Say hello to a platform dedicated to industrious, yet overtasked teachers like you. Say goodbye to countless hours spent developing relevant and engaging ELA lessons. Whether you are teaching the fundamentals of grammar, creative writing skills, classic literature, or contemporary fiction, you will find thousands of activities and assessments to help you achieve a healthier work-life balance without sacrificing academic rigor.
Say hello to a platform dedicated to industrious, yet overtasked teachers like you. Say goodbye to countless hours spent developing relevant and engaging ELA lessons. Whether you are teaching the fundamentals of grammar, creative writing skills, classic literature, or contemporary fiction, you will find thousands of activities and assessments to help you achieve a healthier work-life balance without sacrificing academic rigor.
This summative test covers William Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It and includes an answer key, as well as a standards-based rubric for scoring essays. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. By taking this assessment, students will:
Demonstrate knowledge significant characters and the key aspects of their lives
Demonstrate knowledge of significant events throughout the play
Identify the context of meaningful quotations in the play
Apply knowledge of a variety of literary devices applied in the play including hyperbole, metaphor, oxymoron, allusion, personification, and more
Respond to an essay prompt requiring students to explore the theme of bravery and its effects on a character in the play
Cite relevant textual evidence in support of claims made in an academic essay
Evaluate general reading comprehension and support the development of close reading analysis skills with this bundle of assessments covering chapters 14 and 15 of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Included are the following: a plot-based quiz, a close reading analysis worksheet, and answer keys. These activities eliminate the need for take-home assessment planning without sacrificing rigor in the classroom. Answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. By engaging with these materials, students will do the following:
Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
Examine nuances in words with similar meanings
Discern the greater significance and intended effects of given details
Make logical inferences about the author’s thinking in context
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Consider the symbolism associated with Mazer Rackham
Apply knowledge of literary devices with an emphasis on situational irony
Explore themes in context
With this summative test covering the entirety of the science fiction novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, English teachers will evaluate students’ reading comprehension, essay writing skills, and ability to analyze key aspects of plot. Included are the following: an answer key, standards-based rubric, and test prep study guide. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. By taking this assessment, students will:
Demonstrate knowledge of primary and secondary characters and the key aspects of their lives
Demonstrate knowledge of significant events that take place throughout the novel
Evaluate substantive excerpts for deeper meaning
Apply knowledge of literary devices including allusion, anaphora, dramatic irony, euphemism, foreshadowing, hubris, hyperbole, imagery, invective, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, and verbal irony
Respond to an essay prompt about the protagonist’s isolation, arguing whether he is better or worse off for having been isolated
Cite relevant textual evidence in support of claims made in an academic essay
Support the development of close reading analysis skills for high school with this set of rigorous activities covering the science fiction novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Each worksheet eliminates the need for take-home assessment planning without sacrificing academic rigor. Answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. By engaging with these materials, students will do the following:
Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
Define challenging words and phrases as they are used in the text
Examine nuances in words with similar meanings
Discern the greater significance and intended effects of given details
Consider historical context when answering questions about plot
Make logical inferences about the author’s thinking in context
Discern the tone of given excerpts
Determine the function of a given chapter
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Compare and contrast characters (Ender and Peter)
Apply knowledge of literary devices including symbolism, personification, simile, metaphor, epiphany, pun, foreshadowing, invective, euphemism, allusion, paradox, ambiguity, anaphora, rhetorical questioning, situational irony, verbal irony, and dramatic irony
Explore themes in context
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant textual evidence
Write about literature with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Help students go beyond basic reading comprehension and support the development of high school close reading skills with this set of analysis questions for The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros with emphasis on the vignette titled “Alicia and I Talking on Edna’s Steps.” An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
This resource may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using this resource for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly.
Copyright restrictions do not allow for novel content to be included, so the purchaser is responsible for providing students with the text.
