This is an excellent, jigsaw-type, collaborative activity to use as an introduction to the epic poem Beowulf. Essentially, students break into groups to look at only the Prologue and Parts 1 and 2 of the epic poem. Each group takes on the part of an anthropologist/archaeologist "digging" back into the past to learn about the world of the Anglo-Saxons. Each group receives a different set of questions about Anglo-Saxon culture to respond to by seeking out answers from the Beowulf text. Students then report their findings/ discoveries about Anglo-Saxon culture to the class. This is an excellent way to get students involved in active inquiry into a text. I typically do this activity BEFORE I give them any notes at all on Anglo-Saxon culture because I want them to see what they can discover on their own first. This activity is easily followed with a writing assignment in which students describe their findings using textual evidence. Included here are questions for 8 different groups per class (of course, in reality, you may have more groups per class, so you can simply repeat some of the questions amongst groups-- it's perfectly fine to see how two different groups approach the same questions because they will undoubtedly make different observations). Great way to get into the Beowulf story! This item is part of my MEGA BEOWULF BUNDLE that includes 25 lessons and activities with answer keys! You can find the ENTIRE bundle in our store, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE! Positive feedback is appreciated for FREEBIES :)

This anticipation guide asks students to consider the modern-day, American concept of heroism. Students will brainstorm examples of heroism in today’s world as a means of studying the epic hero and the Anglo-Saxon concept of heroism. This activity establishes student anticipation of reading the poem Beowulf and provides an interesting platform for class discussion and debate. This guide is included in my MEGA Beowulf Bundle, which includes 25 lessons and activities to take your Beowulf unit to the next level! Find the entire bundle in our store, sold separately. BUNDLE AND SAVE!

These Task Cards by Bespoke ELA are to be used at the end of a Writer’s Workshop during the last ten minutes to emphasize with students that any part of the essay can be edited and revised at any time. The purpose of these Task Cards is to communicate to students that writing is a continual, recursive process, not a linear process. Students often ask if they are “allowed” to go back and change something about an essay draft. These Task Cards will help students see that they are, in fact, “allowed” change anything about their essays throughout the writing process. Allow students to select one of these cards and complete the revision or reflection task of their choice at the end of a writer’s workshop session. This will also enable students to take ownership of their own learning and writing. Included in this FREE bundle: 16 Task Cards Ppt. Version-- editable PNG Power Point Version PDF Version ============================================= You might also like: Literary Analysis MEGA BUNDLE 30 MENTOR SENTENCES for Literary & Rhetorical Devices with Writing Application Poetry Bundle: 20 Short Poems to Teach Rhetorical Relationships & Explication Macbeth Bundle: Supplementary Materials for Any Macbeth Unit Nonfiction Resource Bundle Nonfiction Practice with The Gettysburg Address Nonfiction Practice with The Declaration of Independence Nonfiction Practice with Alexander Hamilton Sample Essay Pack: TEN Literary Analysis Essays Argument Essay Revision Forms: TEN Activities for Success Grammar Editing Mini-lessons for Essay Writing Editing the Essay for "Academese" The Conclusion Paragraph for Literary Analysis Crafting Commentary for Literary Analysis Selecting & Organizing Textual Evidence for Literary Analysis Topic & Concluding Sentences for Literary Analysis The Body Paragraph for Essay Writing The Thesis Statement for Literary Analysis: SIX Mini-lessons for Success Blending Quotes Using the TCS Method The Literary Analysis 10-POINT RUBRIC The Introduction Paragraph for Literary Analysis

In light of recent tragedies that continue to occur in our nation and around the world, I have created a series of Diversity Lessons to increase cultural awareness within our classrooms. All of these lessons are FREE resources for teachers to use. Positive feedback is always appreciated! In this activity, there are a series of quotations about diversity to read with your students. After viewing the quotations, give each student a piece of paper and have them create their own quotations about the importance of diversity and then hang them around the classroom. This activity also makes an excellent icebreaker activity at the beginning of the school year!

Given all of the tragic events that have happened in our world and continue to happen in our world, I have compiled a reading list of 75 texts for grades 6-12 about DIVERSITY, RACISM, INCLUSION, TOLERANCE, and MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS. I truly believe that it is crucial to our world that we diversify our students' reading experiences beyond the standard cannon because it's only when we are able to have experiences with people different from us that we can begin to understand those differences and not fear them. I spent many hours researching the texts on this list. The list contains poems, speeches, plays, novels, and essays that address issues such as bullying, racism, LGBTQ, learning differences, and cultural identity (African American, Asian American, Mexican American, and many others). Each text is hyperlinked on the list to Amazon and/or a website where you can either find the text or read about it. Please note that some texts are more suitable for 6th-7th grades while others are only suitable for 12th grade. Please vet these texts according to the grade you teach and appropriateness for your school community and student body. The great thing I discovered by creating this list was that it was DIFFICULT keeping the list down to just 75 texts. There are SO MANY awesome texts out there about these issues, which is a great problem to have. Now, we just need to get them into our classrooms. This document also contains a list of web resources where you can find even MORE READING LISTS and lesson plans for teaching on the importance diversity. I truly hope that you are able to use this product this year in your classroom. And I'd love to hear feedback of any texts that I absolutely MUST ADD to the list. I am always looking for ways to expand reading lists for my students and can't wait to integrate some of these pieces this year. I feel that as teachers we are the harbingers for creating peace in our world, and we bear the responsibility of showing our students that we are all part of the "human family." It is only through education that the violence can end.

