High School Writing Assessment (by date, oldest first)

Mastering compound-complex sentences just got easier with this comprehensive 24-page resource! Designed for middle and high school students, this packet provides engaging practice that will enhance their understanding of sentence structure. It includes a self-guided "teach" page for independent learning, offering clear explanations of how to craft compound-complex sentences using conjunctions and clauses.

This resource also features 3 interactive Google Form quizzes to assess student understanding and reinforce key concepts. Students will review conjunctions, independent and dependent clauses, and practice combining sentences to create complex ideas—all while building their writing skills.

Perfect for use in class or at home, this set ensures that students can confidently grasp these challenging grammar concepts. Whether you’re preparing students for standardized testing or simply reinforcing everyday grammar, this resource is the perfect addition to your curriculum.

Features:

• 24 pages of engaging content
• Self-guided teach page for independent learning
• 3 Google Form quizzes for interactive assessment
• Review of conjunctions, clauses, and sentence construction
• Ideal for grades 6-12
• Answer Key included

Students practice their editing skills and have some fun along the way! They will all connect with how one comma changes the meaning of a sentence in the funniest way.

19 tweets, signs, and one magazine cover are included in this fun-filled student activity that will have your kids thinking about how they write online.

Editing skills they practice through the activity include:

• Commas
• Apostrophes
• Capitalization
• Appositives
• Run on sentences
• Colons and more!

Check out these other resources!

• ELA Test Prep, Study Guide & Activities Bundle (new)
• All Things English For Middle & High School Students (best seller)
• Once Upon A Crime
• Revising & Editing Workbook
• Revising & Editing for Group Lessons
• Bell Ringers for the Semester
• Everything Writing

This is a prompt for whether or not Shakespeare wrote his own plays. It includes three articles, an outline sheet, and a grading rubric for the essay. This is a great resource for if you are covering essay writing but also doing Shakespeare plays or sonnets before or after.

This is a pdf. If you would like the Google Drive edition which is editable please visit here

***** Check out my other Writing Resources*****

Writing Thesis Statements

Counterclaim and Rebuttal

Writing Graphic Organizers

Interactive Essay Writing Flipbook

Argumentative Essay

Essay prompt and articles :Narcissism

Essay prompt and articles: Hurricanes

Essay prompt and articles: Colonization in Africa

A short 20 question multiple choice quiz. Comes complete with answer key. Easy to administer after teaching sentence structure.

This is a prompt for whether or not Shakespeare wrote his own plays. It includes three articles, an outline sheet, and a grading rubric for the essay. This is a great resource for if you are covering essay writing but also doing Shakespeare plays or sonnets before or after. This product works great in any digital classroom. This is editable in Google Docs. You must have Google Drive to use this product! You may sign up for Google drive for free Visit here for help with Google Drive

Includes prompts for writing informative and argumentative essays. Also includes writing powerpoints, outlines, and rubrics

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 40-page EDITABLE resource will help your students write high-quality Poem Analysis Essays. Learning how to generate a formalist analysis of a poem will enable your students excel on Free Response Question #1 (FRQ1) from the AP Literature and Composition Exam. Because most students find the genre of the Poem Analysis Essay to be new and unfamiliar, the primary purpose of this resource is to provide students with models or exemplars of well-written essays on a wide range of poems. But the resource is also intended to equip you with enough prompts and templates that you'll be able to give your students ample practice at writing Poem Analysis Essays.

