$10 - $20 11th Grade English Language Arts Lesson (by price, low to high)

If you are looking for the perfect way to introduce or review dystopian literature for your students with a rigorous yet engaging activity, look no further than this Escape from Dystopia ESCAPE ROOM for use with Google Drive!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! Now, you can facilitate our popular Escape from Dystopia Escape Room at home for distance learning or in the classroom using your school's technology (thereby cutting down on paper and valuable prep time) with this meticulously-crafted resource. Distance learning can certainly be a struggle for both students and teachers, so this escape room aims to provide a welcome break from the monotony while encouraging higher order thinking skills and a fun introduction or review of dystopian literature.

How does it work?

In order to escape from your digital dystopian classroom of despair and destruction, your students must solve 5 different utopian and dystopian related puzzles, discover a hidden message, and find clues along the way.

• Dystopia FAQs: In the first task, students must complete a crossword puzzle with questions about dystopian and utopian societies. Once complete, they must unscramble circled boxes to reveal the first code.
• Trending Now: In the second task, students must match an actual current law, statistic or trend with the dystopian novel that shows what, if taken to the extreme, could happen to our world. Once completed correctly, letters within the shaded boxes will reveal the second code.
• Word Maze: In the third task, students must complete a word maze. Letters collected along the way will reveal a theme of dystopia and act as the third code.
• Unknown Citizen: In the fourth task, students must perform a close reading of W. H. Auden's The Unknown Citizen. This is the perfect poem for discussing the totalitarian aspects of dystopian societies and how citizens can completely lose their individuality within them. The letters of the multiple choice questions about the poem will form the fourth code.
• Dys/U topia?: In the fifth and final task, students must assemble two charts for Utopia and Dystopia using hypothetical elements of both types of society. Letters of the correct answers reveal the final code phrase to escape the classroom!

Product Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and editable worksheets

- Digital Student Answer Booklet

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

This escape room can be used as an introduction to or as a review of dystopia, however students will need at least a fundamental understanding of utopian and dystopian societies prior to engaging in the escape room. Therefore, this 30-slide Introduction to Dystopia Powerpoint is included to be taught a day or two prior to this lesson.

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Also, check out these great products for your unit on DYSTOPIA by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐ Dystopian Literature Socratic Seminar

⭐ Escape from Dystopia ESCAPE ROOM (paper version)

The Handmaid's Tale

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale "Hot Seat!"

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale "Silent Conversation" Quote Pass Activity

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Anticipation Guide & Lesson Plan

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Journal Prompts

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Quote Posters

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

The Lottery

⭐The Lottery Activity Bundle

⭐ The Lottery Social Media Materials

⭐ The Lottery Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

⭐ The Lottery "Tossing Lines" Anticipation Guide

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⭐⭐⭐For the escape room enthusiasts out there, you can now build your own bundle at 20% off the cover price of 3 or more escape rooms! Click the link to check out all of the escape rooms Language Arts Excellence has to offer: Build Your Own Escape Room BUNDLE⭐⭐⭐

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If you are looking for the perfect way to introduce or review dystopian literature for your students with a rigorous yet engaging activity, look no further than our Escape from Dystopia Escape Room!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! This meticulously-crafted resource features all of the materials you need to conduct a full-length Dystopia Escape Room. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours runs smoothly from start to finish. The activity involves movement, energy, creative thinking and most of all, collaboration. Your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing of this game!

How does it work?

In order to escape from your dystopian classroom of despair and destruction, your students must escape your room by solving 5 different utopian and dystopian related puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

• Dystopia FAQs: In the first task, students must complete a crossword puzzle with questions about dystopian and utopian societies. Once complete, they must unscramble circled boxes to reveal the first code.
• Trending Now: In the second task, students must match an actual current law, statistic or trend with the dystopian novel that shows what, if taken to the extreme, could happen to our world. Once completed correctly, letters within the shaded boxes will reveal the second code.
• Word Maze: In the third task, students must complete a word maze. Letters collected along the way will reveal a theme of dystopia and act as the third code.
• Unknown Citizen: In the fourth task, students must perform a close reading of W. H. Auden's The Unknown Citizen. This is the perfect poem for discussing the totalitarian aspects of dystopian societies and how citizens can completely lose their individuality within them. The letters of the multiple choice questions about the poem will form the fourth code.
• Dys/U topia?: In the fifth and final task, students must assemble two charts for Utopia and Dystopia using hypothetical elements of both types of society. Letters of the correct answers reveal the final code phrase to escape the classroom!

Product Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and supplementary materials to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

This escape room can be used as an introduction to or as a review of dystopia, however students will need at least a fundamental understanding of utopian and dystopian societies prior to engaging in the escape room. Therefore, this 30-slide Introduction to Dystopia Powerpoint is included to be taught a day or two prior to this lesson.

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We've gone digital! Check out the digital version to support distance learning here:

⭐ Escape from Dystopia Digital ESCAPE ROOM & PowerPoint

Also, check out these great products for your unit on DYSTOPIA by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐ Dystopian Literature Socratic Seminar

The Handmaid's Tale

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale "Hot Seat!"