This activity can go with any text centered upon diversity and/or inclusion. Students will answer some pre-reading questions about their prior knowledge and experiences with diversity and inclusion and then complete a close reading of the selected text. Finally, they will write a paragraph analysis of the text and then think about how they can show appreciation for diversity and inclusion in their own lives. Given the recent tragedies that have rocked our world, it is important to me to share lessons that can help us become more tolerant and peaceful as a "human family." Positive feedback is always appreciated.

In this FREE 21-page booklet, find information on how I use the Writer's Notebook as an Interactive Notebook in my secondary English classes. This freebie includes explanations of how I have my students organize the notebook as well as the charts, handouts, graphic organizers, rubrics, etc. that my students use with the notebook throughout the school year. Positive feedback is always appreciated for FREEBIES!

No study of Beowulf is complete without also studying the life and times of the Anglo-Saxons. This listing includes Anglo-Saxon history notes and a quiz with the answer key included! Anglo-Saxon History Notes a. This handout contains an outline of key historical notes about the Anglo-Saxons and the epic poem Beowulf. You can use these notes as a class handout or as notes for a lecture. Also, consider having students select a topic from this handout to research and present to the class. Anglo-Saxon History Quiz a. This quiz checks students’ knowledge of Anglo-Saxon history. You can use it as a means to hold students accountable for the notes and/or use it as a group activity in which students have to research the answers in order to learn about Anglo-Saxon life and times. Answer key included! These two handouts are included in my MEGA Beowulf Bundle with 25 lessons and activities to take your Beowulf unit to the next level! You can find the entire bundle in our store, sold separately. BUNDLE AND SAVE!

These Beowulf journal prompts contain writing tasks for all three levels of writing. They are excellent to use as warm-up/ bell-ringer tasks at the beginning of class periods or as more developed writing assignments. They also lend themselves to small group and/or whole class discussions. This listing is included in my MEGA BEOWULF BUNDLE with 25 lessons and activities plus answer keys! You can find the ENTIRE BUNDLE in our store, sold separately.

This reproducible sheet contains all of the Common Core College Readiness Standards for ELA for grades 9-12. This sheet is designed to give to students as a handout and put the power of the Common Core into their hands. The sheet contains two reflection questions at the bottom for students to answer. They are to identify the standards for a given assignment and then reflect upon their performance on those standards. This will help make the Common Core a "common" language in your classroom and enable students to track their own progress throughout the year. And, not to mention-- this sheet is a HUGE TIME SAVER for teachers because it makes students responsible for identifying and tracking standards. Give it a try!

This handout gives students lists of words to edit out of their essays-- a great tool for the Writer's Toolbox! Positive feedback is always appreciated :)

A central part of literary analysis involves analyzing the characters of a piece of literature. I have found that character analysis serves as an excellent means of increasing students' vocabulary. Here, I have compiled a list of adjectives (many of them SAT-level words) that can be used to describe a character. Students can select words from this list and use them to analyze and describe characters either in discussion or in writing. This list will help students to push beyond their current vocabulary by introducing them to new words that will not only help their analysis in class but simultaneously prepare them for the SAT! Words on this list have been categorized according to a common meaning, which will help students take risks in identifying potential new words and taking risks with new vocabulary. Note-- This is an excellent tool for English Language Learners as well!

This is a rubric for a Literary Analysis that breaks down the points into 10 specific skills, including introduction/ conclusion paragraphs, thesis, topic sentences, textual evidence, analysis, style, organization, grammar, MLA, and following directions. I have assigned point values to each of the skills (which you can change according to your students' needs). This rubric is very comprehensive and provides explicit feedback for revision purposes without your having to write substantial notes throughout the essay-- all you need to do is circle away. This is an excellent rubric that you can adapt for your classroom purposes. Side note: As a rule in my classroom, I approach writing as an ongoing process. That means that after students turn in the "final draft," I allow my students to revise/ rewrite and resubmit the essay for a maximum of half the points back to 100. That means, if their initial score was a 70, for example, they can revise/rewrite and resubmit for a MAXIMUM score of an 85. I know this sounds very tedious; however, I give out explicit directions for resubmission, and any deviation from those directions disqualifies the essay for resubmission. Mainly, I require that students turn in the original essay with original rubric and the new, revised copy with all new changes highlighted. This way, I can simply check to see if they revised/ rewrote sections that needed further attention. In this way, my grading philosophy entails that I grade for quality on the first submission and effort on the second revision. It is in this way that I can communicate to my students that writing is a skill and an art that takes practice and that I do not expect perfection (because who's perfect?); instead, I expect effort, and I expect growth. Give it a try and see what happens!