Here's what you'll find in this 40-page AP Lit resource:

• Tips for Success: This two-page handout contains detailed instructions for how to generate a formalist analysis of a poem. How do the formal elements and literary devices in a poem contribute to its meaning? What steps should a student follow when annotating a poem from Free Response Question #1? (2 pages)

• Model Essays (Exemplars): This resource features no fewer than 7 model essays that you can use to show your students how to write a Poem Analysis Essay. The model essays provide students with numerous examples of how to write a hook, thesis, topic sentence, etc. The model essays focus on poems by Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, William Stafford, John Updike, Elizabeth Bishop, and Rhina Espaillat. (14 pages)

• Template to Create Your Own Essay Prompt: Use this template to create your own FRQ1 assignment. Just insert any poem that you think is sufficiently complex to warrant a complex written analysis. (5 pages)

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

• Analysis of Trends on Recent AP Lit Exams: This analysis of poems included on recent AP Lit Exams yields several insights that should inform how you construct your literature curriculum. Should you prioritize older poems or diverse authors? Sonnets or free verse? (2 pages)

• Grading Rubric: The rubric includes columns that will enable you to give feedback on each student's thesis, textual evidence, analysis of literary devices, organization of paragraphs, and mechanics. (1 page)

This poetry unit will come to you in a single 40-page EDITABLE Word document. My store is called “Rigorous Resources” because all of the resources contain rigorous content that will motivate students to generate in cogent and insightful essays.

Because I believe that teachers should be able to see exactly what they'll be getting before they purchase, the preview for this resource allows viewing accesses to over 15 pages. 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!

Looking for a final writing assignment on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar? This resource features everything you'll need to lead students through the process of writing an analytical essay about Julius Caesar.

The resource features 5 writing prompts which will motivate students to think with nuance about important themes in the play. The resource also includes scaffolding to help students select evidence, generate an outline, and begin writing. For teachers, the resource features an assessment rubric which can be used to grade and provide feedback on students' analytical writing.

As a bonus, this resource also features a two-page handout on how to embed quotations within an analytical essay. The handout provides students with three techniques for framing textual evidence: the block quotation, the clause-and-colon method, and the integration of short quotations into one's own sentence.

Here's what you'll find in this editable 10-page resource:

• Analytical Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Let students choose from one of 5 thought-provoking sample topics — or invite them to develop a topic of their own. Writing schedule, outline template, and rubric included. (4 pages)
• Framing Quotations: This handout provides students with advice about how to embed textual evidence into a body paragraph. The handout familiarizes students with three different methods for framing quotations: the block quotation, the clause-and-colon method, and the integration of key words and phrases within one's own sentence. (2 pages)
• Outline Template: Provide students with the scaffolding necessary to write a five-paragraph essay. This outline template challenges students to fill in a text box for every part of their essay: hook, thesis, topic sentences, evidence, analysis, and conclusion. (3 pages)
• Assessment Rubric: Evaluate student essays in a quick and efficient manner by using an analytical writing rubric. (1 page)

The entire unit 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 them to match the skill levels of your students year after year. If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to access PDF versions which are easy to navigate and quick to print.

Rigorous Resources is your one-stop shop for top-quality resources on William Shakespeare. Wishing you an amazing experience with teaching the Julius Caesar. If you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to get in touch. I love hearing from fellow teachers who share a passion for great literature! 

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

This product contains 9 thoughtful essay prompts for A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, all perfect for a 5 paragraph essay or a short open response for a test (I have used them in both ways). A detailed rubric is also included.

Here is an example of a prompt:

Although A Midsummer Night’s Dream is categorized as one of Shakespeare’s comedies, much has been written about the darker side of this play including some of terrible ways the characters treat one another. Identify three separate instances in which the play is dark and discuss why each instance could be considered tragic. __________________________________________________________________________________________

Save 20% off this resource when you purchase as part of a bundle of all A Midsummer Night's Dream products by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Activity BUNDLE

__________________________________________________________________________________________

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

⭐ Introduction to Shakespeare Powerpoint

⭐ Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt

⭐ Shakespeare ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Anticipation Activity

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Bell-Ringer Prompts

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Puzzles

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream HOT SEAT!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Social Media Materials

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Literature Guide

__________________________________________________________________________________________

⭐ Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

Are you looking for a highly engaging final assessment surrounding the novel, Monster, by Walter Dean Myers? This week-long project asks students to view the Oscar Award-Winning documentary, Murder on a Sunday Morning, and compare it to the shockingly similar novel. Students love seeing the real-life courtroom action play out and connecting it to the novel they read in class.