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale "Silent Conversation" Quote Pass Activity

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Anticipation Guide & Lesson Plan

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Journal Prompts

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Quote Posters

⭐ The Handmaid's Tale Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

The Lottery

⭐The Lottery Activity Bundle

⭐ The Lottery Social Media Materials

⭐ The Lottery Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

⭐ The Lottery "Tossing Lines" Anticipation Guide

Harrison Bergeron

⭐ Harrison Bergeron ESCAPE ROOM

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⭐⭐⭐For the escape room enthusiasts out there, you can now build your own bundle at 20% off the cover price of 3 or more escape rooms! Click the link to check out all of the escape rooms Language Arts Excellence has to offer: Build Your Own Escape Room BUNDLE⭐⭐⭐

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This literature guide features a comprehensive mini-unit for Edgar Allan Poe's tale of terror and torture, The Pit and the Pendulum. The packet provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the short story and encourages students to think critically about Poe's use of sensory details, literary elements, figurative language, and symbolism. A full answer key is provided along with two bonus student-tested lesson plans and full procedure for conducting a P&P Socratic Seminar in your classroom. The wide range of activities in this guide will keep your students engaged and help them to gain a deep understanding of one of the most horrifying tales in American literature.

Product Includes:

• Attractive Cover Page for Student Packet
• Anticipation Guide - "Creative Quick-Write"
• Vocabulary Worksheet
• The Pit and the Pendulum Sensory Detail Activities
• Sensory Detail Chart
• Sensory Detail Analysis Open Response
• Comprehension Questions
• Literary Elements Chart
• Figurative Language Worksheet
• Symbolism Activity
• Snap-Chatter Worksheet
• The Pit and the Pendulum Socratic Seminar
• Full Answer Key for Teacher Use
• Suggested Lesson Plan for Anticipation Guide
• Suggested Lesson Plan for Sensory Detail Study
• Suggested Lesson Plan for Symbolism Worksheet

While this literature guide is Common Core aligned for eighth grade, it is appropriate for students in eighth-twelfth.

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We've gone digital! Check out the paperless version to support distance learning: The Pit & the Pendulum Digital Literature Guide

Looking for a fun way to end the study of this tale? Check out The Pit & the Pendulum ESCAPE ROOM

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More resources to round out your Edgar Allan Poe unit:

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe PowerPoint

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe Scavenger Hunt

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Escape Room

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Bell Ringer Journal Prompts

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Crossword Puzzle

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle

But why stop with one story? We have enough Edgar Allan Poe resources to frighten your students for months!

⭐ The Raven Literature Guide

⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide

⭐ The Black Cat Literature Guide

⭐ The Masque of the Red Death Literature Guide

⭐ The Cask of Amontillado Literature Guide

⭐ The Fall of the House of Usher Literature Guide

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Short Story BUNDLE

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Guided Reading is a research-based instruction process whereby the teacher works with small grouping of students being equal in a particular reading achievement level. The teacher provides for each reader's development of effective reading competencies. However different than in the earlier days of reading groups, small and temporary groups are flexible and dynamic. The observance and evaluation of the progress of readers are done by teachers on a systematic basis. Thus, grouping and regrouping students is based on the strengths of students and the intense changing needs throughout their reading development.

In the 1960s in New Zealand, Guided Reading was developed. It was enhanced over the years after it arrived in the United States thanks to educators like Gay Su Pinnell and Lesley Fountas. In 1996, Fountas & Pinnell published their enormously influential book, Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children (Heinemann). This book changed how reading was taught, and it is still taught today to over a million teachers worldwide. The aim of Guided Reading lessons is to develop effective readers.

A set of 13 books is bundled together with all 13 worksheets of the Guided Reading series for grades KG-12. There are lesson plans and different activities for every grade, with the answers in the end section of the worksheet.

Nutcracker Literature Bundle: ($18 value)

Combines The Nutcracker and the Mouse King Picture Book Study and the Nutcracked Novel Study and Vocabulary Unit.

Nutcracker and the Mouse King Picture Book Study ($5 Value)

This study works excellent as an introduction to studying the Nutcracker Ballet.

Using the picture book The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, the original Story by ETA Hoffman, illustrated by Gail de Marcken, and the Story adapted by Wren Mayse. The materials aim to enhance the readers understanding and interpretation of the Story.

What is Included: 23 Pages Total

· Goal and Instructional Pages for Teacher

· Lesson Plans for 10-days of lessons

· Pre-Reading Notes Page (1 page)

· Discussion Questions (9 pages)

· Story Outline (Plot Outline) (2 pages)

· Battle Plan Outline (2 pages)

· Answer Keys (4 pages)

Nutcracked Novel Study and Vocabulary ($8 Value)

Novel Study: These materials for Susan Adrian's novel Nutcracked aim to enhance readers' understanding and interpretation of the Story.

What is Included: 40 Pages

· Goal and Instructional Pages for Teacher

· Lesson Plans for 15-days of lessons- Incorporate vocabulary work in

· Discussion Questions (11 pages)

· Reality vs. Fantasy-Journal (1 page)

· Reality vs. Fantasy-Teaching Worksheet Activity (1 page)

· Reality vs. Fantasy-2 Worksheets (1 page each)

· Georgie's Problems (Conflict Worksheet) (1 page)

· Plot Diagram (1 page)

· Final Test (2 Options) (2 pages each)

· Answer Keys (8 pages)

Vocabulary: -In general, the goal for finding vocabulary words within a novel is to have students encounter words they may not have seen or heard before and then understand their meaning in the text and their everyday lives.

