"The Cask of Amontillado" Unit Plan

Teaching “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe? Looking for a way to increase engagement? Then this “The Cask of Amontillado” Unit Plan is for you.

A classic tale of revenge, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” has been a staple in secondary English classrooms for years.

This four-day, low-prep lesson plan was designed to help students practice skills such as annotating, irony, suspense and tension, and more.

This “The Cask of Amontillado” Unit Plan contains:

• Teacher notes for a four-day unit plan

  materials list

  CCSS standard(s)

  Links (if applicable)

  pre-reading suggestions

  Whole-class lesson plan independent practice

  exit ticket

• Edgar Allan Poe introduction Prezi presentation: includes a link to the presentation, PDF version, and student notes

• American Gothicism presentation & student visual notes (Note: This information is also available in the Poe Prezi. Use whichever you prefer)

• Vocabulary: Use context clues to determine the meaning of four words. Write a paragraph using the words.

• Full text with wide margins for annotating. Includes annotation instructions/key.

• Full text with guided reading questions for whole-class reading and discussion

• Eight key focus handouts: plot, characterization, suspense & tension, irony, narrator reliability, Gothic elements, and topics & themes

• Three versions of characterization, suspense, and irony handouts:

1. Version A: Includes full quote from the text. Students identify the key focus and complete the exercise.
2. Version B: Includes a longer excerpt from the text. Students identify the example of the key focus skill prior to completing the task.
3. Version C: Students are provided with a summary of the skill and a chart. This requires students to return to the text to find evidence of the skill prior to completing the task.

• Visual character analysis pages for Montresor and Fortunato

• Visual summary of the text

• Theme development paragraph: includes scaffolded fill-in-the-blanks version and a blank version

• Multiple-choice quiz

• Answer key