Product Includes:

- Assignment Directions

- Viewing Guide for Monster vs. Murder on a Sunday Morning

- Graphic Organizer for Compare/Contrast Essay

- 2 Comprehensive Peer-Review Forms

- 1 Rubric

For this week-long final assignment, there is no preparation needed!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Save over 20% on this resource when you purchase as part of a growing bundle of all Monster products by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐ Monster (Myers) Activity BUNDLE

__________________________________________________________________________________

Also, check out these great resources to complement your unit on Monster:

⭐ Monster (Myers) Anticipation Guide & Lesson Plan

⭐ Monster (Myers) Breaking News Article Assignment

⭐ Monster (Myers) Literature Guide

⭐ Monster (Myers) Quizzes for Entire Novel

⭐ Monster (Myers) Social Media Materials

⭐ Monster (Myers) ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Monster (Myers) Socratic Seminar Lesson & Materials

⭐ Monster (Myers) Literature Guide and Quizzes BUNDLE

This product features an engaging final project that meaningfully incorporates technology in a culmination of your unit on Edgar Allan Poe.

For this final assignment, students will showcase their knowledge of Edgar Allan Poe, his works, and his life by creating brochures using Microsoft Word. Students will love the chance to practice using technology with this project as opposed to writing the same-old same-old essay and if they are like my students, will not even realize how much research and writing they are actually accomplishing with this project.

Product Includes:

• Complete Assignment Directions
• How to Make Brochure Directions
• Scoring Rubric
• Teacher Model including proper Works Cited Page using Microsoft Word
• Pictures of Exemplary Student Examples

This project works for any of the stories you read during your Edgar Allan Poe unit.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Save 20% off this resource when you purchase as part of a bundle of Edgar Allan Poe products:

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle

_____________________________________________________________________________

Also, check out these great products by Language Arts Excellence to supplement 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 Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters

Chilling literature guides to frighten your students for months:

⭐ The Raven Literature Guide

⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide

⭐ The Black Cat Literature Guide

⭐ The Pit and the Pendulum Literature Guide

⭐ The Cask of Amontillado Literature Guide

⭐ The Fall of the House of Usher Literature Guide

⭐ The Masque of the Red Death Literature Guide

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Short Story BUNDLE

___________________________________________________________________________

Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This product contains everything you need to conduct your very own true-to-the-book Choosing Ceremony for Divergent in your classroom! This is one of my favorite activities I do with my students all year as I truly get insight into who they are and what they believe. The Choosing Ceremony will be an emotional challenge for some but very well-worth it!

Product includes:

• Concise, step-by-step directions for three days including how to set up your room on Choosing Ceremony Day
• 5 Faction knowledge graphic organizers
• Comprehensive mock Choosing Ceremony speech assignment
• Formal lesson plan for Choosing Ceremony Day (45-50 min)
• 3 Student examples of Choosing Ceremony speech

___________________________________________________________________________

Check out these great resources to supplement your unit on Divergent by Veronica Roth:

⭐ Divergent Unit Test

⭐ Divergent Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

⭐ Divergent "Silent Conversation" Quote Pass Activity

⭐ Divergent Faction Personality Quiz

⭐ Divergent Fear Landscape Assignment

⭐ Divergent Symbolism Lesson Plan: Tattoos of Divergent Characters

⭐ Divergent Characters Word Search

⭐ Divergent Faction Acrostic Poem Assignment

⭐ Divergent Worksheet Bundle

⭐ Divergent Final Project - Long Lost Sixth Faction

___________________________________________________________________________

Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This 3-page form asks students to specifically rate their performance on the 6 components of effective effort on a given essay: TIME, FOCUS, RESOURCEFULNESS, USE OF STRATEGIES, USE OF FEEDBACK, and COMMITMENT. This product is modeled after teachings from The Skillful Teacher by Jon Saphier, Mary Ann Haley-Speca, and Robert Gower and encourages a growth mindset in students. I provide this form to my students every single time I assign a paper and am always pleasantly surprised at how honest they are in their responses, especially as the incentive for guessing their grade is 2 bonus points! ____________________________________________________________________________ Also, check out this great lesson plan for teaching Effective Effort by Language Arts Excellence: ⭐Effective Effort Lesson Plan ____________________________________________________________________________ ⭐Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

This 3-page form asks students to specifically rate their performance on the 6 components of effective effort on a given essay: TIME, FOCUS, RESOURCEFULNESS, USE OF STRATEGIES, USE OF FEEDBACK, and COMMITMENT. This product is modeled after teachings from The Skillful Teacher by Jon Saphier, Mary Ann Haley-Speca, and Robert Gower and encourages a growth mindset in students. I provide this form to my students every single time I assign a paper and am always pleasantly surprised at how honest they are in their responses, especially as the incentive for guessing their grade is 2 bonus points! ____________________________________________________________________________ Also, check out this great lesson plan for teaching Effective Effort by Language Arts Excellence: ⭐Effective Effort Lesson Plan ____________________________________________________________________________ ⭐Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

Self-reflection is so important for students of all ages and what better time to reflect on learning than at the end of each term? With that in mind, I created this end of term reflection assignment that prompts students to consider all of the meaningful experiences they had for the quarter in my class. My students really get into this assignment and I'm sure yours will too! I've included in this product a model of my assignment and a fully editable template for you - it will only take a few minutes to tweak it and make it your own. Your students will thank you for offering this differentiated assessment! I also included three exemplary student examples. _________________________________________________________________________ Also, check out these great resources that can be adapted for any novel by Language Arts Excellence: Novel Soundtrack Assignment Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials Adaptable for ANY Topic Differentiated End of Term Reflection Activities Book Recommendation Form Differentiated Essay Prompts for use with ANY Novel – FREE!

Now with newly added material!

This resource features a bundle of all of our best-selling lesson plans, materials, and activities for Walter Dean Myer's highly relevant novel, Monster. Each product is thoughtfully crafted and allows students to think outside the box by delving deeply into the novel's themes, characters, and plot development. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. This bundle is all that you need for the study of Monster from basic comprehension and vocabulary acquisition to activities that will bring the novel to life!

Included in this Bundle:

⭐ Literature Guide:

This product features a comprehensive literature guide for use while reading Monster. Monster is such a fun book to teach students about the American justice system while bringing up many moral issues and thoughtful points for discussion. This literature guide provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for Monster and encourages students to play along with the jury as they read. I am confident that it will increase your students' understanding of this spellbinding novel dramatically.

⭐ Anticipation Guide & Lesson Plan:

This product features an anticipation guide and meticulously-explained lesson plan that is in my opinion, the absolute best way to approach a new novel. Using a non-intimidating method called "Numbered Heads", this activity will get your students thinking, writing, conversing, and reporting about themes you will be encountering during your study of Monster.

⭐ "Silent Conversation" Quote Pass Activity:

This product features a thoughtful and engaging activity for use during your study of Monster. Centering around 5 different provocative passages from the book, this lesson provides your students with a chance to think, reflect, and respond to their peers without ever saying a word. This creative approach is a great way to differentiate instruction among your students and allows even your most quiet students to shine. I am confident that this no-prep lesson will become a must-do activity within your unit on Monster!

⭐ Socratic Seminar Lesson & Materials:

Socratic Seminars (or "Fish Bowl" Conversations as I like to call them with my students) are fantastic, higher order ways of assessing whether your students are able to understand and react to your class text. These seminars rely on the power of inquiry and allow students to take the lead in their learning and discussion. The only problem? They require a great deal of preparation. Fortunately, this student-tested resource includes everything you need to conduct a structured and formal set of Socratic Seminars in your classroom surrounding Monster... and no preparation is required by you at all!