What is Included: 31 Pages

· Goals and Instructional Pages for Teacher

· Master Word Lists (3 pages)

· Student Dictionary (11 pages)

· Crossword Puzzles (3 pages)

· Word Search (1 page)

· Vocabulary in Context Worksheet (2 pages)

· Final Test (1 page)

· Answer Keys (6 pages)

This Bundle also includes a Bundle Guide: 8 Pages ($3 value)

· Goals and Instructions for the Bundle

· Brief Bundle Overview

· Full Bundle Lesson Plans (helps combine the two units into one)

Look to pair this Bundle with other Nutcracker Christmas School Activities. A complete 20-Day Christmas School Unit is available as a bundle through my website or TeachShare storefront.

This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our Back to School Poetry Escape Room.

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! Now, you can facilitate our popular Back to School Poetry Escape Room at home for distance learning or in the classroom with this meticulously-crafted resource. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they are learning about poetry while trying to escape!

How does it work?

The ghosts of Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare, and Maya Angelou have risen from the grave to lock your students inside your classroom. They are upset because they believe that students spend too much time talking about (fill in the blank with whatever is hip with students these days) and not enough time reading and writing poetry. Students cannot escape until they complete 5 poetry-based tasks to show these ghosts of poets past that they do in fact know their poetry.

• Watch Your Tone: In the first task, students will read 6 poem excerpts and identify their tone. When cards are matched correctly, shaded letters will reveal the code.
• Rhyme Time: In the second task, students will read 8 poem excerpts and determine the rhyme scheme of each. When cards are matched correctly on a chart, numbers on the cards will reveal the code.
• Poe's Anatomy: In the third task, students will closely read A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe and complete an anatomy of the poem. When completed correctly, shaded letters within the answers will reveal the code.
• Ah-Mazing: In the third task, students must solve a challenging word maze. Letters collected along the way form the fourth code.
• Complete the Quote: The final task brings the first four tasks together. Students must match the code words with their definitions and complete a quote about poetry.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklets (small and large options)

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

This escape room is suitable for middle and high school students and is ideal at the beginning of the school year or any time during your poetry unit without modification. Students will need to know definitions of poetic devices and terms in order to complete the activity. Some of the terms covered: stanza, enjambment, simile, oxymoron, alliteration, rhyme scheme, personification, tone, sonnet, haiku, limerick, acrostic...

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our Poetry Escape Room.

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! Now, you can facilitate our popular Poetry Escape Room at home for distance learning or in the classroom with this meticulously-crafted resource. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they are learning about poetry while trying to escape!

How does it work?

The ghosts of Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare, and Maya Angelou have risen from the grave to lock your students inside your classroom. They are upset because they believe that students spend too much time talking about (fill in the blank with whatever is cool with students these days... probably making TikToks) and not enough time reading and writing poetry. Students cannot escape until they complete 5 poetry-based tasks to show these ghosts of poets past that they do in fact know their poetry.

• Match 'Em Up: In the first task, students must match up poetic terms and devices with their definitions. Letters intersected by the lines between the terms and definitions will reveal their first code.
• Figuratively Speaking: In the second task, students must correctly identify the figurative language used in poem excerpts. When matched correctly, shaded boxes reveal their second code.
• Television: In the third task, students must closely read the poem, Television, by Roald Dahl. Then, they must correctly identify poetic terms and devices within the poem. When matched correctly on a chart, the third code is revealed.
• Playground Blues: In the fourth task, students must perform a close reading of Back in the Playground Blues by Adrian Mitchell. Letters of the multiple choice CCSS-aligned question answers following the poem reveal their fourth code.
• Jig Saw Quote: In the final task, students must assemble a jig saw puzzle that forms a quote about poetry. Once the puzzle is assembled and students bring the quote to you, they may escape the room.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklets (small and large options)

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

This escape room is suitable for middle and high school students and is ideal any time during your poetry unit. Students will need to know definitions of poetic devices and terms in order to complete the activity. Some of the terms covered: alliteration, imagery, free verse, internal rhyme, tone, mood, stanza, stress, onomatopoeia, allusion, hyperbole, syntax, extended metaphor, haiku, oxymoron....

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This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our highly popular Valentine's Day ELA Escape Rooms!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our Valentine's Day ELA Escape Room in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing with these activities!

How does it work?

Your students are stuck in your [digital] classroom on Valentine's Day and cannot leave until they solve 5 challenging Language Arts skills-based tasks about the holiday of love!

• Hugs & Homophones: In the first task, students will read 8 fun facts about Valentine's Day and must identify the incorrectly used homophone in each passage.
• Love Talk: In the second task, students will read 8 quotes about love from famous figures and must identify the parts of speech of underlined words within the quotes.
• Shall I Compare Thee: In the third task, students will perform a close reading of Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day. Then, they will answer multiple choice questions about the poem.
• Fondly Figurative: In the fourth task, students must identify the figurative language devices used in popular love songs.
• VDay Trivia: In the final task, students will be quizzed on what they learned throughout the first four tasks and enter their answers to Valentine's Day trivia questions in a fun crossword puzzle. Circled boxes within the puzzle will reveal their final code.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklets (small and large options)

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the Valentine's Day Escape Room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

Suitable for middle and high school students and is ideal during the month of February.