In this assignment, students become a modern-day Chaucer and create a stereotype poem based upon a contemporary figure in society. They must write a poem that describes this modern-day pilgrim, including imagery and rhetorical devices, that reveals a clear tone either approving or disapproving of the figure. After creating the poem, students are asked to write a paragraph explanation of their stereotype poem that includes the effect of their rhetorical devices. This is an excellent way to make Chaucer's work relevant to today's society and even an effective writing task for students to complete BEFORE reading Canterbury Tales. Students will LOVE sharing their stereotype poems with the entire class! This assignment includes a student sample of a stereotype poem about politicians as well as a rubric to grade the final product.

This activity has students making connections between Shakespeare's play Macbeth and the real world through the topic of corruption. In this scavenger hunt activity, students are to locate three Real World Macbeth figures who became corrupt as a result of their ambition. Students are then to write paragraphs that explain their connections using textual evidence from the play and from nonfiction articles. Included in this product you will find: The Scavenger Hunt Assignment Page with Common Core Standards & Objectives Real World Macbeth Comparison Chart Scavenger Hunt Rubric This is an excellent way to connect literature to the real world while targeting Common Core Standards.

This activity challenges students to consider Beowulf as a work of propaganda. Students are to document examples of propaganda and bias in the poem by looking for specific propaganda devices and tone words in action. After gathering evidence, students synthesize their findings in a piece of writing to use as reference during a class discussion on how Beowulf exists as a piece of propaganda. Answer key included! This activity is also included in my MEGA Beowulf Bundle (25 lessons and activities with answer keys!). You can find the entire bundle in our store, sold separately. BUNDLE AND SAVE!

This listing is for a characterization activity in which students analyze how a character's weaknesses impact the story as a whole. This mini-lesson is part of the Mega Characterization Bundle of over 15 characterization mini-lessons that get your students working with all literary devices and techniques. You can find it listed separately in our store. Bundle and save over $15.00! Task To analyze how a character’s weaknesses impact the story Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text To support analysis with textual evidence To assess how character traits affect literary elements To apply understanding of character to a new writing situation Common Core Standards R1-3, 6, 10, 11/ W1-4, 10-11/ SL 1, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions Characters often experience downfall as a result of a weakness, or inherent flaw. Oftentimes, this flaw is pride or hubris; nonetheless, the protagonist makes mistakes and faces conflicts as a result of this overweening weakness. This series of activities asks students to analyze how a character’s weakness affects literary elements such as characterization, plot, and conflict and to consider how the consequences of a character’s actions determine whether or not a protagonist accomplishes his/her goal in the story. The lead activity included here asks students to exploit a protagonist’s weakness by sensationalizing it in a tabloid article. This activity will get students thinking about the negative aspects of a character and how they cause issues for him/her in the story. The “follow-up” activities include a tabloid article swap in which students respond to each other’s interpretation of the protagonist’s weakness, an exploratory exercise that asks students to analyze the cause/ effect relationship of character weakness and mistakes, and finally a shaping sheet for a synthesis paragraph in which students analyze the protagonist based upon his/her weakness. Essentially, the goal of this series of activities is to “assassinate” the character of a protagonist. Note that you may or may not want to use the paragraph shaping sheet with your students. It is typically effective with students that struggle with writing in general. You may want to simply have your students respond to the prompt by writing/ typing their own paragraph to submit instead of using the shaping sheet. But use your own discretion according to the needs of your students.

This question set was RECENTLY UPDATED in 2018! This discussion activity contains level one (plot), level two (interpretation), and level three (universal) questions and also asks students to create their own questions for each level. There are 20 questions total that will take students to a deeper level analysis of Chaucer's story. This is an excellent way to get students involved with the "Pardoner's Tale" in an interactive way that makes the story relevant to today's world.

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 from Bespoke ELA contains a series of paintings and photographs that all relate in some way to Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The Power Point begins with four guiding questions that students will answer for each work of art in order to make connections between the visual image and the play. I hand-selected these images because they illuminate a thematic idea from the play and/or character traits of key players in Macbeth. These images are excellent resources to use as bell-ringer focus activities OR as springboards for discussion and the writing process. All images are labeled for REUSE.