⭐ Monster vs. Murder on a Sunday Morning Compare Contrast Project:

This week-long project asks students to view the Oscar Award-Winning documentary, Murder on a Sunday Morning, and compare it to the shockingly similar novel. Students love seeing the real-life courtroom action play out and connecting it to the novel they read in class. It is incredibly relevant for our times and is in my opinion, a "must-do" for your Monster unit!

⭐ ESCAPE ROOM

Salvatore Zinzi and Wendell Bolden are at it again, snitching on their buddies to lessen their own sentences in prison. Except this time, they've snitched on your students! Each one has been accused of being a part of a robbery gone wrong and now they are trapped in a frighteningly dark and dreary jail cell. The only way to escape is by solving 5 different skills-based puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

⭐ Monster (Myers) Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game

This resource features a lesson plan and materials for the Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game, an engaging and competitive way to review Monster. Let's face it, review days can be difficult and boring... so your students will appreciate you making learning fun with this collaborative game. The resource includes not only a meticulously detailed lesson plan and set-up instructions, but 60 questions on characters, plot, and vocabulary from Monster. Besides simple set-up, very little preparation is needed for this lesson and if your students are like mine, they will ask for this form of review for every unit of study!

⭐ Quizzes for Entire Novel:

This resource features 3 comprehensive and thoughtfully-written quizzes for the acclaimed novel, Monster. While Monster is perfect for optimal student engagement and involved discussions on contemporary issues in society, it is also important that students understand what is going on. These straightforward quizzes will make sure that you students understand the plot, characters, and vocabulary of this amazing and relevant novel!

Purchasing this bundle saves over 20% off the cost of all resources.

___________________________________________________________________________

Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

Now with newly added material!

This resource features a bundle of all of our best-selling lesson plans, materials, and activities for Shakespeare's beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each product is thoughtfully crafted and allows students to think outside the box by delving deeply into the play's themes, characters, and plot development. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. Comprehension questions, vocabulary words, and journal prompts for each scene are included so that students may achieve a basic level of understanding of the play, however the real winners in this bundle are the rest of the materials that bring the play to life!

Included in this bundle:

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Literature Guide

This resource features a comprehensive literature guide for use while reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. The packet provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the play and promotes strong reader response by encouraging students to connect and have fun with this highly relatable text! The wide range of activities in this guide from daily journal prompts, illustration activity, and a creative writing assignment to the final essay questions will keep your students engaged throughout and help them to gain a deep understanding of possibly their first interaction with the great William Shakespeare. A full answer key is provided for this guide.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Anticipation Activity

This product features a fun and engaging pre-reading activity for A Midsummer Night's Dream called "Tossing Lines." Give your students a chance to become familiar with the lines before they even begin reading the play. This is a prediction activity that encourages critical thinking and actually gets students excited to start reading Shakespeare! Over the years, this non-intimidating approach to Shakespeare has been the most often requested anticipatory activity that I do with my students.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Bell-Ringer Prompts

One of my goals in teaching A Midsummer Night's Dream is for my students to be able to easily relate to the play. I begin each day with a reflective bell-ringer journal prompt that allows students to connect with the day's scene. These prompts are tried and true and encourage deep thinking from students but more importantly, they allow students to understand the timelessness of the play and Shakespeare in general.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

This resource features lesson plans and materials to conduct a formal set of Socratic Seminars for Shakespeare's most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Socratic Seminars (or "Fish Bowl" Conversations as referred to in this resource) are higher order ways of assessing whether your students are able to understand and react to your class texts. These seminars rely on the power of inquiry and allow students to take the lead in their learning and discussion. The only problem? They require a great deal of preparation. Fortunately, this student-tested resource includes everything you need to conduct a structured and formal set of Socratic Seminars in your classroom surrounding the play... and no preparation is required by you at all.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Social Media Materials