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Also, check out more great Valentine's Day products by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐ Valentine's Day "Love Talk" Lesson Plan

⭐ Valentine's Day Collaborative Writing Activity

⭐ Valentine's Day Figurative Language Practice

⭐ Valentine's Day Love Song Figurative Language BUNDLE

⭐ Valentine's Day Mad Libs

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Can't get enough escape rooms? Check out more by Language Arts Excellence here:

⭐ Halloween ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Thanksgiving ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Christmas ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ New Year's ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ St. Patrick's Day ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Easter ESCAPE ROOM

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This bundle includes the in-class and digital version of our escape rooms to review ELA skills on Halloween!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our popular Halloween ELA Escape Room in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons on a sugar-filled holiday, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing of these games!

How does it work?

Your students must work to escape the haunted house by solving 5 different skills-based puzzles, discovering hidden messages, and finding clues along the way.

• Devil's Night: In the first task, students must correct commonly misspelled words in a non-fiction article about Devil's Night. Once complete, they must unscramble circled boxes to reveal the first code.
• Frighteningly Figurative Language: In the second task, students must identify the figurative language devices used in fun Halloween sentences. Shaded boxes in the correct answers form the second code.
• Halloween Fun Facts: In the third task, students will read 8 fun facts about Halloween and must identify the parts of speech of underlined words within the passages. When matched correctly, shaded boxes will reveal the third code.
• A Child's Nightmare: In the fourth task, students must perform a close reading of Robert Grave's famously chilling poem, A Child's Nightmare. The letters of the multiple choice questions about the poem will form the fourth code.... Cat! Cat! Cat!
• Frightful Fallen Phrase: In the final task, students must complete a fallen phrase that reveals a spooky poem. Once they bring that to you, they may escape the haunted house of horrors.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklets (small and large options)

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the Halloween Escape Room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

Suitable for middle and high school students and is ideal during the month of October or any time you want to give your students a fright!

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This bundle includes the in-class and digital version of our Pit & the Pendulum Escape Rooms!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our popular Pit & the Pendulum Escape Rooms in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours run smoothly from start to finish. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they've learned about the short story.

How does it work?

In this escape room, students will try to escape out of the Inquisitor's dungeon of gloom and doom by solving 5 different puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

• Plot Diagram: In the first task, students must order scrambled plot points from The Pit & the Pendulum and place them in the correct spot on Freytag's Pyramid. Highlighted boxes will reveal the code.
• Figurative Language: In the second task, students must identify 7 types of figurative language within the story. Highlighted boxes in the correct answers will reveal the code.
• Jig Saw: In the third task, students must solve a colorful jig saw puzzle that when intact, displays an important quote from the story.
• Close Read: In the fourth task, students must answer challenging multiple choice questions about T_he Pit & the Pendulum_ that when correct, will reveal the code.
• Hidden Message: In the fifth and final task, students must discover the hidden message (a quote from The Pit & the Pendulum) using clues from the first four tasks.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Visual "Keys"

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

- Theme Reflection for homework assignment or in-class writing activity

Digital (Paperless) Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and worksheets

- Digital Student Answer Booklet

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the escape room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

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This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our escape rooms to review ELA skills on Thanksgiving!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our popular Thanksgiving ELA Escape Room in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing of these games!

How does it work?

Your students are stuck in your classroom and cannot leave for Thanksgiving break until they solve 5 challenging Language Arts skills-based tasks about Thanksgiving!

• Thanksgiving Fun Facts: In the first task, students will read 8 fun facts about Thanksgiving and must identify the parts of speech of underlined words within the passages. When matched correctly, shaded boxes will reveal the first code.
• Word Maze: In the second task, students must solve a series of word mazes. Letters they collect along the way will form their second code.
• Figuratively Speaking: In the third task, students must identify the figurative language devices used in fun Thanksgiving sentences. Shaded boxes in the correct answers form the third code.
• Landing of the Pilgrims: In the fourth task, students must perform a close reading of Landing of the Pilgrims by Felicia Dorothea Hemans, a perfect poem to study on Thanksgiving. Letters of the multiple choice question answers following the poem reveal their fourth code.
• Encrypted Message: In the final task, students must solve an encrypted Thanksgiving message using the codes and clues from the first four tasks. Once they decipher the quote about Thanksgiving and bring it to you, they are free to escape to Thanksgiving break!

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklets (small and large options)

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the Halloween Escape Room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

Suitable for middle and high school students and is ideal during the month of November.

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This bundle includes the in-class and digital version of our Fall of the House of Usher Escape Rooms!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our popular Fall of the House of Usher Escape Rooms in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours run smoothly from start to finish. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they've learned about the short story.

How does it work?

In this digital escape room, students will try to escape out of the haunted house of Usher by solving 5 different skills-based puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

• Plot Diagram: In the first task, students must order the plot events of The Fall of the House of Usher on Freytag's Pyramid. Once solved, corresponding letters reveal the first code.
• Figuratively Speaking: In the second task, students must identify 9 types of figurative language within the short story. Highlighted boxes in the correct answers will reveal the code.
• Criss-Cross: In the third task, students must solve a crossword puzzle with questions about literary elements and plot events of the story. Shaded boxes on the crossword once unscrambled will reveal the code.
• Vocab Match Up: In the fourth task, students must fill in the blanks with vocabulary words from The Fall of the House of Usher. When matched correctly, shaded boxes reveal the code.
• Hidden Message: In the fifth and final task, students must decipher an encrypted message (a quote from The Fall of the House of Usher) using clues they collected during the first four tasks. When the message is written on the scroll and brought to you, they can finally escape the haunted house of Usher.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Visual "Keys"

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

- Theme Reflection for homework assignment or in-class writing activity

Digital (Paperless) Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and worksheets

- Digital Student Answer Booklet

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the escape room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

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This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our Shakespeare Escape Room.

