find layout to help students remember certain important things while they write.

I allow my students to use this in class when writing a test. This is not a grammar lesson, but it will remind students about the grammar they’ve learned in the past.

Some of the reminders included:

❒ parts of speech

❒ transitional words

❒ quotation marks (how and when to use them)

❒ basic sentence structure

❒ spelling tips (plurals of nouns and IE rule)

❒ punctuation rules (apostrophe, colon, semicolon)

The other side of the page has comma rules:

❒ with coordinate conjunctions

❒ with introductory elements

❒ with other elements (dates, parenthetical expression, nouns in a direct address)

❒ with adjectives

❒ with appositives

It also contains tips on things to avoid, such as writing a paragraph shorter than 4 sentences. And, it contains a list of things to do, such as make sure that your paragraphs contain at least 2 pieces of evidence.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Essay Writing Flip Book

How to Write a Paragraph

Inference Cheat Sheet

Poster: Developing Themes in Literature

Sentences Grammar Circles For Easy & Effective Grammar

Spelling Flip Book

Superhero Themed Parts of Speech Posters

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Comment Bank

Description

Do you run out of meaningful criticism for your students’ high school papers and work?

I created this comment bank because I had the same problem. After a little while, you don’t know what to write on a student’s test.

The Comment Bank has been constructed to save the Language Arts teacher time when offering constructive and helpful comments on students’ evaluations. Marking papers in any Language Arts class is always a lengthy process. Increasingly, teachers are being asked to write more detailed comments to highlight students’ strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes we run out of ideas. Being the vigilant teachers we are, and wanting to help our students achieve their potential is and will always be one of our priorities. To this end, when marking students’ papers, writing down everything we want to say to them about their papers would be a very lengthy process. I have decided to share my personal comment bank with you.

The bank comments on the following areas:

❒Structure

❒Communication

❒The next step

❒Mechanics

❒Style

❒Persuasion

❒Analysis


The package contains 7 pages of comments, which are divided by levels of accomplishment A, B, C and D. (levels 100 to 50)

Included in this package are over 120 comments for students. You can get inspiration from these pages to handwrite your comments, or you can do what I do and copy/paste your comments into a word document, print, and staple the comment to the students’ evaluations. This is a real time saver. Parents, students, and school administration LOVE this method of feedback. And, this way, it takes much less time to be much more efficient. I hope you enjoy it!

You may also be interested in the following products:

ELA Report Card Comments

Group Work Assessment Tool

Rubrics: Self-Evaluation Bundle

Creating a Board Game Assessment Tool

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
7 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Thematic Poetry Unit – EDITABLE (Digital copy included)

Description

***EDITABLE RESOURCE****

**** A non-editable version of this resource is available at a lower cost. Click here to preview the unit. Thematic Poetry Unit

***A digital copy of the student activities in Google Slides is included as well for distance learning.***

The comprehensive poetry unit that teachers, as well as students, can enjoy. I want to demystify poetry, and I make it my goal for students to enjoy the reading and studying of poetry.

At the beginning of every poetry unit, I ask my students this question, “How do you feel about poetry?” My heart always sinks when most admit to disliking it. I make students this promise, and now I am making you this promise, with this unit, I might not convert you into a poetry lover, but I promise that you won’t hate it. (We need realistic expectations.) This unit includes a variety of poetry genres and activities to help students understand that poetry is not about finding the correct answer but appreciating someone else’s point of view on a subject (even if students don’t quite understand or like it). In short, this unit teaches students how to approach, think, and write about poetry. Each lesson focuses on an element of poetry that will further students’ ability to analyze, to read between the lines, and to become independent learners.

The unit includes:

❒Student worksheets and poems

❒15 complete lessons (with an introduction, transitions and activities, and conclusion). The lessons also include the learning goals for students.

❒A comprehensive answer key for all worksheets, annotations to all poems, examples of paragraphs for students.

❒A final unit test (PPT – editable) with the answer key. Includes student success criteria and an evaluation grid. The poem on the test is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Masks.” For copyright purposes, the poem cannot be published on the test. However, I have left room on the editable test for the teacher to insert a copy of the poem.

