Free 12th Grade Literature Resources

Print these fun bookmarks on colored or white cardstock and provide them to your students. The goal is to challenge the students to read and keep up with the number of books they read. Once they have finished a book, they are to color it to reflect they have finished the book.

You may also choose to laminate and them and have them use a permanent marker to cross out the emoji.

Display your classroom rules with some quotes by a few famous authors such as William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, and Stephen King! Makes a nice classroom display.

NEW IN 2020: Rigorous! Engaging! Thought-provoking! This EDITABLE slideshow will kindle a fascination with Fitzgerald's novel before your students even crack the cover of The Great Gatsby. Open your unit on Fitzgerald's masterpiece with this powerful 41-slide PowerPoint SLIDESHOW presentation on the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald's and the culture of 1920s America called "The Road to Gatsby: A Slideshow on F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Roaring Twenties."

While this slideshow can be downloaded for free, it is meant to be accompanied by a 9-page LECTURE that you can preview and/or purchase for $1.99 by clicking HERE!!

Here's a quick glimpse into each of the four sections featured in the slideshow:

• Part I. The Artist as a Young Man: This section features photographs of Fitzgerald from his childhood in Minnesota, his college years at Princeton, his military training at Camp Sheridan, and his romantic courtship of Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama. Your students will be fascinated by the parallels between Fitzgerald's life and Jay Gatsby's upbringing, military training, and romantic life. After all, it is only because Gatsby is wearing his military uniform — which erases the signs of his class status — that he can get close to Daisy Faye! (13 slides)

• Part II. New York in the Artistic Imagination: This section features photographs and paintings of the rapidly changing skyline of New York in the 1920s. Photographs by Alfred Stiegliz reveal how 5-story brownstones were replaced by 50-story skyscrapers. Paintings by Georgia O'Keefe and Howard Thain reveal how the invention of electric lights imbued the cityscape with color and romantic allure. (7 slides)

• Part III. The Characters as Readers: This section will not only prepare students to catch the literary allusions in The Great Gatsby but will get students thinking about what the books that various characters are reading might reveal about their personalities. What does his interest in Horatio Alger's rags-to-riches novels reveal about the character of Jay Gatsby? What does his interest in Lothrop Stoddard's The Rising Tide of Color reveal about the racist and xenophobic views of Tom Buchanan? (7 slides)

• Part IV. Drafting The Great Gatsby: This section features photographs of the mansions and parties that Scott and Zelda attended on Long Island in 1923. It also features Fitzgerald's handwritten drafts of the first and last pages of his novel, a list of the six titles that Fitzgerald rejected (plus the title he actually preferred but requested after the book had gone to print), and the painting by Fancis Cugat that Fitzgerald selected for the cover of The Great Gatsby. (12 slides)

This slideshow will come to you in a 41-slide EDITABLE PowerPoint presentation which you can customize to the needs of your students! The 9-page EDITABLE lecture accompanying the slideshow can be previewed and/or purchased for $1.99 by clicking HERE. (Sellers are only able to upload one document per TeachShare product, so I've had to upload the lecture under a separate product listing. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience). As a bonus for purchasing the lecture, you'll also get a Spotify playlist of the songs that characters listen to in The Great Gatsby.

Thank you for choosing “Rigorous Resources”!!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

Note: This slideshow and lecture also included in my Gatsby MEGA-Bundle. The bundle contains everything you'll need to deliver amazing and comprehensive lessons on Fitzgerald's novel: over 40 slides and over 240 pages of content-rich handouts and activities. If you've already purchased the bundle, you don't need to purchase this slideshow. Thanks!

Click to view the Gatsby MEGA-Bundle

Click to view my TeachShare store

Character traits and analysis fun!

Have some outdoor fun (or use butcher paper for indoors) with sidewalk novel characters! Students choose a character from their novels then do body outlines with sidewalk chalk. Fill these with physical and character traits from quotes within the novel...full directions for implementing and making a competitive game. Can be used with all ages and novels. Excellent for comprehension and assessment.

This is a sample station from my A Sound of Thunder Escape Room! The Escape Room includes 7 stations; this is the one that analyzes Bradbury's use of diction and syntax. Hopefully it will give you a taste of what the whole product is like! Please check it out in a separate listing.

