The Tell-Tale Heart Activity Bundle
by Language Arts ExcellenceThis resource features a bundle of all of our lesson plans, materials, and activities for Edgar Allan Poe's gruesome tale, The Tell-Tale Heart. Each product is thoughtfully crafted and allows students to think outside the box by delving deeply into the story's themes, characters, vocabulary, and plot development. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. This activity bundle provides more than a week's worth of material to bring the story to life!
Included in this Bundle:
The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide: This product features a comprehensive literature guide for use while reading Edgar Allan Poe's gruesome tale, The Tell-Tale Heart. The activity bundle provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the short story and encourages students to think critically about plot structure, literary elements, perspective, and figurative language within the story. With newly added material like the Snap Chat graphic organizer and Figurative Language Challenge, the wide range of activities in this guide will keep your students engaged and help them to delve into the mind of one of the most notorious unreliable narrators of all time.
The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan: This resource features an anticipation guide for Edgar Allan Poe's chilling tale of murder and mutilation, The Tell-Tale Heart, and a meticulously-explained lesson plan that I believe is the absolute best way to approach a new story. 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 The Tell-Tale Heart and your overall Poe unit. This lesson is particularly useful for Poe's tale which can be difficult for students to understand at first, thus going in with knowledge of themes will help them connect. I am confident that your students will enjoy this thoughtful, engaging activity and beg you to begin reading one of the most notoriously gruesome stories in American literature.
Unreliable Narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart Lesson Plan: This resource features a full-length lesson plan, accompanying materials, and creative writing assignment that asks students to delve into the crazed mind of the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart. Through an engaging "True/Untrue Storytelling" activity, precise mini-lecture on the unreliable narrator, guiding questions, and follow-up assignment, your students will be able to understand the sometimes daunting concept of the unreliable narrator and discuss how a story is affected when told through the eyes of one. This lesson plan opens up a new world for students as they realize that many of the books, movies, and tv shows that they have read or seen in the past may have been influenced by an unreliable narrator. Thus, not only is this lesson important, it is intrinsically fascinating to students and the "oohs" and "aha" moments that tend to arise from the discussion make it a blast to teach! I am confident that you and your students will love this lesson as much as mine have for years.
The Tell-Tale Heart Creative Writing Assignment on Perspective (also included within Literature Guide): This engaging assignment asks students to think critically about the events detailed by an unreliable narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. Did the old man truly have no inkling of the narrator's hatred of him? Did the police officers really "chat pleasantly" as they interrogated the increasingly agitated man? In the assignment, students must consider these questions and more, then write a short narrative through the perspective of either the old man or a police officer at the scene. The assignment is fun but more importantly, it leads to sophisticated discussion about the concept of an unreliable narrator. This is a perfect supplement for any unit on Edgar Allan Poe!
The Tell-Tale Heart Socratic Seminar Materials: A Socratic Seminar (or a "Fish Bowl" Conversation as I like to call them with my students) is a higher order way 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 short stories, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe... with very little preparation required on your end.
The Tell-Tale Heart ESCAPE ROOM: This meticulously-crafted resource features all of the materials you need to conduct a full-length Escape Room for The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task (and it is!), 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. It is the perfect activity for Halloween or any day you want to shake it up with your students without sacrificing learning. 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.
The Tell-Tale Heart 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 Edgar Allan Poe's chilling tale of cold-blooded murder, The Tell-Tale Heart. 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 over 40 questions on plot, literary elements, vocabulary, and figurative language from The Tell-Tale Heart, as well as questions about Poe himself. 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.
The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity (also included within Literature Guide): I created this "Figurative Language Challenge" activity and lesson plan several years ago for my middle school students as they were studying Poe's chilling story of murder and mutilation, The Tell-Tale Heart. Little did I know that it would become the most requested game among my students of all time. This resource includes a meticulously-detailed lesson plan using warm-up, explanation, application, and synthesis, and a one-of-a-kind game that will get your students excited about identifying the copious amount of figurative language that pervades the text. This is the perfect lesson plan for a Friday, on Halloween, or any time you need to amp up the energy in your classroom without sacrificing learning... and of course, it is Common Core aligned!
**BONUS FILE: Intro 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!
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The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide
By Language Arts Excellence
This product features a comprehensive literature guide for use while reading Edgar Allan Poe's gruesome story, The Tell-Tale Heart. The activity bundle provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the short story and encourages students to think critically about plot structure, literary elements, perspective, and figurative language within the story. With newly added material like the Snap Chat graphic organizer and Figurative Language Challenge, the wide range of activities in this guide will keep your students engaged and help them to delve into the mind of one of the most notorious unreliable narrators of all time!
Product Includes:
- Attractive cover page for student packet
- The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
- Vocabulary
- Vocabulary drawing activity
- Comprehension questions
- Freytag’s pyramid graphic organizer
- Literary elements graphic organizer
- Figurative language graphic organizer
- The Tell-Tale Heart Creative Writing Assignment on Perspective
- Snap Chat Story Graphic Organizer
- The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
- Full answer keys for teacher use
While this literature guide is Common Core aligned for eighth grade, it is appropriate for students in seventh-tenth.
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Looking for a fun way to end the study of this tale? Check out:
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart ESCAPE ROOM
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 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 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
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The Tell-Tale Heart Socratic Seminar
By Language Arts Excellence
Socratic Seminar Materials for Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart
A Socratic Seminar (or a "Fish Bowl" Conversation as I like to call them with my students) is a higher order way 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 was created to include everything you need to conduct a structured and formal set of Socratic Seminars in your classroom surrounding The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe... with very little preparation required on your end.