A comment sheet for easy and meaningful retroaction on students’ test is also included. This will facilitate the marking process. (editable)

❒A Jeopardy game to review figurative language (PPT)

***All pages are editable in a PowerPoint document. The background has been secured to ensure proper formatting.

Summary of lessons included:

❒ Lesson 1: Introduction to poetry – Includes a journal prompt, notes on how to approach poetry, an activity to familiarize students with poetry further, and a review on figurative language (with notes.)

❒ Lesson 2: Figurative Language Review – The lesson includes a journal prompt (a creative poetry activity), students will play Figurative Language Jeopardy (PPT) to review figurative language.

❒ Lesson 3: Introduction to analysis – The lesson includes a journal prompt, students will learn to analyze poetry using Walt Whitman’s “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “The Quiet Patient Spider.”

❒ Lesson 4: Fun with metaphors – This lesson includes a journal prompt, a “Fun with Metaphors” worksheet to help students further understand metaphors, students will analyze William Blake’s “A Poison Tree,” and will complete the worksheet on the poem.

❒ Lesson 5: Fun with allusions – This lesson begins with a journal prompt, a “Fun with Allusions” worksheet, students analyze Simon and Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” (poem not included) However, a blank (editable) page is included in the document to paste the lyrics from the internet. This will help you create a more cohesive looking unit.

❒ Lesson 6: Tone and Attitude – Students will do a video (or song version) comparison analysis by completing the “Video Comparison” worksheet.

❒ Lesson 7: Symbolism – Students will complete the “Fun with Idioms” worksheet, will analyze Robert Frost’s poems “The Road not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” they will complete the worksheets for both poems, and learn how to write a PEEL paragraph using the notes provided.

❒ Lesson 8: Writing about poetry – This is a writing clinic of sorts where students will learn to identify strong topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. An example of a well-developed paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 9: Historical allusions: This lesson begins with a journal prompt, students will analyze Cara Dillon’s song “There were Roses” and complete the accompanying worksheet. (Please note that this poem is not included.)

❒ Lesson 10: Thematic connections – Students will work in collaborative groups on the “Thematic Connections” worksheet, which compares two of the poems studied in the unit. *An optional activity is included: Students will write a comparative paragraph comparing one similar theme in both poems. An example of a paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 11: Allusions and analysis – this lesson begins with a journal prompt, The study of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” by watching a Ted Talk, analyzing Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave,” and completing the worksheet. (Please note that the song lyrics are not included.)

❒ Lesson 12: Connections – students will learn to make important connections in poetry by completing the worksheets of the “Battle of the Pronouns” and “Cave vs. Cave” to further develop the themes in Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave.”

❒ Lesson 13: Theme review – Students will refine and review how to develop a theme in a poem (which applies to any work of literature) by completing the worksheet “The Cave – Themes and Meanings,” students will then write a theme in paragraph form.

❒ Lesson 14: Evaluation (test) – editable with answer key and comment sheet to facilitate marking

Check out the free sample lesson: Free Poetry Lesson on Metaphors

You may also be interested in the following products:

Free Thesis Writing Activity

Poetry Lesson: Analyzing Poetry

Poetry Unit for Senior Students

Teaching the Essay Package

The Yellow Wallpaper No Prep Mini-Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

❒Brave New World Student Notebook

Essay Writing Flip Book

Frankenstein Bundle

Hamlet Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
78 pages and 28 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks


Thematic Poetry Unit – EDITABLE (Digital copy included)

Description

***EDITABLE RESOURCE****

**** A non-editable version of this resource is available at a lower cost. Click here to preview the unit. Thematic Poetry Unit

***A digital copy of the student activities in Google Slides is included as well for distance learning.***

The comprehensive poetry unit that teachers, as well as students, can enjoy. I want to demystify poetry, and I make it my goal for students to enjoy the reading and studying of poetry.

At the beginning of every poetry unit, I ask my students this question, “How do you feel about poetry?” My heart always sinks when most admit to disliking it. I make students this promise, and now I am making you this promise, with this unit, I might not convert you into a poetry lover, but I promise that you won’t hate it. (We need realistic expectations.) This unit includes a variety of poetry genres and activities to help students understand that poetry is not about finding the correct answer but appreciating someone else’s point of view on a subject (even if students don’t quite understand or like it). In short, this unit teaches students how to approach, think, and write about poetry. Each lesson focuses on an element of poetry that will further students’ ability to analyze, to read between the lines, and to become independent learners.