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! Now, you can facilitate our popular Shakespeare Escape Room at home for distance learning or in the classroom with this meticulously-crafted resource. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they are learning about the Bard while trying to escape!

How does it work?

In order to escape from Elizabethan England and return to the present day, your students must escape your classroom by solving 6 different puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

• Shakespeare FAQs: In the first task, students must complete a crossword puzzle with questions about Shakespeare. Once complete, they must unscramble shaded boxes to reveal the first code.
• The Globe: In the second task, students must correctly identify components of the Globe Theater. Shaded boxes within the correct answers reveal the second code.
• Name That Play: In the third task, students must match fictional newspaper headlines with the Shakespearean play they represent. This task is in the form of a mat puzzle and the code is revealed when students have matched all plays correctly.
• My Mistress' Eyes: In the fourth task, students must analyze one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the Sun. The letters of the multiple choice questions about the sonnet will form the fourth code.
• Jig Saw Quote: In the fifth task, students must assemble a jig saw puzzle with a quote from one of Shakespeare’s plays.
• Putting it all Together: The final task brings the first 5 tasks together. Students will learn that each of the codes represent an aspect of one of Shakespeare’s plays. The name of the play is the key to escape Elizabethan England and return to the present day!

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 6 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklets (small and large options)

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 6 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

**Please be aware that both escape rooms are designed for use with internet access. The purpose of the escape rooms are to learn about Shakespeare, his plays, and the Globe Theater and therefore many aspects will not be common knowledge. It is therefore highly recommended that computers or tablets are available for student use.**

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This bundle includes the in-class and digital version of our The Lottery Escape Rooms!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our popular The Lottery Escape Rooms in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours run smoothly from start to finish. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they've learned about the short story.

How does it work?

In this escape room, students will try to escape the picturesque American town with a dark secret by solving 5 different skills-based puzzles, deciphering an encrypted message, and finding clues along the way.

• Close Read: In the first task, students must answer challenging multiple choice questions about The Lottery. The corresponding letters of the correct answers reveal their first code.
• Vocab Challenge: In the second task, students must fill in the blanks with vocabulary words from the text. Shaded boxes within the correct answers form their second code.
• Character IDs: In the third task, students must fill in a blank character chart about important characters in the story. When assembled correctly, letters of the correct answers reveal the third code.
• Criss-Cross: In the fourth task, students must solve a crossword puzzle with questions about literary elements and plot events of the story. Circled boxes on the crossword once unscrambled will reveal the code.
• Encrypted Message: In the fifth and final task, students must decipher an encrypted message (a quote from The Lottery) using clues they collected during the first four tasks. When the message is written on the scroll, final question is answered, and booklet brought to you, they can finally escape before it is their turn to pick from the dreaded black box.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

- Theme Reflection for homework assignment or in-class writing activity

Digital (Paperless) Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and worksheets

- Digital Student Answer Booklet

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the escape room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our End of Year ELA Escape Room!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our End of Year ELA Escape Room in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing with these activities!

How does it work?

Your students must escape your digital classroom by solving 5 different Language Arts skills-based puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

• Literary Crossword: In the first task, students must complete a crossword puzzle with questions about literary devices. Once complete, they must unscramble shaded boxes to reveal the first code.
• Words of Wisdom: In the second task, students must identify parts of speech in different funny and inspirational quotes from famous figures. When matched correctly, shaded boxes reveal the second code. (Note that in the paper version, task is MLA All Day: In the second task, students must fill in an MLA Works Cited Page with fictional, contemporary sources. Once completed correctly, letters within the sources will reveal the second code.)
• Figuratively Speaking: In the third task, students must identify the figurative language device used in pop songs by current artists like The Chainsmokers, Coldplay, and Ed Sheeran. Shaded letters in the correct answers form the third code.
• A Dream Deferred: In the fourth task, students must perform a close reading of Langston Hughes' "A Dream Deferred." This is perfect for the end of the school year as students reflect upon their dreams for the future. The letters of the multiple choice questions about the poem will form the fourth code.
• Jig Saw Quote: In the fifth and final task, students must assemble a jig saw puzzle with a famous and inspirational quote. (We can't give that away here!)

Digital Resource Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Digital Student Workbook

- Digital Teacher Answer Keys

Paper Version Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Code Word Theme Open Response for homework or in-class writing activity

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

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Can't get enough escape rooms? Check out more themed escapes by Language Arts Excellence here:

⭐ Spring Break ELA Escape Room

⭐ Back to School ELA ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Halloween ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Thanksgiving ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Christmas ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ New Year's ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Valentine's Day ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ St. Patrick's Day ESCAPE ROOM

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⭐⭐⭐For the escape room enthusiasts out there, you can now build your own bundle at 20% off the cover price of 3 or more escape rooms! Click the link to check out all of the escape rooms Language Arts Excellence has to offer: Build Your Own Escape Room BUNDLE⭐⭐⭐

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This bundle includes the in-class and digital versions of our Spring Break ELA Escape Room!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our Spring Break ELA Escape Room in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing with these activities!

How does it work?

Your students are trapped in your classroom and cannot leave for spring break until they solve 5 Language Arts skills-based tasks about spring!