Dive into the timeless world of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders with my engaging PowerPoint Presentation and Note-Taking Sheets!  This FREEBIE is perfect for teachers and students alike, designed to complement your literature curriculum and enhance students’ understanding of the novel.  The PowerPoint slides provide a comprehensive overview of key themes, character analysis, plot summaries, and important quotes, while the accompanying note-taking sheets encourage students to actively engage with the material, track their thoughts, and organize their insights.  Whether used in the classroom or for remote learning, this resource makes studying The Outsiders interactive and enjoyable.

This is a graphic organizer for A Midsummer Night's Dream that helps students to track the highly confusing "love arrows" between the four young lovers. You can give this to students at the beginning of the play and ask them to track the love arrows as they read. My students have told me that this simple worksheet has helped them tremendously to keep the characters straight!

Answer key with brief explanations of arrow changes is also included for your reference.

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⭐ This product is included in A Midsummer Night's Dream Literature Guide ⭐

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Also, check out these great products by Language Arts Excellence to complement your unit on A Midsummer Night's Dream:

⭐ Shakespeare ESCAPE ROOM

⭐Introduction to Shakespeare Powerpoint

⭐Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt

⭐Elizabethan England Differentiated Mini Unit

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Bell-Ringer Prompts

⭐A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay Prompts

⭐A Midsummer Night's Dream Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan

⭐A Midsummer Night's Dream Anticipation Activity

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⭐ Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

*** New Seller please follow, comment, and review if you like these! ❤️***

These Academic Language Scripts are perfect in an AVID classroom setting. It is used to build classroom discussion and improve how students respond to each other during discussion. These are used as questions stems to add to discussion during socratic seminar or philosophical chairs.

*Available in two colors brights and primary colors

This Resource is Great For:

✨Socratic Seminar

✨Philosophical Chairs

✨Classroom Discussion

✨Literature Circles

✨Promoting Critical Thinking

✨Building Classroom Community

✨Student Centered Results

How to Use:

*Print cut in half

*Laminate

*Cut out and Hole punch

*Can be used as bookmarks!

Need Help or Have Questions?
If you have any questions or need assistance with this product, feel free to reach out to me at ashlee@msgamification.com. I'm here to help!

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This product is intended solely for the teacher who purchased it. Please refrain from sharing it with other teachers. If multiple teachers wish to use it, each should acquire their own license. Thank you for respecting these terms and supporting educational resources!

Copyright 2017 ©️ Ms Gamification

Use these book awards to celebrate books you have read this year. Pick out your favorites to highlight from the year. An easy recording system for your favorite books at the end of the year.

Fostering avid readers means consistently presenting books to your class. I have witnessed, first-hand, the power of consistent Book Talks with my students. Book Talks have the power to foster continued love in avid readers and reach even the most struggling readers.
Check out my brand new series of no-prep Book Talk Guides for teachers--starting with this Freebie for Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.

What's Included?

• Teacher Tips and Tricks for successful book talks, including suggested links for book trailers*

• Book Talk Guide, including genre, what kind of students might enjoy each book, and a plot summary

• At least one student book talk response activity

Follow my store and check back as new titles and themed Book Talk bundles will be added in the days and weeks to come!

This four-page handout introduces students to the themes which are most prominent in Mary Shelley's literary masterpiece, Frankenstein (1818). By having your students read and discuss this thematic introduction together, you will have them captivated by the complex questions invoked by Frankenstein before they open the novel's cover.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein asks a series of profound questions about human nature. Are human beings inherently benevolent or malevolent? Are humans better off when they live alone in isolation or when they live together in society? Can the development of modern technology have the effect of transforming human nature?

This handout is part of a larger bundle of Frankenstein resources which includes discussion questions, short writing prompts, vocabulary lists, daily quizzes, and an analytical writing assignment. To view my comprehensive bundle of Frankenstein resources, visit the following link:

https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/Mary-Shelleys-Frankenstein-AP-Literature-3-WEEKS-of-DYNAMIC-Lesson-Plans-5293594

Thank you for choosing "Rigorous Resources"!

Happy teaching,

Adam Jernigan

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!

This lesson was designed to be used on the first day of a year-long 11th-grade American Literature course. The lesson includes a poetry packet with 7 poems by diverse American authors. Each of the poems raises important questions about what "America" represents. A land of freedom and equality? A refuge for immigrants? A diverse and inclusive nation? Or a land with entrenched inequality? A saber-rattling evil empire?