The unit includes:

❒Student worksheets and poems

❒15 complete lessons (with an introduction, transitions and activities, and conclusion). The lessons also include the learning goals for students.

❒A comprehensive answer key for all worksheets, annotations to all poems, examples of paragraphs for students.

❒A final unit test (PPT – editable) with the answer key. Includes student success criteria and an evaluation grid. The poem on the test is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Masks.” For copyright purposes, the poem cannot be published on the test. However, I have left room on the editable test for the teacher to insert a copy of the poem.

A comment sheet for easy and meaningful retroaction on students’ test is also included. This will facilitate the marking process. (editable)

❒A Jeopardy game to review figurative language (PPT)

***All pages are editable in a PowerPoint document. The background has been secured to ensure proper formatting.

Summary of lessons included:

❒ Lesson 1: Introduction to poetry – Includes a journal prompt, notes on how to approach poetry, an activity to familiarize students with poetry further, and a review on figurative language (with notes.)

❒ Lesson 2: Figurative Language Review – The lesson includes a journal prompt (a creative poetry activity), students will play Figurative Language Jeopardy (PPT) to review figurative language.

❒ Lesson 3: Introduction to analysis – The lesson includes a journal prompt, students will learn to analyze poetry using Walt Whitman’s “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “The Quiet Patient Spider.”

❒ Lesson 4: Fun with metaphors – This lesson includes a journal prompt, a “Fun with Metaphors” worksheet to help students further understand metaphors, students will analyze William Blake’s “A Poison Tree,” and will complete the worksheet on the poem.

❒ Lesson 5: Fun with allusions – This lesson begins with a journal prompt, a “Fun with Allusions” worksheet, students analyze Simon and Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” (poem not included) However, a blank (editable) page is included in the document to paste the lyrics from the internet. This will help you create a more cohesive looking unit.

❒ Lesson 6: Tone and Attitude – Students will do a video (or song version) comparison analysis by completing the “Video Comparison” worksheet.

❒ Lesson 7: Symbolism – Students will complete the “Fun with Idioms” worksheet, will analyze Robert Frost’s poems “The Road not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” they will complete the worksheets for both poems, and learn how to write a PEEL paragraph using the notes provided.

❒ Lesson 8: Writing about poetry – This is a writing clinic of sorts where students will learn to identify strong topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. An example of a well-developed paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 9: Historical allusions: This lesson begins with a journal prompt, students will analyze Cara Dillon’s song “There were Roses” and complete the accompanying worksheet. (Please note that this poem is not included.)

❒ Lesson 10: Thematic connections – Students will work in collaborative groups on the “Thematic Connections” worksheet, which compares two of the poems studied in the unit. *An optional activity is included: Students will write a comparative paragraph comparing one similar theme in both poems. An example of a paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 11: Allusions and analysis – this lesson begins with a journal prompt, The study of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” by watching a Ted Talk, analyzing Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave,” and completing the worksheet. (Please note that the song lyrics are not included.)

❒ Lesson 12: Connections – students will learn to make important connections in poetry by completing the worksheets of the “Battle of the Pronouns” and “Cave vs. Cave” to further develop the themes in Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave.”

❒ Lesson 13: Theme review – Students will refine and review how to develop a theme in a poem (which applies to any work of literature) by completing the worksheet “The Cave – Themes and Meanings,” students will then write a theme in paragraph form.

❒ Lesson 14: Evaluation (test) – editable with answer key and comment sheet to facilitate marking

Check out the free sample lesson: Free Poetry Lesson on Metaphors

You may also be interested in the following products:

Free Thesis Writing Activity

Poetry Lesson: Analyzing Poetry

Poetry Unit for Senior Students

Teaching the Essay Package

The Yellow Wallpaper No Prep Mini-Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

❒Brave New World Student Notebook

Essay Writing Flip Book

Frankenstein Bundle

Hamlet Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
78 pages and 28 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks


English Grammar Cheat Sheet

Description

This “Cheat Sheet” was designed to help students while writing in English. This at a glance 2 page sheet is colorful and has an easy to find layout to help students remember certain important things while they write.