Product Includes:
• Assignment Directions with step-by-step instructions on how to conduct fishbowls in your classroom
• Engaging Introductory Activity for Conversation Building
• 5 Discussion Questions for each “Fishbowl” conversation
• “Fishbowl” Preparation Sheet
• Conversation Builder Prompts
• Observation Sheet
• Rubric
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Check out these great products to supplement your study of The Tell-Tale Heart:
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Creative Writing Assignment on Perspective
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
⭐ Unreliable Narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart Lesson Plan
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 Bell Ringer Journal Prompts
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Crossword Puzzle
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle
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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence
The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
By Language Arts Excellence
This resource features an anticipation guide for Edgar Allan Poe's chilling tale of murder and mutilation, The Tell-Tale Heart, and a meticulously-explained lesson plan that I believe is the absolute best way to approach a new story. 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 The Tell-Tale Heart and your overall Poe unit. This lesson is particularly useful for Poe's tale which can be difficult for students to understand at first, thus going in with knowledge of themes will help them connect. I am confident that your students will enjoy this thoughtful, engaging activity and beg you to begin reading one of the most notoriously gruesome stories in American literature!
Product Includes:
- 2 Page Anticipation Guide with 7 Debate Statements
- "Numbered Heads" Lesson Plan
___________________________________________________________________________
Check out these great products to supplement your study of The Tell-Tale Heart:
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart & The Black Cat Socratic Seminar Materials
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart/The Black Cat Compare Contrast Essay
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 Bell Ringer Journal Prompts
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle
___________________________________________________________________________
Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence
The Tell-Tale Heart Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game
By Language Arts Excellence
This resource features a lesson plan and materials for the Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game, an engaging and competitive way to review Edgar Allan Poe's chilling tale of cold-blooded murder, The Tell-Tale Heart. 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 over 40 questions on plot, literary elements, vocabulary, and figurative language from The Tell-Tale Heart, as well as questions about Poe himself. 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!
Product Includes:
- Comprehensive lesson plan and set-up instructions
- 40+ questions on plot, literary elements, vocabulary, figurative language, and Poe
- 1 blank question sheet to write your own questions
- Signs and materials for game play
This lesson plan is ideal on a day leading up to the final quiz on The Tell-Tale Heart. It is recommended to be used in conjunction with the Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide.
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Check out these great products to supplement your study of The Tell-Tale Heart:
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Creative Writing Assignment on Perspective
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart/The Black Cat Compare Contrast Essay
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 Bell Ringer Journal Prompts
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Crossword Puzzle
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ 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 Black Cat Literature Guide
⭐ The Pit and the Pendulum 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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Unreliable Narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart Lesson Plan
By Language Arts Excellence
This resource features a full-length lesson plan, accompanying materials, and creative writing assignment that asks students to delve into the crazed mind of the narrator of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Through an engaging "True/Untrue Storytelling" activity, precise mini-lecture on the unreliable narrator, guiding questions, and follow-up assignment, your students will be able to understand the sometimes daunting concept of the unreliable narrator and discuss how a story is affected when told through the eyes of one. This lesson plan opens up a new world for students as they realize that many of the books, movies, and tv shows that they have read or seen in the past may have been influenced by an unreliable narrator. Thus, not only is this lesson important, it is intrinsically fascinating to students and the "oohs" and "aha" moments that tend to arise from the discussion make it a blast to teach! I am confident that you and your students will love this lesson as much as mine have for years.
Product Includes:
- Meticulously-crafted lesson plan with objectives, materials, warm-up, explanation, application, synthesis, homework, and extension activity
- Student packet of accompanying materials
- Teacher key for comprehension questions
- “The Tell-Tale Heart” Creative Writing Assignment on Perspective
This activity works well as a part of any Edgar Allan Poe or short story unit. It is assumed that students have read "The Tell-Tale Heart" prior to teaching the lesson.
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Check out these great products to supplement your study of The Tell-Tale Heart:
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart & The Black Cat Socratic Seminar Materials
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart/The Black Cat Compare Contrast Essay
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 Bell Ringer Journal Prompts
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle
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The Tell-Tale Heart Escape Room
By Language Arts Excellence
This activity features an engaging escape room in which students tackle 5 puzzles covering plot, figurative language, literary elements, vocabulary, and quotes from Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart!
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 The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task (and it is!), 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. It is the perfect activity for Halloween or any day you want to shake it up with your students without sacrificing learning. 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 this escape room, students will try to escape out of the insane narrator's house of horrors by solving 5 different skills-based puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.
- In the first task, students must order the plot events of The Tell-Tale Heart on Freytag's Pyramid. Once solved, corresponding letters reveal the first code.
- In the second task, students must identify 7 types of figurative language within the short story. Highlighted boxes in the correct answers will reveal the code.
- In the third task, students must solve a crossword puzzle with questions about literary elements of the story. Circled boxes on the crossword once unscrambled will reveal the code.
- In the fourth task, students must fill in the blanks with vocabulary words from The Tell-Tale Heart. When matched correctly, shaded boxes will reveal the code.
- In the fifth and final task, students must discover the hidden message (a quote from The Tell-Tale Heart) using clues they collected during the first four tasks. When they write them in the correct order on a scroll and bring it to you, they can finally escape the room.
Product 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 supplementary materials 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
Because this is a skills-based escape room, it is perfect for a review of the story before the final assessment.
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Check out these great products to supplement your study of The Tell-Tale Heart:
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart & The Black Cat Socratic Seminar Materials
⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart/The Black Cat Compare Contrast Essay
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 Bell Ringer Journal Prompts
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters
⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle
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