The Bespoke ELA Classroom is an online resource center for secondary curriculum solutions. I've always had a connection to the written word through songwriting, screenwriting, and teaching English. I started Bespoke ELA after teaching high school for 10+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City because I wanted to share skills-driven resources with other teachers to meet the needs of students from all walks of life. In my spare time, a little girl and two pups like to call me "mom."
The Bespoke ELA Classroom is an online resource center for secondary curriculum solutions. I've always had a connection to the written word through songwriting, screenwriting, and teaching English. I started Bespoke ELA after teaching high school for 10+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City because I wanted to share skills-driven resources with other teachers to meet the needs of students from all walks of life. In my spare time, a little girl and two pups like to call me "mom."
These quote logs contain separate charts to help students organize analysis of plot, characterization, theme, motif, symbol, poetic devices, tragic elements, and conflicts in any Shakespearean play. They are excellent charts for students to use throughout the writing process and also work well in small group or whole class discussions.
***Common Core Standards Attached to each chart along with a Common Core reflective writing activity***
Poor TACKY THE TURKEY has been caught and will be eaten on Thanksgiving if you don’t save him first! Help Free the Bird by answering trivia questions that reveal mystery words. The trivia questions pertain to knowledge of famous authors and texts as well as literary terms and parts of speech.
The object of the game is to FREE THE BIRD by earning the most points.
There are FIVE rounds of this game total. Each round consists of FIVE literary trivia questions that reveal a letter for the mystery word, phrase, title, or name.
For each round of the game, an assigned group member will shout out “GOBBLE” when he/she has figured out the mystery word. The first team to get the mystery word earns THREE points; the second team earns TWO points, and the third team earns ONE point. The remaining teams earn ZERO points for that round. The team with the MOST POINTS by the end of the class period (or the end of the five rounds) will FREE THE BIRD and win a prize! Teachers can decide on the prize to be won. Suggestions include candy, a homework pass, bonus points, or just good ole “brownie points”!
Note that some questions reference Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet, and other titles that your students may or may not know, depending upon the grade you teach. However, the questions are stacked so that students can still figure out most answers without knowing all of the trivia questions.
In this PowerPoint presentation, there are examples of literary elements such as theme, motif, plot structure, characterization, etc. from Beowulf as well as examples of literary techniques such as metaphor, irony, hyperbole, etc. Most examples contain direct quotations from the text, and I use this presentation as a means for discussing examples my students have brainstormed themselves. This is an effective summative activity to use as a review before an exam or as a brainstorming guide before beginning the writing process.
This product contains a close reading activity for the "Declaration of Independence." This close reading activity will target comprehension and analytical skills while exposing students to historical non-fiction. Skills assessed in this close reading include:
Context Clues
Non-fiction Structure & Purpose
Rhetorical Devices & Effect
Textual Evidence
Have your students try it individually and then with a group to compare answers.
For teachers in the states still taking the PARCC exam, it is important that students practice reading the diction and style of American "foundational texts" and authors because they are included on the "Simulated Research" portion of the exam. The "Declaration of Independence" can be a challenging read and is accompanied by 18 multiple-choice close reading questions that use Common Core/ PARCC question stems.
Answer key included.
This product contains a list of topics and related themes for Shakespeare's play Macbeth.
Use this list of themes and topics as a springboard for discussions and essays. After students have completed a piece of literature, I have them compile a Topics/Themes list that they keep in their Writer's Notebooks. To do this, they first brainstorm a list of topics and then convert them into theme statements. Then, we share the list as a class.
Afterwards, students then select a theme to use as the thematic claim in a literary analysis essay. I do this in lieu of giving my students essay prompts because it taps into their motivation by allowing them the freedom to choose their own essay topics based upon their own interpretations of the piece of literature. It's also an excellent strategy for enabling a more organic writing process.
Use this document as a key, or differentiate this activity by giving students the list and allowing them to select a theme for an essay.
The Topics/Themes list a versatile tool that is sure to enrich students' interaction with the play.
I was feeling inspired by the winter and started researching classic poems about the season. What I came to realize is that winter is a polarizing season-- people either love it or hate it-- and writers reflect this in their work. Winter is complex. While the snow and ice bring much beauty, that beauty represents death and destruction. And so, many writers have found winter (as well as spring) to be powerful tools in symbolizing both positive and negative thematic claims.
In this unit, I have included TEN poems by classic authors that involve winter in some respect. Some poems use winter to symbolize absence, others age, and still others unity. Five of these poems have a more positive representation of winter while the remaining five have a more negative representation of winter-- however, this is debatable! And that is exactly what students are going to do!