I allow my students to use this in class when writing a test. This is not a grammar lesson, but it will remind students about the grammar they’ve learned in the past.

Some of the reminders included:

❒ parts of speech

❒ transitional words

❒ quotation marks (how and when to use them)

❒ basic sentence structure

❒ spelling tips (plurals of nouns and IE rule)

❒ punctuation rules (apostrophe, colon, semicolon)

The other side of the page has comma rules:

❒ with coordinate conjunctions

❒ with introductory elements

❒ with other elements (dates, parenthetical expression, nouns in a direct address)

❒ with adjectives

❒ with appositives

It also contains tips on things to avoid, such as writing a paragraph shorter than 4 sentences. And, it contains a list of things to do, such as make sure that your paragraphs contain at least 2 pieces of evidence.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Essay Writing Flip Book

How to Write a Paragraph

Inference Cheat Sheet

Poster: Developing Themes in Literature

Sentences Grammar Circles For Easy & Effective Grammar

Spelling Flip Book

Superhero Themed Parts of Speech Posters

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Hamlet Unit No prep (digital unit)

Description

NEW addition – The student activities included in this unit are now in Google Docs and Google Drawing. Make distance learning a breeze with this new addition.

(Stay tuned for evaluations in Google Forms)

Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

NOTE: All activities, teacher notes, and lessons are available in PDF format only.

Student activities are also available in Google Docs format and are modifiable in the docs itself.

❒An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

❒A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

❒Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

❒A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

❒18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene) ***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

❒A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

❒Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

❒Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

❒Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

❒Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

❒The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Thematic Poetry Unit: Editable

Hamlet Bundle

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

Death of a Salesman No Prep Unit

Frankenstein No Prep Unit

Lord of the Flies No Prep Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

Romeo and Juliet No Prep Unit

Wuthering Heights Student Workbook

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


Free: Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Description

As an introduction to story writing and the creative writing process, these visual notes are a great way for students to understand what that process is and what it is not.

Note sheet includes the following topics:

❒ What makes a story good?

❒ What about the plot?

❒ Narrative unity

❒ Building suspense

❒ Includes practical examples as explanations

The resource also includes a chart to help students think about the important elements in their own stories.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Description

In creative writing, it is very important to create strong and dynamic characters. In addition, characters within a story need to have strong motivation, and their interactions with other characters need to add interest and appeal to the reader.

Included within this resource is a visual reminder to students in creative writing when it comes the time to incorporate characters in their work.

Also included is a worksheet that will guide students in creating a strong main character and a second worksheet for orchestrating dynamic and plot-driven secondary characters that will keep the reader interested until the end of the story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
3 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Creative Writing Activity

Description

TOW (Thought of the Week) is a great way to get students started in the creative writing process. The teacher can use the writing prompts as a writing activity, a one-time evaluation, or as a semester-long evaluation.

Included is:
❒ 20 weeks of creative writing prompts (3 different choices per week)

❒ An instruction sheet for students

❒ An editable due date sheet (in PDF)

❒ Three editable evaluation sheets (work process, oral, and writing) in Word for

easy modifications.

I’ve used these prompts for years now, and every year I’m surprised at how much students enjoy this activity. I thought that it was time I shared.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Bundle

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Introduction to Creative Writing

See the Preview for more details.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
8 pages
Answer Key
Rubric only
Teaching Duration
1 Semester


Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Description

In creative writing, the only thing that will keep the reader engaged in your story until the last page is by building effective suspense. This resource includes a visual chart of the different types of suspense to include in writing and includes relevant examples and tips to achieve it.

In addition, also included in this resource are two suspense building activities and 4 pages of notes on how to effectively build suspense within any type of story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
6 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Thematic Poetry Unit (Digital copy included)

Description

***Please note that other than the evaluation and game, the documents are non- editable in a PDF document. An editable version can also be purchased using this link: ***EDITABLE Thematic Poetry Unit

***A digital copy of the student activities in Google Slides is included as well for distance learning.***

The comprehensive poetry unit that teachers, as well as students, can enjoy. I want to demystify poetry, and I make it my goal for students to enjoy the reading and studying of poetry.