Here is a list of the poems:

1. Ada Limón, "A New National Anthem" (2018) — our new Poet Laureate!

2. Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus" (1883)

3. Walt Whitman, "I Hear America Singing" (1860)

4. Langston Hughes, "I, Too" (1923) — responding directly to Whitman!

5. Claude McKay, "America" (1921)

6. James Lasdun, "The Question" (2012) — is America "good or bad"?

7. Tony Hoagland, "America" (2003)

This resource also comes with a classwork packet that features discussion questions on the poems by Ada Limôn, Emma Lazarus, and Langston Hughes. The discussion questions come on three handouts, each of which contains 7 questions about a particular poem. Each handout also has a quick write where students can answer one of the questions in writing.

How might the concept of "America" represent a set of ideals and promises? Has this nation lived up to its ideals and promises? How might the idea of America be different from the reality?

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. Every unit was designed by a Ph.D. with a research specialization in 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 Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

Complete Unit on Nella Larsen's Passing

Complete Unit on J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

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

This syllabus is for a course on African-American Literature. The year-long course features literary texts by some of the best African-American novelists, playwrights, and poets: Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, Toni Morrison, and more.

The curriculum is organized chronologically and was designed to highlight several important African-American literary and cultural movements: slave narratives, the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Literature, Black Arts Poetry, etc. The curriculum is deliberately diverse in its representation of gender and brings an intersectional approach to the study of literary characters.

In addition, the curriculum features works by African-American authors written in a wide range of literary genres: novels, memoirs, plays, and poems. The daily lesson plans equip students with the terminologies and techniques for analyzing texts written in those different genres.

The units for each book listed on the syllabus can be found via the links below:

• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)

• Langston Hughes, Selected Poetry

• Nella Larsen, Passing (1929)

• Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1938)

• Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poetry

• Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959)

• Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1972)

• Octavia Butler, Kindred (1979)

• Writing Analytical Papers

Rigorous Resources your one-stop shop for top-quality teaching resources on complex literature by diverse authors. Each unit was created by a Ph.D. in English who has taught for 20+ years and published award-winning essays on American literature.

Because this syllabus fully editable, you'll be able to customize this syllabus to suit your own literary tastes and/or the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you have any questions about the syllabus or any of the unit plans, please don't hesitate to get in touch via the email address below. I'm eager to do everything I can to make sure you have an amazing experience with teaching African-American Literature!

Finally, this syllabus will always be free — so please don't hesitate to share the link with your colleagues. If you'd be willing to leave a brief review, I'd be sincerely grateful for your support. I love hearing from the amazing teachers who share a passion for great literature!

Happy teaching,

Adam Jernigan

adamjernigan@gmail.com

UPDATED for the 2024-2025 School Year: This syllabus is for a year-long course in AP® English Literature and Composition. The curriculum features 10 units on works of literary merit written by diverse authors — works which appear frequently on the AP Literature Exam.

Core Texts: The literary texts featured on this syllabus — from Macbeth and Frankenstein through The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God — are guaranteed to motivate high engagement from modern-day teenagers! The curriculum was designed to be inclusive and intersectional with respect to race, class, and gender. Each unit features higher-order discussion questions, frequent writing tasks, literary device exercises, and longer writing assignments which amount to rehearsals of the FRQ essays on the AP Lit Exam.

Skills Objectives: This curriculum focuses on the six "big ideas" — as well as the advanced reading and writing skills — which the College Board has identified as the core components of AP Literature and Composition. It equips students with the terminologies and techniques for analyzing how six formal elements — character, setting, structure, narration, figurative language, and literary argumentation — deepen the content of a literary text.

Organization: The 10 units on this syllabus are organized chronologically, with the various texts corresponding to important literary movements: Renaissance, Romanticism, Modernism, Harlem Renaissance, Postmodernism, etc. But please feel free to re-organize and/or replace the units at your discretion. Because the syllabus is fully editable, you'll be able to customize the materials to suit your own literary tastes and/or the interests of your students — year after year!

Below is a list of the ten units and core texts featured in this AP Lit syllabus. Click on any link to view the complete teaching unit for that literary text....