By completing this exercise, students will:
Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
Discern the greater significance of a given detail (“I like Alicia because once she gave me a little leather purse with the word GUADALAJARA stitched on it”)
Explore how complex characters think, behave, develop, and interact
Compare two characters in the novel (Esperanza and Alicia)
Apply knowledge of literary devices including metaphor and paradox
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood lends itself to compelling research opportunities for high school students. This low-prep, standards-based project has students investigate topics related to women’s history and human rights around the world: from America (the Fourteenth Amendment, Equal Pay Act, Equal Rights Amendment, etc.) to Canada (the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, etc.), from the Middle East (Benazir Bhutto, the Taliban’s treatment of women, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, etc.) to Mexico (Laureana Wright de Kleinhans, First Feminist Congress of the Yucatan, etc.). Thirty-nine topics are addressed. Supporting materials—including a detailed scoring rubric—are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Ultimately, students will perform the following tasks:
Articulate connections between a research topic and the assigned text
Conduct research using available resources
Collect and classify reliable sources
Develop successful methods of recording information
Evaluate the credibility of nonfiction texts, taking into consideration readability, date, relevance, expertise, and bias
Apply conventions of MLA formatting
Correctly site resources to avoid plagiarism
Organize information in a cohesive manner, using a note-taking system that includes summary, paraphrasing, and quoted material
Analyze, synthesize, and integrate information, generating a thoughtfully comprehensive report, free of generalities and redundancies
Present information in a formal, coherent manner
For many high school students, humorous fiction, tall tales, and satire are types of literature that maximize interest and engagement. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain is a representative short story with great literary and academic merit. With this rigorous worksheet, learners will be prompted to exercise close reading analysis skills. An answer key and copy of the public domain narrative are included. Materials are delivered in printable Word Document and PDF formats.
This resource may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using this resource for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly.
By engaging with this activity, students will:
Articulate what is stated in the text explicitly and implicitly
Determine the tone of a particular passage
Discern the author’s intent and its effect on readers.
Explore how complex characters think, behave, develop, and interact
Apply knowledge of literary devices with emphasis on simile
Apply knowledge of the elements of satire and tall tales
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about literature with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Promote student choice and facilitate the process of researching relevant topics from beginning to end with this low-prep activity to conclude a unit on The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Students will choose from thirty research topics—addressing ideas such as real-life UFO sightings (the 1947 Roswell incident, the 1997 Phoenix Lights incident, the 2006 O’Hare International Airport incident, etc.), UFO programs and organizations (Project Blue Book, Mutual UFO Network, SETI Institute, etc.), and famous figures in ufology (J. Allen Hynek, John Mack, George Adamski, etc.)—and navigate academically appropriate sources with the goal of teaching their peers about their topics. A detailed scoring rubric is provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Ultimately, students will perform the following tasks:
Articulate connections between a research topic and the assigned novel
Conduct research using available resources
Collect and classify reliable sources
Develop successful methods of recording information
Evaluate the credibility of nonfiction texts, taking into consideration readability, date, relevance, expertise, and bias
Apply conventions of MLA formatting
Correctly site resources to avoid plagiarism
Organize information in a cohesive manner, using a note-taking system that includes summary, paraphrasing, and quoted material
Analyze, synthesize, and integrate information, generating a thoughtfully comprehensive report, free of generalities and redundancies
Present information in a formal, coherent manner
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (chapters 15 through 18). This assessment may also serve as a guided reading handout to facilitate active reading experiences. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
John’s behavior prior to his arrest
John’s confession to Mustapha Mond
The Controller’s comments about censorship
Mustapha Mond’s philosophy on an ideal society
Mustapha Mond’s personal history
The cause of Bernard’s emotional breakdown
The contents of the Controller’s safe
The most important right from John’s perspective
Where John will be isolated
John’s fate
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (chapters 12 through 14). This assessment may also serve as a guided reading handout to facilitate active reading experiences. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Why partygoers are upset with Bernard
How the partygoers express their dissatisfaction
Helmholtz Watson’s personal history
Helmholtz Watson’s comments about Shakespeare
Mustapha Mond’s motivations
John’s confession to Lenina
Lenina’s reaction to the topic of marriage
John’s erratic behavior
The reason for John’s visit to the hospital
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (chapters 9 through 11). This assessment may also serve as a guided reading handout to facilitate active reading experiences. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Lingering effects of the ceremony on Lenina
Bernard’s travels
Bernard’s motivations
John’s nosy behavior
The Director’s insults toward Bernard
John’s reaction to meeting the Director
The crowd’s reaction to watching the interaction between John and the Director
A doctor’s grim prognosis
John’s reaction to his tour
John’s appreciation of Shakespearean drama
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this bundle of plot-based quizzes covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, a dystopian novel. These assessments may otherwise serve as guided reading handouts to facilitate active reading experiences. Answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (chapters 1 and 2). This assessment may also serve as a guided reading handout to facilitate active reading experiences. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Setting