At the beginning of every poetry unit, I ask my students this question, “How do you feel about poetry?” My heart always sinks when most admit to disliking it. I make students this promise, and now I am making you this promise, with this unit, I might not convert you into a poetry lover, but I promise that you won’t hate it. (We need realistic expectations.) This unit includes a variety of poetry genres and activities to help students understand that poetry is not about finding the correct answer but appreciating someone else’s point of view on a subject (even if students don’t quite understand or like it). In short, this unit teaches students how to approach, think, and write about poetry. Each lesson focuses on an element of poetry that will further students’ ability to analyze, to read between the lines, and to become independent learners.

The unit includes:

❒Student worksheets and poems

❒15 complete lessons (with an introduction, transitions and activities, and conclusion). The lessons also include the learning goals for students.

❒A comprehensive answer key for all worksheets, annotations to all poems, examples of paragraphs for students.

❒A final unit test (PPT – editable) with the answer key. Includes student success criteria and an evaluation grid. The poem on the test is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Masks.” For copyright purposes, the poem cannot be published on the test. However, I have left room on the editable test for the teacher to insert a copy of the poem.

A comment sheet for easy and meaningful retroaction on students’ test is also included. This will facilitate the marking process. (editable)

❒A Jeopardy game to review figurative language (PPT)

***All pages are editable in a PowerPoint document. The background has been secured to ensure proper formatting.

Summary of lessons included:

❒ Lesson 1: Introduction to poetry – Includes a journal prompt, notes on how to approach poetry, an activity to familiarize students with poetry further, and a review on figurative language (with notes.)

❒ Lesson 2: Figurative Language Review – The lesson includes a journal prompt (a creative poetry activity), students will play Figurative Language Jeopardy (PPT) to review figurative language.

❒ Lesson 3: Introduction to analysis – The lesson includes a journal prompt, students will learn to analyze poetry using Walt Whitman’s “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “The Quiet Patient Spider.”

❒ Lesson 4: Fun with metaphors – This lesson includes a journal prompt, a “Fun with Metaphors” worksheet to help students further understand metaphors, students will analyze William Blake’s “A Poison Tree,” and will complete the worksheet on the poem.

❒ Lesson 5: Fun with allusions – This lesson begins with a journal prompt, a “Fun with Allusions” worksheet, students analyze Simon and Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” (poem not included) However, a blank (editable) page is included in the document to paste the lyrics from the internet. This will help you create a more cohesive looking unit.

❒ Lesson 6: Tone and Attitude – Students will do a video (or song version) comparison analysis by completing the “Video Comparison” worksheet.

❒ Lesson 7: Symbolism – Students will complete the “Fun with Idioms” worksheet, will analyze Robert Frost’s poems “The Road not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” they will complete the worksheets for both poems, and learn how to write a PEEL paragraph using the notes provided.

❒ Lesson 8: Writing about poetry – This is a writing clinic of sorts where students will learn to identify strong topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. An example of a well-developed paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 9: Historical allusions: This lesson begins with a journal prompt, students will analyze Cara Dillon’s song “There were Roses” and complete the accompanying worksheet. (Please note that this poem is not included.)

❒ Lesson 10: Thematic connections – Students will work in collaborative groups on the “Thematic Connections” worksheet, which compares two of the poems studied in the unit. *An optional activity is included: Students will write a comparative paragraph comparing one similar theme in both poems. An example of a paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 11: Allusions and analysis – this lesson begins with a journal prompt, The study of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” by watching a Ted Talk, analyzing Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave,” and completing the worksheet. (Please note that the song lyrics are not included.)

❒ Lesson 12: Connections – students will learn to make important connections in poetry by completing the worksheets of the “Battle of the Pronouns” and “Cave vs. Cave” to further develop the themes in Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave.”

❒ Lesson 13: Theme review – Students will refine and review how to develop a theme in a poem (which applies to any work of literature) by completing the worksheet “The Cave – Themes and Meanings,” students will then write a theme in paragraph form.