This resource features two fun, interactive activities to bring A Midsummer Night's Dream into the current day! In this 50 minute lesson plan with accompanying materials, your classroom will transform into a real life "tweeter-world" in which students will create tweeter accounts for characters in the novel and interact with one another through their tweeter pages. The Snap Chatter worksheet and assignment is perfect for an engaging homework or sub-plan that your students will look forward to working on and sharing with their friends. Your students will thank you for offering such fun ways to connect with the play and will not even realize how much they are learning by digging deep into the text. Both activities work perfectly for a Friday or any day that students need a mental break and a chance to tap into their creativity!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream HOT SEAT!

This resource features all the materials you need to conduct a thoughtful and engaging "HOT SEAT" for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The hot seat is set up essentially like a talk show, however in order to allow for full class participation, there are multiple interviewers and multiple character guests. Through role play, this lesson tests your students' understanding of the play and allows them to showcase their knowledge of the characters and the relationships between them.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream ESCAPE ROOM

Get ready to have the most fun you'll have teaching with a lesson that your students will be talking about for years to come with A Midsummer Night's Dream 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 Escape Room for A Midsummer Night's Dream. 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!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game

This resource features a lesson plan and materials for the Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game, an engaging and competitive way to review A Midsummer Night's Dream. Let's face it, review days can be difficult... and boring... so your students will appreciate you making learning fun with this collaborative game. The resource includes not only a meticulously detailed lesson plan and set-up instructions, but 75 questions on characters, plot, quotations, and vocabulary from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Besides simple set-up, very little preparation is needed for this lesson and if your students are like mine, they will ask for this form of review for every unit of study!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay Prompts & Rubric

This product contains 9 thoughtful essay prompts for A Midsummer Night's Dream, all perfect for a 5 paragraph essay or a short open response for a test (I have used them in both ways). A detailed rubric is also included.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Puzzles

This resource features 3 fun puzzles that focus on elements from A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is the perfect activity for when a school vacation is coming up and you’re scrounging for lesson ideas or when you need a quick sub plan during your Midsummer Night's Dream unit. I like to use it prior to a break; while so many other classes are watching movies, you have three activities that will keep them busy and challenge their knowledge about the play.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Quote Posters - newly added!

Make your classroom pop with this set of 30 beautifully-made posters featuring quotes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each 7.5 x 7.5 (square) PDF poster contains a noteworthy quote from the play imposed over a stunning photograph that will spruce up your ELA classroom. The square format is reminiscent of Instagram and makes for an eye-catching arrangement on your wall or bulletin board. I suggest laminating the posters and using them not just during your Macbeth unit, but all year long!

Buying this bundle saves OVER 20% off the price of these resources.

__________________________________________________________________________________

⭐ Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

**Now with newly added material!**

This resource features a bundle of all of our best-selling lesson plans, materials, and activities for your unit on the Master of Suspense, Edgar Allan Poe. Resources perfectly complement any of Poe's twisted tales and can be used to introduce the unit (like the Scavenger Hunt and PowerPoint), throughout the unit (Bell Ringers and the Obituary Project), as a review (Escape Room, Brochure, Human Tic Tac Toe Game), and even to decorate your classroom (Quote Posters). Each product is thoughtfully crafted and inspires students to delve deeply into Edgar Allan Poe's life and works. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. You will not find tedious lists of comprehension questions and vocabulary words in this bundle; instead you will find materials that will make Edgar Allan Poe relevant in the eyes of your students and bring the Father of Horror back to life!