• Spring to Life: In the first task, students must fill in the blanks with the spring-inspired idioms.
• Figurative as a Flower: In the second task, students identify the figurative language devices used in excerpts from beautiful spring poems (like After the Winter by Claude McKay).
• Edna's Spring: In the third task, students must perform a close reading of Spring by Edna St. Vincent Millay, the perfect poem to study as the days get warmer, and answer multiple choice questions about the poem.
• Spring Fever: In the fourth task, students will read 8 quotes about spring and identify the part of speech of underlined words within each quote.
• Jig Saw Quote: In the final task, students must solve a jig saw puzzle that reveals a provocative quote about spring. Once they figure out the quote and share the file with you, they may escape to spring break!

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Sheet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

Digital Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and supplementary materials

- Digital Student Worksheets

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

These escape rooms are suitable for middle and high school students and are ideal for any day from March through June as the sun begins to shine a little brighter and the crocuses peep their heads out from the soil.

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Can't get enough escape rooms? Check out more themed escapes by Language Arts Excellence here:

⭐ End of Year ELA ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Halloween ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Thanksgiving ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Christmas ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ New Year's ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Valentine's Day ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ St. Patrick's Day ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Back to School ELA ESCAPE ROOM

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This 30-page EDITABLE curriculum has everything you'll need to help students write write phenomenal college application essays! This is the PREMIERE bundle for any English teacher, college counselor, or tutor working to help students master the Common App essay!

The materials in this bundle were designed by a Ph.D. who has taught English at top-ranked high schools and colleges for over 20 years. He has worked closely with former college admissions officers from Harvard, Brown, and NYU. This 30-page unit features all the wisdom he's gathered over a decades-long career in secondary and higher education. The unit is packed to the brim with writing tips and formatting advice that will help your students craft truly remarkable college essays!

Here are some highlights from the 30-page curriculum:

• How to Get Started (Handout #1): Tips for how to get started on one's college essay and overcome writer's block. (1 page)

• Strategies for Crafting Vivid & Lively Prose (Handout #2): While the question of what students choose to write about will be important, the question of how they write will be equally important since a writer's style can reveal a lot about their personality. This handout features advice on how students can write essays using vibrant and virtuosic prose that will enamor any admissions officer. (2 pages)

• The Opening Line: Attention-Grabbing Hooks (Handout #3): The opening paragraph is the single most important part of a college essay. How will your students capture the interest of admissions officers? How will they make a memorable first impression? This handout offers several suggestions for how to focus an opening paragraph, followed by concrete examples of opening paragraphs by top essayists like Annie Dillard, Frank McCourt, Louise Erdrich, Naomi Shihab Nye, and others. (4 pages)

• How to Format a College Essay (Handout #4): This handout offers advice for the structural organization of college essay, with tips on what should be included in each paragraph. The strategy offered here will enable students to showcase their skills at descriptive writing, narrative writing, informational writing, and reflective writing — all in less than 650 words! (1 page)

• Sample Essays: Show your students eight successful college essays written by students who were recently admitted to top-ranked colleges and universities. These were the favorite essays that wowed admissions committees at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, Hamilton College, New York University, and Tufts University. (18 pages)

• Writing Assignment: This carefully scaffolded writing assignment will help students to get practice at writing narrative essays in response to actual prompts on the Common App from 2023-2024. (1 page)

• Writing Rubric: Use this rubric to evaluate the narrative essays that your students write in response to to the prompts from the Common App of 2023-2024. (1 page)

This resource packet will come to you in two separate formats: Word doc and PDF. Because the Word doc is editable, you'll be able to customize the materials to suit your teaching style and/or the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access the materials in PDF format, which is easy to navigate and quick to print!

Because I believe that teachers should be able to see what they're getting before they make a purchase, the preview for this resource provides access more than a dozen actual pages from the resource. Click on the green preview button to see exactly what you’ll get....

Thank you for choosing “Rigorous Resources”!!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Don't forget to click “follow” for email updates on new products by Rigorous Resources. New products will be 50% OFF for the first 24 hours!

Feel free to check out these other resources on writing:

How to Write an Analytical Essay

How to Write an Poem Analysis Essay (AP Lit FRQ 1)

How to Frame Quotations or Embed Evidence

Figurative Language Stations

This 60-page EDITABLE unit has everything you'll need for profoundly stimulating lessons on Octavia Butler's Kindred!! Invite your class to engage in student-driven discussions without compromising on intellectual rigor. The daily quizzes, discussion prompts, and writing assignment will challenge your students to dig beneath the surface of the text and unlock profound interpretive insights!

Hold your students accountable for completing the nightly homework by beginning every class with a quick vocabulary and reading quiz. Challenge students to explicate textual details using a wide range of interpretive lenses: formalist, historicist, feminist, psychoanalytic, etc. Facilitate dynamic discussions that inspire students to arrive at a whole new depth of insight!!