❒ Lesson 14: Evaluation (test) – editable with answer key and comment sheet to facilitate marking

Check out the free sample lesson: Free Poetry Lesson on Metaphors

You may also be interested in the following products:

Free Thesis Writing Activity

Poetry Lesson: Analyzing Poetry

Poetry Unit for Senior Students

Teaching the Essay Package

The Yellow Wallpaper No Prep Mini-Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

❒Brave New World Student Notebook

Essay Writing Flip Book

Frankenstein Bundle

Hamlet Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
78 pages and 28 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks


The Elevator Short Story Mini-Unit

Description

“The Elevator” Short Story Mini-Unit is a one-stop-shop for teaching the short story. Other than photocopies, all of the work has been done for you.

This mini-unit is suitable for grades 7 through 10 and includes:

❒a copy of the short story

❒questions for comprehension

❒a plot chart organizer

❒activity to help students discover the author’s purpose for writing

❒an instructional sheet on how to develop themes (with a practical example)

❒an instructional sheet on how to develop a theme in paragraph form

❒a graphic organizer to help students organize their paragraphs

❒an example of a completed graphic organizer to plan the paragraph

❒an example of a paragraph for “The Elevator.”

❒a comprehensive answer key for all handouts

❒a three-day lesson plan to accompany the story

You may also be interested in the following products:

ELA Literature Study Unit

Charles by Shirley Jackson

Rain, Rain, Go away Short Story

Seventh Grade Short Story

Short Story Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
16 pages
Answer Key
Included
Teaching Duration
N/A


Comment Bank

Description

Do you run out of meaningful criticism for your students’ high school papers and work?

I created this comment bank because I had the same problem. After a little while, you don’t know what to write on a student’s test.

The Comment Bank has been constructed to save the Language Arts teacher time when offering constructive and helpful comments on students’ evaluations. Marking papers in any Language Arts class is always a lengthy process. Increasingly, teachers are being asked to write more detailed comments to highlight students’ strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes we run out of ideas. Being the vigilant teachers we are, and wanting to help our students achieve their potential is and will always be one of our priorities. To this end, when marking students’ papers, writing down everything we want to say to them about their papers would be a very lengthy process. I have decided to share my personal comment bank with you.

The bank comments on the following areas:

❒Structure

❒Communication

❒The next step

❒Mechanics

❒Style

❒Persuasion

❒Analysis


The package contains 7 pages of comments, which are divided by levels of accomplishment A, B, C and D. (levels 100 to 50)

Included in this package are over 120 comments for students. You can get inspiration from these pages to handwrite your comments, or you can do what I do and copy/paste your comments into a word document, print, and staple the comment to the students’ evaluations. This is a real time saver. Parents, students, and school administration LOVE this method of feedback. And, this way, it takes much less time to be much more efficient. I hope you enjoy it!

You may also be interested in the following products:

ELA Report Card Comments

Group Work Assessment Tool

Rubrics: Self-Evaluation Bundle

Creating a Board Game Assessment Tool

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
7 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Hamlet Unit No prep (digital unit)

Description

NEW addition – The student activities included in this unit are now in Google Docs and Google Drawing. Make distance learning a breeze with this new addition.

(Stay tuned for evaluations in Google Forms)

Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

NOTE: All activities, teacher notes, and lessons are available in PDF format only.

Student activities are also available in Google Docs format and are modifiable in the docs itself.

❒An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

❒A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

❒Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

❒A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

❒18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene) ***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

❒A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

❒Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

❒Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

❒Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

❒Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

❒The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Thematic Poetry Unit: Editable

Hamlet Bundle

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

Death of a Salesman No Prep Unit

Frankenstein No Prep Unit

Lord of the Flies No Prep Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

Romeo and Juliet No Prep Unit

Wuthering Heights Student Workbook

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


Free: Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Description

As an introduction to story writing and the creative writing process, these visual notes are a great way for students to understand what that process is and what it is not.

Note sheet includes the following topics:

❒ What makes a story good?

❒ What about the plot?