Unit 1: The Renaissance

• William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1601) or Othello (1603) or Macbeth (1606)

• Stations Activity: Figurative Language in Shakespeare

• Discussion-Based Teaching Toolkit

Unit 2: Romanticism

• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1831)

• How to Write an Analytical Essay

• How to Embed Evidence

Unit 3: Traditional Verse Forms

• The Sonnet: Shakespeare, Keats, Rossetti, McKay, & Angelou

• FRQ1 Practice: How to Write a Poem Analysis Essay

Unit 4: Modernism & the American Dream

• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

Unit 5: The Short Story: Minimalist Realism

• Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants" (1927)

Unit 6: The Harlem Renaissance

• Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1938)

Unit 7: Transnational Fiction

• Jhumpa Lahiri, "A Temporary Matter" (1999)

• Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner (2003)

Unit 8: Contemporary Fiction: Diverse Voices & the Polyphonic Novel

• Tommy Orange, There There (2018)

Unit 9: Modern & Contemporary Poetry

• American Poets: Dickinson, Frost, Hughes, Bishop, & Brooks

Unit 10: Exam Prep

• Figurative Language Stations

• FRQ1 Practice: How to Write a Poem Analysis Essay

If you like this syllabus, you'll love the full-year AP Literature Curriculum — a mega-bundle of teaching resources to get you through the entire school year! The year-long curriculum features over 1,500 pages of printable teaching resources: reading quizzes, higher-order discussion questions, detailed answer keys, and FRQ writing prompts for every book. And it's currently on sale for over 50% off!! Click to learn more about the AP Literature Curriculum!

For what it's worth, every literature unit in my store was designed with rigor suitable for AP Literature. So feel free to assemble a curriculum which features the texts you're most excited about. After all, it's your passions that will prove most inspiring to your students! How about Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1599)? Willa Cather's My Ántonia (1918)? Nella Larsen's Passing (1929)? J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951)? Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959)?

Rigorous Resources is your one-stop shop for top-quality resources on complex literature by diverse authors. Every resource was created by a Ph.D. in English who has taught for 20+ years and published award-winning essays on authors like Sylvia Plath and James Baldwin. If you have any questions about this syllabus or any of the unit plans, please don't hesitate to get in touch. I love hearing from fellow teachers who share a passion for great literature. And I'll be eager to do everything I can to make sure you have an amazing experience with teaching AP Literature!

Happy teaching,

Adam Jernigan

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!

P.P.S. This syllabus will always be free — so please don't hesitate to share the link with your colleagues and friends. If you'd be willing to leave a brief review of this free resource, I'd be sincerely grateful for your support!

This 3-page pre-reading handout introduces students to the most prominent themes in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. By having your class read and discuss this thematic introduction together, students will be captivated by the complex questions invoked in Shakespeare's play before they begin reading the enigmatic first scene.

If you like this 3-page pre-reading handout, you'll definitely want to check out my 200-page Complete Teaching Unit on Hamlet. The complete unit features worksheets on every scene in Shakespeare's longest play. Because the complete unit is both professionally designed and academically rigorous, it is especially well-suited for courses like Honors English and AP Literature.

Wishing you an amazing experience with teaching this complex play. If you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to get in touch. And don't forget to check out the Complete Teaching Unit on Hamlet...

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!

Please check out these complete units on Shakespeare's masterpieces:

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Romeo and Juliet

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Julius Caesar

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Macbeth

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Othello

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Hamlet

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Much Ado About Nothing

INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE: Biography, Globe Theater, Language, & Meter

This 4-page pre-reading handout provides students with important background information for understanding William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. This resource includes a two-page handout on the history of the Roman Republic. The resource also included is a comprehension check and answer key so that teachers can assess whether students have understood important details from the handout.

Learning about the history of the Roman Republic will provide students with the contextual information necessary for understanding certain lines in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. You could have students read this handout for homework before starting the play; or you could have students read the handout aloud together in class before giving them the comprehension check worksheet.

If you like this pre-reading handout, you'll definitely want to check out my 160-page Complete Teaching Unit on Julius Caesar. The complete unit features colorful and engaging worksheets on every scene in Shakespeare's play. Because the complete unit is both professionally designed and academically rigorous, it is especially well-suited for courses like Honors English and AP Lang.

Wishing you an amazing experience with teaching this complex play. If you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to get in touch. And don't forget to check out the Complete Teaching Unit on Julius Caesar....

Happy teaching,

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com

P.S. Remember to “follow” my store to receive 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 complete units on Shakespeare's masterpieces:

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Romeo and Juliet

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Julius Caesar

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Macbeth

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Othello

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Hamlet

COMPLETE UNIT with Workbooks on Much Ado About Nothing

INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE: Biography, Globe Theater, Language, & Meter