Included in this Bundle:

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe PowerPoint

This product features a highly-engaging introductory PowerPoint Presentation for the Father of Horror himself, Edgar Allan Poe. A unit of study on Poe is not complete without learning the gory and heartbreaking details of his life and what made him into the master poet and writer whom we continue to marvel at today. This 20-slide powerpoint runs through his tragic family life and childhood, relationships, early occupations (before he was the Poe that you know), synopses of some of his most famous works, death theories, and current pop culture references. It concludes with a 10 question quiz to see how well students listened... and trust me, they will be hanging on your every word! This powerpoint encourages class participation, is fully editable to suit your class' needs, and lasts about 30-40 minutes to run through. I suggest presenting this on the very first day of your unit on Edgar Allan Poe. Enjoy and let the horror begin!

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe Scavenger Hunt

This resource features a comprehensive introduction to the life and times of Edgar Allan Poe. Students will be shocked to learn some of the gruesome details of his life. The scavenger hunt includes 15 questions about Poe, a full answer key, and links for credible websites to use to find the information.

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Bell Ringer Journal Prompts

This resource features a set of 20 reader response journal prompts for use during your unit on Edgar Allan Poe. Each bell ringer is comprised of a quote from the Master of Suspense himself and a thoughtfully crafted question that encourages students to personally connect and appreciate the timelessness of his musings. Prompts can be used as bell-ringers (most popular and mean the first 5 minutes of every class for more than a month are planned for you!), exit tickets, stations, full class or small group discussion questions, for homework, task cards, sub plans, as a filler activity… the possibilities are endless!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM

Get ready to have the most fun you'll have teaching with a lesson that your students will be talking about for years to come with the Edgar Allan Poe 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 Escape Room on the Father of Horror himself. 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!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure - Final Project

This product features an engaging final project that meaningfully incorporates technology in a culmination of your unit on Edgar Allan Poe. For this final assignment, students will showcase their knowledge of Edgar Allan Poe, his works, and his life by creating brochures using Microsoft Word. Students will love the chance to practice using technology with this project as opposed to writing the same-old same-old essay and if they are like my students, will not even realize how much research and writing they are actually doing!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary - Halloween Lesson Plan

This product features an engaging activity that will fit in perfectly with your unit on Edgar Allan Poe or on Halloween. Students get the chance to create the epitaph for the gravestone of one of the most revered authors in American literature. The activity encourages students to be thoughtful with their knowledge of Poe but also to be creative with their inscriptions. This can be done in or outside of class and also works as a great emergency substitute plan during the month of October. To be festive, I love to give this assignment on the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's actual death day, October 7.

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game - newly added material!

This resource features a lesson plan and materials for the Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game, an engaging and competitive way to review the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe. Let's face it, review days can be boring for both teachers and students, so liven them up with this collaborative game. The resource includes not only a meticulously detailed lesson plan and set-up instructions, but 25 questions on the Master of Suspense. Besides simple set-up, very little preparation is needed for this lesson and if your students are like mine, they will ask for this form of review for every unit of study!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters

Make your classroom pop with this set of 25 beautifully-made posters featuring quotes from Edgar Allan Poe. Each 7.5 x 7.5 (square) PDF poster contains a noteworthy Poe quote imposed over a stunning photograph that will spruce up your ELA classroom, especially during Halloween. The square format is reminiscent of Instagram and makes for an eye-catching arrangement on your wall or bulletin board. I suggest laminating the posters and using them not just during your Edgar Allan Poe unit, but all year long.

By purchasing these great resources as a bundle, you save 20% off the cover price of all materials!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Looking for something more specific? We have enough Edgar Allan Poe literature guides to frighten your students for months:

⭐ The Raven Literature Guide

⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide

⭐ The Black Cat Literature Guide

⭐ The Pit and the Pendulum Literature Guide

⭐ The Cask of Amontillado Literature Guide

⭐ The Fall of the House of Usher Literature Guide

⭐ The Masque of the Red Death Literature Guide

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Short Story BUNDLE

_____________________________________________________________________________________

⭐Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

This resource features a bundle of all of our best-selling lesson plans, materials, and activities for Veronica Roth's best-selling dystopian novel, Divergent. Each product is thoughtfully crafted and allows students to think outside the box by delving deeply into the novel's themes, characters, and plot development. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. You will not find tedious lists of comprehension questions and vocabulary words in this bundle; instead you will find materials that will bring the novel to life!