❒ Narrative unity

❒ Building suspense

❒ Includes practical examples as explanations

The resource also includes a chart to help students think about the important elements in their own stories.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Thematic Poetry Unit – EDITABLE (Digital copy included)

Description

***EDITABLE RESOURCE****

**** A non-editable version of this resource is available at a lower cost. Click here to preview the unit. Thematic Poetry Unit

***A digital copy of the student activities in Google Slides is included as well for distance learning.***

The comprehensive poetry unit that teachers, as well as students, can enjoy. I want to demystify poetry, and I make it my goal for students to enjoy the reading and studying of poetry.

At the beginning of every poetry unit, I ask my students this question, “How do you feel about poetry?” My heart always sinks when most admit to disliking it. I make students this promise, and now I am making you this promise, with this unit, I might not convert you into a poetry lover, but I promise that you won’t hate it. (We need realistic expectations.) This unit includes a variety of poetry genres and activities to help students understand that poetry is not about finding the correct answer but appreciating someone else’s point of view on a subject (even if students don’t quite understand or like it). In short, this unit teaches students how to approach, think, and write about poetry. Each lesson focuses on an element of poetry that will further students’ ability to analyze, to read between the lines, and to become independent learners.

The unit includes:

❒Student worksheets and poems

❒15 complete lessons (with an introduction, transitions and activities, and conclusion). The lessons also include the learning goals for students.

❒A comprehensive answer key for all worksheets, annotations to all poems, examples of paragraphs for students.

❒A final unit test (PPT – editable) with the answer key. Includes student success criteria and an evaluation grid. The poem on the test is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Masks.” For copyright purposes, the poem cannot be published on the test. However, I have left room on the editable test for the teacher to insert a copy of the poem.

A comment sheet for easy and meaningful retroaction on students’ test is also included. This will facilitate the marking process. (editable)

❒A Jeopardy game to review figurative language (PPT)

***All pages are editable in a PowerPoint document. The background has been secured to ensure proper formatting.

Summary of lessons included:

❒ Lesson 1: Introduction to poetry – Includes a journal prompt, notes on how to approach poetry, an activity to familiarize students with poetry further, and a review on figurative language (with notes.)

❒ Lesson 2: Figurative Language Review – The lesson includes a journal prompt (a creative poetry activity), students will play Figurative Language Jeopardy (PPT) to review figurative language.

❒ Lesson 3: Introduction to analysis – The lesson includes a journal prompt, students will learn to analyze poetry using Walt Whitman’s “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “The Quiet Patient Spider.”

❒ Lesson 4: Fun with metaphors – This lesson includes a journal prompt, a “Fun with Metaphors” worksheet to help students further understand metaphors, students will analyze William Blake’s “A Poison Tree,” and will complete the worksheet on the poem.

❒ Lesson 5: Fun with allusions – This lesson begins with a journal prompt, a “Fun with Allusions” worksheet, students analyze Simon and Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” (poem not included) However, a blank (editable) page is included in the document to paste the lyrics from the internet. This will help you create a more cohesive looking unit.

❒ Lesson 6: Tone and Attitude – Students will do a video (or song version) comparison analysis by completing the “Video Comparison” worksheet.

❒ Lesson 7: Symbolism – Students will complete the “Fun with Idioms” worksheet, will analyze Robert Frost’s poems “The Road not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” they will complete the worksheets for both poems, and learn how to write a PEEL paragraph using the notes provided.

❒ Lesson 8: Writing about poetry – This is a writing clinic of sorts where students will learn to identify strong topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. An example of a well-developed paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 9: Historical allusions: This lesson begins with a journal prompt, students will analyze Cara Dillon’s song “There were Roses” and complete the accompanying worksheet. (Please note that this poem is not included.)

❒ Lesson 10: Thematic connections – Students will work in collaborative groups on the “Thematic Connections” worksheet, which compares two of the poems studied in the unit. *An optional activity is included: Students will write a comparative paragraph comparing one similar theme in both poems. An example of a paragraph is included.

❒ Lesson 11: Allusions and analysis – this lesson begins with a journal prompt, The study of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” by watching a Ted Talk, analyzing Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave,” and completing the worksheet. (Please note that the song lyrics are not included.)

❒ Lesson 12: Connections – students will learn to make important connections in poetry by completing the worksheets of the “Battle of the Pronouns” and “Cave vs. Cave” to further develop the themes in Mumford and Son’s song “The Cave.”

