While my students read a piece of literature, I give them "Reading Checks" to hold them accountable for the reading. These questions are not designed to be "tricky" or difficult. They exist only as a means to check whether or not students read the assigned pages; therefore, they are 100% plot questions. I use these questions to make sure students are on the same page (literally) and are ready to move beyond plot into analysis during class activities. As a side note, reading check grades are an excellent way to communicate to parents why a student may be struggling in your class because they will reflect whether or not a student is doing the assigned reading. In this document, I have attached reading checks for a novel study on Fahrenheit 451-- there are 5 reading checks in all (two for Part One, one for Part Two, and two for Part Three). Answer keys are included for EACH reading check!

This is a series of four challenge activities for a F451 book club. These activities engage students in active discussion and debate within the group and with the entire class. I used these with my freshmen classes and set up the book club groups as teams. Each group formed a team name, and we turned each challenge into a competition that I would score. The winning team or teams would earn points, and at the end of the novel study, the winning team received bonus points on the test. This is a great way to get students involved with literature in a fun, competitive atmosphere. My students ask me all the time when "our next challenge is going to be."

This product contains Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (found in the public domain) and 12 COMMON CORE multiple-choice questions for close reading along with a short answer written response question. I have provided the answers to the multiple-choice questions as well as a sample paragraph response to the prompt. The questions are critical thinking and analysis-type questions similar to that on the PARCC. This is a fantastic resource to prepare for the simulated research portion of PARCC as well as an excellent resource for targeting Common Core reading skills. Questions assess skills such as: Word meaning Summary Textual Evidence Rhetorical Devices Rhetorical Effects Text Purpose & Audience Be sure to check out Bespoke ELA online at: www.bespokeclassroom.com & follow our broadcasts on Periscope @bespoke_ela

This product contains excerpts from Alexander Hamilton's "Famous Report on Manufactures" from 1790. The text comes from the public domain. 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 PARCC exam. Hamilton's report is quite a challenging read and is accompanied by 18 multiple-choice close reading questions that use Common Core/ PARCC question stems. This close reading activity will target comprehension and analytical skills while exposing students to the types of documents they will analyze on the PARCC exam. Have your students try it individually and then with a group to compare answers. Hamilton's report also lends itself to any study of texts surrounding the periods of Industrial Revolution in America or abroad, as he vehemently argues AGAINST manufacturing and supports an agriculture based economy for the United States. As an extension activity, have your students debate the pros and cons of manufacturing versus farming. Answer key included. For more lesson ideas, tips, and FREEBIES, follow my broadcasts on Periscope @bespoke_ela & sign up for my newsletter at www.bespokeclassroom.com

This guide to MLA Format contains an explanation of general guidelines along with excerpts from example essays and Works Cited. The final page contains an MLA Peer Revision Activity to guide students through editing for proper format. Find this product as part of the Mega Literary Analysis Essay Bundle, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!

This packet contains three different prompts for essays focused on analyzing character. The prompts are accompanied by a brainstorming guide along with an outline form for planning the essay. These are excellent tools for helping guide students through the process of using characterization as a lens for literary analysis. This product can be found as part of the MEGA CHARACTERIZATION BUNDLE, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!

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.

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.

Product Description This lesson by Bespoke ELA contains an assignment for explicating a Shakespearean sonnet. It's tailored specifically for Shakespearean sonnets rather than poems in general. The Shakespearean Sonnet Explication Assignment includes: 1. Explication Essay Assignment 2. Explication Rubric 3. Sample Explication Essay of "Sonnet 18" 4. Sonnet Analysis Guide/ Explication Preparation Guide Use this assignment as a summative assessment for your next Shakespearean sonnet unit. It's a great way to assess both reading and writing skills using Shakespeare's sonnets! Pair this with the Bespoke ELA Pop Sonnet Assignment to engage students with Shakespeare's work! Click here! Common Core Standards R1-6, 11/ W1-2, 4-5, 10/ L1-6

Product Description This product contains TEN brainstorming guides for students to brainstorm new movie ideas and concepts. You can find these brainstorming guides as part of the Bespoke ELA Screenplay Unit, sold separately HERE. These brainstorming guides will put movie writing at your students' fingertips. Screenplay writing is a high-interest type of writing because all students love movies. It's a great way to target COMMON CORE skills while tapping into student interests. In this product packet, you will find the following "lenses" through which to brainstorm new movie ideas: 1. Traditional Plot Generator 2. When Two Worlds Collide 3. The BLANK from Hell 4. Odd Couples 5. Fish out of Water 6. Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Myths, Legends, and Updated Stories 7. Lesser-Known Facts 8. "True" Stories 9. Unintended Consequences 10. Extreme Measures Even if you don't have your students complete the entire screenplay unit, these brainstorming exercises will help students think outside the box to create something new! Pair this activity with a literary analysis activity, and students can go forwards and backwards through the writing process-- construct art and take art apart. The Screenplay Unit by Bespoke ELA is a great project for second semester-- especially after standardized testing. Students can put into action all they have learned about story!

Included here are three popular creative writing assignments to accompany a unit on Beowulf. Beowulf Kenning Activity a. In this activity, students try their hand at creating modern-day kennings to share with the class. Students have fun being creative with kennings! Anglo-Saxon Boast Writing Assignment a. This assignment asks students to create a poetic boast modeled after that of Beowulf in the epic poem. Students must integrate devices such as hyperbole, alliteration, and kennings into a boast about their accomplishments. Then, students are to write a paragraph explanation of the role boasting plays in the poem using at least two quotations from the text. Students have great fun sharing their boasts and also comparing/ contrasting theirs to that of Beowulf's. This is a great activity to get students involved in the poem in an interactive way! Beowulf Comic Book Project a. This Beowulf project uses the structure of the comic book to assess student understanding of the literary elements in Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon culture, and reading/writing/collaboration skills. Included here is the project assignment along with a Common Core aligned rubric. This is a great project to tap into student motivation in a fun, collaborative, engaging way that will simultaneously target reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. All three creative writing tasks are included in my MEGA BEOWULF BUNDLE (25 activities and lessons with answer keys included!) You can find the ENTIRE bundle in our store, sold separately. BUNDLE AND SAVE!

This listing is for a characterization activity entitled "Motivation Machine" in which students analyze how a character's motivations reveal character traits. 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! For this mini-lesson: "Motivation Machine" Task To analyze the relationship between character motivation and plot Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text To support analysis with textual evidence Common Core Standards R1-3, 6, 11/ W1-4, 10-11/ L1-3 Instructions In this set of activities, students will look at the relationship between character motivation and plot in order to observe how the protagonist’s desires create or drive the plot of the story. The “Motivation Machine” lead activity asks students to consider plot points that are organized according to character decisions. The questions on the “Motivation Machine” Activity follow the typical character motivation pattern as follows: 1. The character has a problem—wants something but cannot get it. 2. The character worsens the problem by making a mistake. 3. The character has to deal with the worsened problem and faces obstacles. 4. The character either solves the problem and gets what he/she wants or does not. After students complete the “Motivation Machine” activity, they can then complete the three follow-up activities: “Motivation Machine” Silent Swap “Motivation Machine” Consequences Chart “Motivation Machine” Analytical Paragraph In the Silent Swap, students swap the “Motivation Machine” activity three times and answer reflection questions independently in order to compare/contrast other students’ character analysis with their own. In the “Motivation Machine” Consequences Chart, students consider the cause/ effect relationship of a character’s motivation. In the Analytical Paragraph, students synthesize their findings into a writing task that responds to the question: “How does the protagonist’s motivation affect the plot of the story?” This activity will enable students to grasp how the protagonist creates the action of a story according to what he/she wants.

These Beowulf question sets take students through a close reading of the major parts of the poem and account not only for plot but also comprehension and interpretation as well. These questions also provide excellent discussion topics for small groups or the whole class. They can also serve as study guides for an objective-based test on the epic poem. Answer keys included with extended analysis and textual evidence to take your class discussion to a deeper level! These questions can also be found in my MEGA BEOWULF BUNDLE with 25 lessons and activities/ 108 pages including answer keys! You can find the ENTIRE BUNDLE in our store sold separately.

This listing is for a characterization activity entitled "Debate Time!" in which students debate on various topics relating to characterization using textual evidence. 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! For this mini-lesson: "Debate Time!" Task To debate different aspects of characters using textual evidence to support character analysis Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To support analysis with textual evidence To use rhetorical skills for constructing and supporting an oral argument To construct an effective argument supported with logical reasoning and textual evidence Common Core Standards R1, 3, 6, 11/ W1, 2, 4, 10/ SL 1, 3, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions One of the most engaging and interactive ways to get students involved in class discussion is through a debate. For the FIVE debate activities included in this listing, you will assign your students to a specific character from a specific piece of literature. Then, students will answer the yes or no “focus question” for the debate activity by providing textual evidence, reasons, and character traits to support each side of the debate for the assigned character. Each debate activity also includes an optional “Post-Debate Write-up” that students can complete after they have debated the question in class. This writing activity will help students to synthesize the class debate and arrive at their own character analysis. If you would like to assess the quality of student responses as well as create a more independent debate, consider using the rubric included here in this packet. This rubric requires students to speak a certain number of times, and students are assessed on the quality and depth of what they say—not just for merely speaking. There are also ways for students to earn bonus points during the discussion according to this rubric. The checks and symbols on the rubric are how I notate student credit during the debate. Overall, these discussions will get your students involved in analyzing literature on a deeper level and using textual evidence to support arguments.

Task: To analyze Shakespeare’s work in terms of Aristotle’s literary theories from Poetics Objectives: To develop criteria for analyzing literary elements To support analysis with textual evidence To use rhetorical skills for constructing and supporting oral and written arguments To construct an effective argument supported with logical reasoning and textual evidence To apply literary theories to other texts To close read a text for main ideas Common Core Standards: R1, 3, 6, 11/ W1, 2, 4, 10/ SL 1, 3, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions: Aristotle’s literary theories have helped to set the precedent for what determines “high quality” literature. Writers either follow his methods, or they rebel against them. While it is not known if Shakespeare read or studied Aristotle’s Poetics, it is a fascinating study to apply Aristotle’s theories to Shakespeare’s work in order to observe how Shakespeare innovated new concepts for drama. In this unit, students will: Complete the pre-reading strategy in order to define key terms found in Aristotle’s Poetics. Close read excerpts from Poetics and answer comprehension/discussion questions for each section. Note that students may answer the questions in terms of one, single Shakespearean tragedy but may reference any other plays they may have read. Map out the plot of at least one Shakespearean Tragedy and identify examples of key terms from Aristotle’s Poetics. Debate whether or not Shakespeare follows Aristotle’s literary theories. Synthesize their conclusions in a post-debate writeup. This unit contains SIX excerpts from Aristotle’s Poetics for students to close read. Each excerpt contains a few close reading/ discussion questions in order to both comprehend Aristotle’s main ideas as well as apply them to Shakespeare’s works. There are a few different ways to use these excerpts in your classes: 1. Have students read all six excerpts and discuss the questions included in each one. 2. Divide students into groups and assign each group 1-2 excerpts to close read. 3. Students can then present their findings to the class, and the whole class can discuss the application questions included. 4. Use the “Overview of Aristotle’s Poetics” handout included here and have students close read only a couple of the excerpts instead of all six. For the remaining activities, students can focus on a single Shakespearean tragedy of your choice, or allow students to use evidence from multiple plays as best fits your curriculum reading list, their reading experiences, and level of course difficulty. This is an excellent addition to any Shakespeare unit and will deepen the complexity of students' interaction with tragedy.

This listing is for a characterization activity entitled "Relationship Rectangle" in which students analyze how a character's relationships work to develop character traits. 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! For this mini-lesson: "Relationship Rectangle" Task To analyze how character relationships contribute to character development Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text To select appropriate academic vocabulary for literary analysis To support analysis with textual evidence To communicate and defend an argument through class discussion Common Core Standards R1, 3, 6, 11/ W1, 2, 4, 10-11/ SL 1, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions For this activity, students will consider how the protagonist’s relationships in a story develop characterization. The “Relationship Rectangle” asks students to focus on the protagonist’s key relationships, including the protagonist’s most important relationship, most difficult relationship, the relationship that provides the protagonist with the most help and support, and finally the antagonist that acts against the protagonist throughout the story. Student’s selections for these relationships may vary, but students are asked to support their relationship selections with textual evidence and then discuss their findings with a group. Through this discussion, students will begin to agree/ disagree with each other’s relationship selections as a means of synthesizing how relationships in a story serve to characterize the protagonist. Students are then asked to develop an analytical paragraph that asks them to analyze how one particular relationship constructs the characterization of the protagonist. I have provided a shaping sheet for this analytical paragraph; however, you may wish to use it only for differentiation, with all of your students, or not at all (depending upon your students’ skill levels and needs).

This multiple-choice/ matching test includes two pieces of "new material" that connect to the epic poem Beowulf ("The Seafarer" and "Ulysses" by Tennyson), a few historical questions about the Anglo-Saxon Period, a matching section of epithets to characters, a matching section of Anglo-Saxon traits to examples from the epic poem, a series of interpretation/ analysis questions, and a written response/ essay question. This test does NOT test rote memory-- it is a challenging skills application test that is 40 questions long and will truly assess your students' understanding of skills rather than plot. The two pieces of "new material" can be used as taught pieces as well. This test is a great way to align your assessments of Beowulf with the Common Core standards because it involves transferring skills rather than just memorization. Answer key is included!

In this set of debate activities by Bespoke ELA, students will participate in a series of debates in response to "yes/no" questions about Shakespeare's play Macbeth. There are 10 debate questions in all. Students will collect evidence to support both sides of the argument and then debate a side with their peers in order to practice constructing logical arguments supported by textual evidence. Each debate chart is followed by an argumentative writing assignment as a culmination of the class debate. The teacher page included gives some suggestions for how to run a debate in your classroom, and I have also included my Debate Guide & Rubric for scoring your students' participation. These debate activities are excellent starter activities for an essay on Macbeth. Use them to facilitate the writing process and/or have students create "oral argument" presentations in which they share their interpretations with the class.

The ELA PARCC for high school is a challenging assessment of close reading skills and analytical writing. For states that have adopted the Common Core, the stakes of student success on this exam are higher than ever. That's where this collection of question stems comes in! Here, you will find over 200 sample question stems to use as templates for close reading that will prepare your students for PARCC while simultaneously encouraging critical thinking about fiction and non-fiction. These question stems target skill such as: Text Purpose, Structure, and Audience Literary Elements Literary Techniques Rhetorical Devices Non-fiction & Informational Texts Textual Evidence Word Meaning in Context Drawing Conclusions Making Inferences Summarizing and MORE! For the high school PARCC exam, students must write both a literary analysis essay and synthesize an argument using various pieces of foundational non-fiction. The sample essay prompts included in this packet will enable you to focus your essay prompts on writing tasks for college readiness. However, these question stems are not just for PARCC! Use them for prepping students in Advanced Placement as well as other non-Common Core state exams where close reading & writing is assessed for graduation. Check out my blog for more tips and curriculum resources at: www.bespokeclassroom.com