Everything you’ll need to teach the novel is included in this bundle:

• Unit & Pacing Guide: Suggestions for how to pace the reading homework and organize the classwork for Octavia Butler's Kindred. (2 pages)

• Author Introduction: A brief summary of the life of Octavia Butler and the research that she conducted before writing Kindred. (1 page)

• Discussion Questions: Sixteen pages of higher-order discussion questions guaranteed to inspire profoundly thoughtful class discussions! This unit features double-sided handouts with 8-10 questions for each of the novel's 8 sections. The discussion questions are the beating heart of this curriculum. They challenge students to build interpretive arguments that require the support of carefully selected textual evidence — leading to keen interpretive insights! Guaranteed to build skills in close reading and critical reasoning! (16 pages)

• Quick Writes: A "quick write" can be used at any time in a class to get students to pause and reflect on the text in writing. Introduce a quick write before you begin a discussion to allow your more reticent students to collect their thoughts. Or roll one out toward the end of a discussion to let students capture and refine their best ideas. (8 pages)

• Vocabulary Lists: Lists of 10-12 vocabulary words to accompany every nightly reading assignment. Every vocabulary word comes with a definition and a sample sentence with the word as used in Kindred. A total of over 100 words. (8 pages)

• Vocabulary & Reading Quizzes: Build students’ vocabularies while holding them accountable for the nightly reading homework. Each quiz contains 7 questions on vocabulary words plus another 3 questions on reading comprehension. Grading these quizzes is simple and quick. They’re an easy way to log up to 8 grades in your gradebook. Answer key provided. (16 pages)

• Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on Butler’s wonderfully complex novel. Let students choose amongst 5 profoundly thought-provoking sample topics — or invite them to develop an original topic of their own. (2 pages)

• Poetry Pairings: Seven thematically relevant poems by two exceptionally talented black women poets, Lucille Clifton and Natasha Trethewey. (7 pages)

This unit is filled with dozens of visual images that shed light on important scenes from Octavia Butler's novel: documentary photographs of antebellum plantations, excerpts from Butler's handwritten drafts and journals, paintings of biblical figures referenced in the novel, etc. But what really distinguishes this curriculum is how the discussion starters and writing prompts deepen students' thinking and help them arrive at profound interpretive insights!

This resource packet will come to you in two separate formats: Word docs *and* PDFs. Because the Word docs are fully editable, you'll be able to customize the materials to suit your teaching style and/or the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access the entire unit as PDFs, which are easy to navigate and quick to print!

Because I believe that teachers should be able to see what they'd be getting before they purchase, the preview for this resource provides direct access to dozens of actual pages from the unit. Click on the green “preview” button to see exactly what you’ll get....

Thank you for choosing “Rigorous Resources”!!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Don't forget to click “follow” for email updates on new products by Rigorous Resources. New products will be 50% OFF for the first 24 hours!

Rigorous Resources is your one-stop shop for resources on American literature. Feel free to check out these complete units on canonical texts by diverse American authors:

Complete Unit on Tommy Orange's There There

Complete Unit on Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Complete Unit on Frederick Douglass's Narrative

Complete Unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Complete Unit on Nella Larsen's Passing

Complete Unit on Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

Complete Unit on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

Complete Unit on Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Complete Unit on Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese

NEW IN 2020: Rigorous! Thought-provoking! Discussion-based! This 80-page EDITABLE unit promises to elicit dynamic engagement from all students without compromising on intellectual rigor. Invite your students to engage in student-driven discussions that promise to be profoundly stimulating! The discussion prompts, daily quizzes, short writing prompts, and final paper will challenge your students to dig beneath the surface of the text and generate profound interpretive insights!

Hold your students accountable for completing the nightly homework by beginning every class with a quick vocabulary and reading quiz. Facilitate dynamic discussions that motivate students to become attached to the thrill generating shared knowledge. Challenge students to explicate textual details using a wide range of interpretive lenses: formalist, historicist, psychoanalytic, feminist, etc. Inspire students to arrive at a whole new depth of insight!!

Everything you’ll need to teach the novel is included in this bundle. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Unit & Pacing Guide: Suggestions for how to approach the complex themes and deceptively simple language in Kincaid's Annie John.

• Discussion Questions: Sixteen pages of deeply thought-provoking discussion questions! One 2-page handout containing 6-10 questions for each of 8 chapters. The discussion questions are the beating heart of this curriculum. Every discussion question is grounded in concrete textual details and challenges students to arrive at lucid interpretive insights! The questions could be used to focus students’ thinking prior to beginning a discussion, to foster in-class writing such as stop-and-jots, or to assign written reflections for homework. Guaranteed to elicit student engagement and foster profound discussions!! (16 pages)

• Vocabulary Lists: Lists of 10-12 vocabulary words for every chapter, complete with definitions and sample sentences with the words as used in Annie John. A total of close to 100 words. (8 pages)

• Vocabulary & Reading Quizzes: Quizzes with 10 questions per chapter. Build students’ vocabularies while holding them accountable for the nightly reading homework. Each quiz contains 7 questions on vocabulary words plus another 3 questions on reading comprehension. Grading these quizzes is simple and quick. They’re an easy way to log 8 grades in your gradebook. Answer key included. (16 pages)

• Narrative Writing Assignment: A narrative writing assignment that could be given after students finish reading Chapter 3. This assignment is inspired by the "autobiographical essay" that Annie shares with her classmates. (1 page)

• Analytical Writing Assignment: Challenge students to find connections between quotations excerpted from different parts of Annie John. Then invite students to use those quotations as the basis for building an interpretive argument that is supported by textual evidence. Builds skills in close reading and analytical writing! Student writing sample included. (3 pages)

• Creative Writing Assignment: Invite students to think about the messages they have received about what it means to be a "man" or a "woman." Then, following the example in Kincaid's short story "Girl," have students write a short story about how they have navigated the normative pressures associated with gender. Student writing sample included. (2 pages)