The World State motto
How conformity is perpetuated
Philosophies on maintaining a stable society
The caste system
The distinguishing characteristic of “freemartins”
The objective of sleep teaching
Techniques used to stunt intellectual development
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (chapters 6 through 8). This assessment may also serve as a guided reading handout to facilitate active reading experiences. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Interactions between Lenina and Bernard
The Director’s travelling to New Mexico
Lenina’s reaction to the ceremony she witnesses
How Linda is perceived by others
Interactions between John and Pope
John’s personal motivations
Bernard’s personal motivations
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (chapters 3 through 5). This assessment may also serve as a guided reading handout to facilitate active reading experiences. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Mustapha Mond
Bernard Marx
The friendship between Lenina and Fanny
The name of an emotion-regulating drug
Helmholtz Watson
“Big Henry”
The Solidarity Service
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate take-home assessment planning duties with this plot-based, multiple choice quiz covering the short story “A Journey” by Edith Wharton. A short answer option is also provided for re-assessment purposes. Alternatively, these resources may serve as guided reading handouts to foster active reading habits. Answer keys are included. All materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
The protagonist’s former occupation
The effect marriage had on the protagonist’s life perspective
The husband’s deteriorating health
A doctor’s recommendation for treating the husband’s condition
The reason for the protagonist’s strong dislike of Colorado
The protagonists regrets, worries, and resentments
The passengers’ reactions to the husband’s illness
The protagonist’s reaction to her husband’s death
The protagonist’s dream
The definition of psychological fiction
Interpreting metaphorical language
This Creative Writing project for high school facilitates the process of drafting a first-person short story in the fantasy genre featuring personified dinosaurs who experience conflicts that are relatable to a human audience while incorporating details that hearken back to prehistoric times. An important aspect to this activity is the creation of a distinct voice that is consistent with what is known about whichever species of dinosaur is represented by the protagonist.
Included are detailed, visually pleasing directions; a dinosaur research activity; a comprehensive outline for student planning; peer- and self-editing documents; and a thorough rubric for evaluating final drafts. Materials are delivered in a zip file containing both Word Document and PDF versions.
By engaging with these materials, students will do the following:
Conduct brief, informal research on any three of the following dinosaurs: Alamosaurus, Megalosaurus, Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Deinonychus, Indosuchus, Saltasaurus, Archaeopteryx, Coelophusis, Protoceratops, Albertosaurus, Carnotaurus, Styracosaurus, Borogovia, Ceratosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Dryptosaurus, Noasaurus, Dilophosaurus, Albertaceratops, Saltopus, Iguanodon, Utahraptor, Sinovenator, Gasosaurus, Nemegtosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Segisaurus, Bambiraptor, Ankylosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Camptosaurus, Microraptor, Suchomimus, Hesperosaurus, and more
Apply knowledge of the aforementioned dinosaurs to the process of developing distinct, well-rounded characters
Organize initial ideas in a coherent manner
Engage the reader with a compelling exposition that establishes a prehistoric setting, characters, and conflicts
Use many appropriate narrative techniques (dialogue, dialect, description, pacing, etc.) to enhance a science-fiction plot
Draft a coherent, cohesive, and appropriate narrative that builds toward a particular tone and outcome (a sense of mystery, suspense, etc.)
Use precise words and phrases, active verbs, and sensory language to convey a compelling story
Draft a reasonable and unrushed conclusion that resolves conflicts and conveys a theme
Show mastery of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate take-home assessment planning duties with this plot-based quiz covering The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (book 1, chapters 6 through 10). An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in a zip file containing both Word Document and PDF versions. By engaging with this material, students will demonstrate knowledge of the following aspects of plot:
Effects of the heat ray
The narrator’s interactions with his wife
The reason many news agencies report that Martians are not a true threat
The arrival of a second cylinder
Factors that contribute to the aliens’ formidability
The item rented by the narrator
The narrator’s intentions
The weather conditions
The means by which Martians travel on Earth
A complication that faces the narrator
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate take-home assessment planning duties with this plot-based quiz covering The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (book 1, chapters 1 through 5). An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in a zip file containing both Word Document and PDF versions. By engaging with this material, students will demonstrate knowledge of the following aspects of plot:
Setting
Strange sightings on Mars
The Martians’ intentions
First impressions of the Martians’ ship
General characterization of the narrator
The narrator’s assumptions about the cylinder
The identity of a journalist
Physical description of the alien beings
An apparent complication for the extraterrestrials
Acts of violence
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate take-home assessment planning duties with this plot-based quiz covering The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (book 2, chapters 6 through 10). An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in a zip file containing both Word Document and PDF versions. By engaging with this material, students will demonstrate knowledge of the following aspects of plot:
A reunion with the artilleryman
Characters’ specific fears
An unappealing suggestion for humanity’s survival
The narrator’s judgments about the artilleryman
A theory concerning the aliens’ cause of death
The narrator’s psychological state
Beliefs concerning an alternative location for colonization
Discoveries made at the narrator’s home
The invasion’s effect on humanity in general