Students are to:
1. Annotate the poems using the TPCASTT chart included.
2. Categorize the poems as either having a positive view of winter or a negative view of winter.
3. Debate the view of winter in one or more poems.
4. Write an explication essay on a winter poem of their choice-- sample essays, assignment, and rubric included!
5. Create a group presentation in which they compare/contrast two winter poems of their choice-- assignment and rubric included!
6. Write their own original winter poem along with an explication paragraph in which they explain how they communicate their thematic claim through selected literary devices-- assignment, student sample, and rubric included!
This unit is modifiable for students of all levels and can also be shortened into a few days or extended into a few weeks. Teachers can choose which poems and activities to complete with their classes and really delve into this season that brings unity amidst destruction.
I have also included my annotation notes for ALL TEN POEMS!!! Use these to guide discussions or to modify lessons for your students. Please note that my annotations do not represent the only possible interpretations of these poems and that my classification of poems is highly debatable!!
Common Core Standards are included on the assignment sheets throughout this packet! This is a great unit to target nearly 100% of the Common Core!!
In this mega Beowulf Bundle, you will find 25 lessons and activities that include very thorough answer keys with textual evidence where applicable to take your Beowulf unit to the next level. This bundle includes the following items:
1. Beowulf Anticipation Guide: Heroism
2. Beowulf Cultural Discovery: An Introduction to the Anglo-Saxons
3. Beowulf WebQuest and Wordle Poem
4. Anglo-Saxon History Notes
5. Anglo-Saxon History Quiz
6. Anglo-Saxon Values and Vices Chart
7. Beowulf Journal Prompts
8. Beowulf Reading and Discussion Questions
9. Beowulf Reading Checks
10. Beowulf “Connecting the Dots” Graphic Organizers
11. Beowulf vs. the Epic Hero Cycle
12. Beowulf Rhetoric Activity
13. Bias and Propaganda in Beowulf
14. Intertextuality Activity: Beowulf and Wilbur’s Poem
15. Beowulf and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
16. Beowulf Agree/ Disagree Activity
17. Beowulf Debatable Statements Activity
18. Beowulf Essay Brainstorming Activity— Topics/ Themes Chart
19. Beowulf Essay Thesis Statements
20. Literary Criticism: “Subversive Female Power in Beowulf”
21. Beowulf Essay Prompts + Outline Form and Rubric
22. Beowulf Kenning Activity
23. Anglo-Saxon Boast Writing Assignment
24. Beowulf Comic Book Project
25. Beowulf Skills Application Test
I have spent the past TWO YEARS of my life compiling this bundle. No joke!
This bundle contains 20 mini-lessons in 22 files/ 200+ pages to help guide your high school English students to success on the Literary Analysis Essay.
Writing workshop is the cornerstone of the English Language Arts classroom. As English teachers, we are charged with the task of teaching students how to write effective essays across different modes of writing. One of these modes, the academic literary analysis essay, can present challenges for both teachers and students. How does the teacher identify, scaffold, and assess the skills needed to write a literary analysis essay? And how does the student know where to start and how to organize the writing process? That’s where this bundle comes in.
Throughout my teaching career, I have developed a step-by-step guide for writing a literary analysis essay that is practical and easy to follow for both teachers and students. In this bundle, I have compiled 20 mini-lessons that take students through the entire writing process, step-by-step, from reading samples, to brainstorming, to drafting, to editing and revising, and to reflecting. In fact, these lessons are built so that they are reproducible for teachers. You can simply take each mini-lesson and photocopy it for your students to complete as homework and/or in class. To make this guide even more accessible for teachers, each mini-lesson also contains differentiated modifications for you to use as needed, and there are also answer keys and models included where applicable.
So, let’s get started! It’s the “write” time.
Table of Contents
Mini-lesson #1: Student Sample Essays
Mini-lesson #2: Introduction to the Literary Analysis Essay
Mini-lesson #3: Grading Expectations
Mini-lesson #4 The Thesis Statement
Mini-lesson #5: Textual Evidence
Mini-lesson #6: Putting the Thesis Statement Together
Mini-lesson #7: The Introduction Paragraph
Mini-lesson #8: The Body Paragraph
Mini-lesson #9: Topic & Concluding Sentences
Mini-lesson #10: Selecting & Organizing Textual Evidence
Mini-lesson #11: Blending Quotations
Mini-lesson #12: Crafting Commentary
Mini-lesson #13: Putting Together the Body Paragraph
Mini-lesson #14: The Conclusion Paragraph
Mini-lesson #15: Initial Revisions & Editing for “Academese"
Mini-lesson #16: Grammar Editing
Mini-lesson #17: MLA Format
Mini-lesson #18: Final Revision Forms
Mini-lesson #19: Revisiting the Rubric & Final Submission Form
Mini-lesson #20: Metacognition
Literary Analysis Sample Essay Pack
Writing Folder Progress Checklist
Teacher Approval Form