• Short Story Pairings: Read and discuss two short stories that examine how and why young children are socialized into normative gender roles: Kincaid's "Girl" & Bret Anthony Johnston's "Boy." This bundle includes transcriptions of both stories as well as a page of thought-provoking discussion questions on Kincaid's "Girl." (3 pages)

• Poetry Pairing: Wrap things up with the poem that Jamaica Kincaid says "taught me how to write." This poem by Elizabeth Bishop engages with many of the same coming-of-age themes explored in Kincaid's Annie John. The poetry pairing includes discussion questions, answer keys, and a quiz on poetic devices. (10 pages)

My store is called “Rigorous Resources” because all of the materials prioritize rigorous content over decorative graphics. Yes, these lessons are filled with dozens of captivating images — maps and photographs of Antigua, paintings of historical events alluded to in the novel, portraits of the author — that shed light on various scenes from Kincaid's novel. But what really distinguishes this curriculum is how the discussion starters, close-reading exercises, and writing prompts are all designed to help student arrive at an abundance of interpretive insights!! . .

These materials will come to you in a single 80-page EDITABLE Word document. Feel free to modify the lessons to suit your teaching style and/or the needs of particular students. The previews for my resources provide direct access to over a dozen pages of actual materials. Click on the green “preview” button to see what you’ll get. .

Thank you for choosing “Rigorous Resources”!!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Don't forget to click “follow” for email updates on new products by Rigorous Resources. New products will be 50% OFF for the first 24 hours!

UPDATED FOR THE 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR: Finally, a poetry unit designed for high-school English that teenagers genuinely love!! Your students' skills in close reading and literary analysis of poems will skyrocket....

The 3-week unit features 60+ canonical poems written by a diverse spectrum of English-speaking poets. The poems and accompanying lesson plans are organized into 12 thematic packets which can be used in sequence over two weeks. That's over 200 pages worth of editable poetry resources!

This unit promises to elicit dynamic engagement from all students without compromising on intellectual rigor. The discussion questions, quick writes, literary device quizzes, and analytical writing assignments will challenge your students to dig beneath the surface of the text and generate profound interpretive insights!!

Here are some highlights from this editable 200-page curriculum:

• Homework Packets with Poems (5-6 Poems per Packet): The 12 homework packets contain a total of 71 poems by a diverse range of award-winning poets such as William Shakespeare, John Keats, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Robert Hayden, Theodore Roethke, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Mary Oliver, Gary Soto, Li-Young Lee, Ada Limón, Elizabeth Acevedo, and others. The poems are collected into ten reading packets that focus on prominent literary devices and themes: 1) poems using sensory imagery, 2) poems using figurative language, 3) love poems, 4) poems on ethical dilemmas, 5) poems on complex parent-child dynamics, and 6) poems on cultural identity. Because teenagers have a lot to say about these themes, the poems will set the stage for your class to have fascinating and profoundly productive discussions!! (75 pages)

• Literary Devices Glossary: A glossary with definitions and examples of the various types of figurative language, imagery, stanzas, and syntactic devices. Many teachers already have a glossary of literary devices, but I'm providing this in case you need one. (2 pages)

• Literary Devices Quizzes: A total of ten quizzes, each with 10 questions about a wide range of literary devices: metaphor, personification, symbolism, imagery, alliteration, etc. Open each class with a quiz to assess whether your students can accurately identify the literary devices used in the poems from the homework packets. Answer keys included. (24 pages).

• Discussion Questions: This bundle features a list of discussion questions for the first poem in each of the homework packets. The discussion questions will ensure that every class discussion starts on a productive foot. Every discussion question is grounded in concrete textual details and challenges students to arrive at lucid interpretive insights! The questions lend themselves to a range of different pedagogical uses: 1) to focus students’ thinking prior to beginning a discussion, 2) to prompt in-class writing, 3) to assign written reflections for homework, etc. Guaranteed to elicit student engagement and foster deep thinking! Answer keys included. (60 pages)

• Quick Writes: The quick writes give students an opportunity to capture and refine the best ideas generated in the discussion. Quick writes can also help reticent students to gather their thoughts so they'll feel ready and eager to contribute. (24 pages)

• Analytical Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on a poem of their choice. The assignment sheet contains detailed instructions for how to generate a formalist analysis of a poem (analyzing how the poem's formal features contribute to its meaning). This kind of formalist analysis is exactly what students are asked to generate on the AP Literature exam! Sample paper included. (15 pages)

This entire resource packet will come to you in two separate formats: Word docs *and* PDFs. Because the Word docs are fully editable, you'll be able to customize the materials to suit the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access all of the materials as PDF documents — which are easy to navigate and quick to print!

My store is called “Rigorous Resources” because all of the resources contain rigorous content that will motivate students to engage in thought-provoking and productive discussions. Thank you for choosing Rigorous Resources.

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

Should you prefer to purchase the poetry units individually, here are links to the five poetry units:

Poetry Unit #1: Sensory Imagery in Poetry

Poetry Unit #2: Figurative Language in Poetry

Poetry Unit #3: Love Poems

Poetry Unit #4: Poems on Ethical Dilemmas

Poetry Unit #5: Poems on Family Relationships

Poetry Unit #6: Poems on Cultural Identity

Store: https://www.TeachShare.com/Store/Rigorous-Resources