❒ Lesson 13: Theme review – Students will refine and review how to develop a theme in a poem (which applies to any work of literature) by completing the worksheet “The Cave – Themes and Meanings,” students will then write a theme in paragraph form.

❒ Lesson 14: Evaluation (test) – editable with answer key and comment sheet to facilitate marking

Check out the free sample lesson: Free Poetry Lesson on Metaphors

You may also be interested in the following products:

Free Thesis Writing Activity

Poetry Lesson: Analyzing Poetry

Poetry Unit for Senior Students

Teaching the Essay Package

The Yellow Wallpaper No Prep Mini-Unit

Much Ado About Nothing No Prep Unit

❒Brave New World Student Notebook

Essay Writing Flip Book

Frankenstein Bundle

Hamlet Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
78 pages and 28 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks


Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Description

In creative writing, the only thing that will keep the reader engaged in your story until the last page is by building effective suspense. This resource includes a visual chart of the different types of suspense to include in writing and includes relevant examples and tips to achieve it.

In addition, also included in this resource are two suspense building activities and 4 pages of notes on how to effectively build suspense within any type of story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
6 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Free Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Description

As an introduction to story writing and the creative writing process, these visual notes are a great way for students to understand what that process is and what it is not.

Note sheet includes the following topics:

❒ What makes a story good?

❒ What about the plot?

❒ Narrative unity

❒ Building suspense

❒ Includes practical examples as explanations

The resource also includes a chart to help students think about the important elements in their own stories.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Writing Bundle

Introduction to Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


The Elevator Short Story Mini-Unit

Description

“The Elevator” Short Story Mini-Unit is a one-stop-shop for teaching the short story. Other than photocopies, all of the work has been done for you.

This mini-unit is suitable for grades 7 through 10 and includes:

❒a copy of the short story

❒questions for comprehension

❒a plot chart organizer

❒activity to help students discover the author’s purpose for writing

❒an instructional sheet on how to develop themes (with a practical example)

❒an instructional sheet on how to develop a theme in paragraph form

❒a graphic organizer to help students organize their paragraphs

❒an example of a completed graphic organizer to plan the paragraph

❒an example of a paragraph for “The Elevator.”

❒a comprehensive answer key for all handouts

❒a three-day lesson plan to accompany the story

You may also be interested in the following products:

ELA Literature Study Unit

Charles by Shirley Jackson

Rain, Rain, Go away Short Story

Seventh Grade Short Story

Short Story Bundle

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
16 pages
Answer Key
Included
Teaching Duration
N/A


Essay Writing Flip Book

Description

The Essay Writing Flip Book is a resource that I created for my students for essay writing. Even when they have learned the basics of the essay, they soon forget important details. This guide is an ‘at a glance’ resource where students can quickly find the information they need so that they can concentrate on the bulk of their arguments.

The Flip Book contains:

❒ Pre-writing: finding a topic, understanding it, writing a thesis statement

❒ Introduction writing: tips for writing and starting an intro, and proper format

❒ The body of the essay – paragraph format, how to build arguments, and other tips

❒ Quotations (2 pages) – how to use quotes in an essay, how to incorporate quotes, in-text- citation using MLA format, etc.

❒ Transitions – how and why to use them, a list of commonly used transitional words and expressions

❒ MLA format

❒ Revision Checklist

8 pages of information in all!


You may also be interested in the following products:

English Grammar Cheat Sheet

Free Thesis Writing Activity

How to Write a Paragraph

Teaching the Essay Package

Thesis Writing Activity

Thesis Writing Poster

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
9
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Opinion Piece Bundle

Description

How to write an effective Opinion Piece Bundle includes:

❒ notes for students (What is an opinion piece? How do we write an opinion piece?…)

❒work process sheets to help students organize their ideas

❒ work process sheets to help students organize their ideastool for teaching)

❒ a student self-evaluation and teacher evaluation

You may also be interested in the following products:

ELA Literature Study Unit

English Grammar Cheat Sheet

How to Write a Paragraph

Opinion Letter with the Novel Holes

Sentences Grammar Circles For Easy & Effective Grammar

Spelling Flip Book

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
6 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A