Included in this Bundle:

⭐ Introduction to Dystopia Powerpoint & Crossword

This resource features an engaging, interactive, editable PowerPoint Presentation for introducing or reviewing Dystopian Fiction to your students! The PowerPoint Presentation runs through an entire lesson from warm-up to explanation, application, and summarizer. Also included are 2 pages of "guided notes" so that you may differentiate your lecture for all levels of students. Recently, a fun dystopia crossword puzzle has been added to help reinforce knowledge of the lesson. Since utopias and dystopias are intrinsically motivating for students, this lesson is always a fun one and gets students excited about the upcoming unit on Divergent.

⭐ Divergent "Silent Conversation" Quote Pass Activity

This product features a thoughtful and engaging activity for use during your study of Divergent. Centering around 5 different provocative passages from the book, this lesson provides your students with a chance to think, reflect, and respond to their peers without ever saying a word. This creative approach is a great way to differentiate instruction among your students and allows even your most quiet students to shine. I am confident that this no-prep lesson will become a must-do activity within your unit on Divergent!

⭐ Tattoos of Divergent Character Symbolism Lesson Plan

This powerpoint explores the symbolism behind the character's tattoos. It is a fantastic opening mini-lesson to an activity in which students choose their own "symbolic" tattoos. My students LOVE this activity - just be prepared to share what symbolic tattoo you would get - they WILL ask!

⭐ Divergent Faction Acrostic Poem Assignment

This product contains an assignment for students to create their own acrostic poem for their favorite faction from Divergent. This is the perfect assignment to give after conducting a mock ceremony in your classroom.

⭐ Divergent Fear Landscape Assignment

This resource contains two separate assignments for creating a fear landscape so that you may differentiate among your figurative and literal thinkers. The first is more appropriate for students who can think symbolically (typically end of eighth grade and above) while the second is better suited for your literal thinkers (sixth-seventh grade). No matter which assignment you give, this is an engaging project that will urge students to consider their deepest fears and connect with Tris and her Dauntless friends in Divergent.

⭐ Divergent Mock Choosing Ceremony

This product contains everything you need to conduct your very own true-to-the-book Choosing Ceremony for Divergent in your classroom! This is one of my favorite activities I do with my students all year as I truly get insight into who they are and what they believe. The Choosing Ceremony will be an emotional challenge for some but very well-worth it!

⭐ Divergent Worksheet Bundle

This product includes a crossword puzzle, faction knowledge worksheets, a Freytag's Pyramid worksheet for entire novel, character review worksheet, and full answer keys.

⭐ Divergent Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

Socratic Seminars are higher order ways of assessing whether your students are able to understand and react to your class text. These seminars rely on the power of inquiry and allow students to take the lead in their learning and discussion. The only problem? They require a great deal of preparation. Fortunately, with this resource, the work has been done for you. This packet includes everything you need to conduct a structured and formal set of Socratic Seminars in your classroom surrounding the novel.

⭐ Divergent Final Project - Long Lost Sixth Faction

This project instructs students to create their own faction. They must create everything from faction name, symbol, jobs, and manifesto to a propaganda poster, initiation process and more! This comprehensive project takes students about 1 week to complete. Because it is such an incredibly engaging activity, it truly runs itself and is the perfect way to conclude your study of Divergent.

⭐ Divergent Unit Test

This comprehensive test includes 46 well-written questions: character matching, plot-level multiple choice, faction knowledge chart, vocabulary, and short answer along with full answer key.

___________________________________________________________________________

Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence