I was feeling inspired by the winter and started researching classic poems about the season. What I came to realize is that winter is a polarizing season-- people either love it or hate it-- and writers reflect this in their work. Winter is complex. While the snow and ice bring much beauty, that beauty represents death and destruction. And so, many writers have found winter (as well as spring) to be powerful tools in symbolizing both positive and negative thematic claims. In this unit, I have included TEN poems by classic authors that involve winter in some respect. Some poems use winter to symbolize absence, others age, and still others unity. Five of these poems have a more positive representation of winter while the remaining five have a more negative representation of winter-- however, this is debatable! And that is exactly what students are going to do! Students are to: 1. Annotate the poems using the TPCASTT chart included. 2. Categorize the poems as either having a positive view of winter or a negative view of winter. 3. Debate the view of winter in one or more poems. 4. Write an explication essay on a winter poem of their choice-- sample essays, assignment, and rubric included! 5. Create a group presentation in which they compare/contrast two winter poems of their choice-- assignment and rubric included! 6. Write their own original winter poem along with an explication paragraph in which they explain how they communicate their thematic claim through selected literary devices-- assignment, student sample, and rubric included! This unit is modifiable for students of all levels and can also be shortened into a few days or extended into a few weeks. Teachers can choose which poems and activities to complete with their classes and really delve into this season that brings unity amidst destruction. I have also included my annotation notes for ALL TEN POEMS!!! Use these to guide discussions or to modify lessons for your students. Please note that my annotations do not represent the only possible interpretations of these poems and that my classification of poems is highly debatable!! Common Core Standards are included on the assignment sheets throughout this packet! This is a great unit to target nearly 100% of the Common Core!!

This bundle consists of 15+ multi-lesson activities to get your students involved in analyzing one of the key literary elements: characterization. In fact, all other elements and techniques generally revolve around characterization, so by working with your students to analyze character, they will also be exposed to these other devices. This bundle is divided into two sections: “Series Activities” and “Characterization Quick-picks.” The first section is organized according to a “lead activity” that corresponds to follow-up activities. Each “lead activity” contains a “Teacher Page” that gives instructions and tips for implementation along with the Task, Objectives, Common Core Standards, and an Optional Do Now Activity. Each “lead activity” is followed by a series of activities that are designed to stem from the “lead activity” although several of the follow-up activities can be used in isolation on their own. Each of these “follow-up” activities requires students to further explore characterization and finally to synthesize their findings into some kind of writing or presentation. This bundle is organized by “lead” activities that mostly include the following documents: Teacher Page, Lead Activity, Exploratory Activity, Interactive Activity, and Synthesis Activity (not necessarily in that order). You as the teacher can decide which activities will best fit the needs of your students and your curriculum and use them accordingly. The second section of this bundle contains “Characterization Quick-picks,” which are a series of single characterization lessons that you can use in isolation with any piece of literature or in conjunction with any of the more structured lesson series in section one of the booklet. These “grab and go” activities are particularly useful on those days when you need a quick lesson that is aligned to the Common Core. There are enough activities in this bundle to make characterization the entire focus of your curriculum. Use the multiple times throughout the year with different pieces of literature, or work through each activity as the year progresses. Each of these activities is sold separately in my store. Bundle and save over $15.00! Happy character analysis!

This file contains five separate reading quizzes (one per Act) that consist of 10 interpretation/plot questions each. Students are asked to provide the act, scene, and line numbers for where they find the answers in the text. So, this means that these quizzes are designed to be "open book," but you can also make them closed book as well. They also make excellent group activities, discussion guides, as well as homework assignments. Each quiz includes an answer key with explanations!

I have spent the past TWO YEARS of my life compiling this bundle. No joke! This bundle contains 20 mini-lessons in 22 files/ 200+ pages to help guide your high school English students to success on the Literary Analysis Essay. Writing workshop is the cornerstone of the English Language Arts classroom. As English teachers, we are charged with the task of teaching students how to write effective essays across different modes of writing. One of these modes, the academic literary analysis essay, can present challenges for both teachers and students. How does the teacher identify, scaffold, and assess the skills needed to write a literary analysis essay? And how does the student know where to start and how to organize the writing process? That’s where this bundle comes in. Throughout my teaching career, I have developed a step-by-step guide for writing a literary analysis essay that is practical and easy to follow for both teachers and students. In this bundle, I have compiled 20 mini-lessons that take students through the entire writing process, step-by-step, from reading samples, to brainstorming, to drafting, to editing and revising, and to reflecting. In fact, these lessons are built so that they are reproducible for teachers. You can simply take each mini-lesson and photocopy it for your students to complete as homework and/or in class. To make this guide even more accessible for teachers, each mini-lesson also contains differentiated modifications for you to use as needed, and there are also answer keys and models included where applicable. So, let’s get started! It’s the “write” time. Table of Contents Mini-lesson #1: Student Sample Essays Mini-lesson #2: Introduction to the Literary Analysis Essay Mini-lesson #3: Grading Expectations Mini-lesson #4 The Thesis Statement Mini-lesson #5: Textual Evidence Mini-lesson #6: Putting the Thesis Statement Together Mini-lesson #7: The Introduction Paragraph Mini-lesson #8: The Body Paragraph Mini-lesson #9: Topic & Concluding Sentences Mini-lesson #10: Selecting & Organizing Textual Evidence Mini-lesson #11: Blending Quotations Mini-lesson #12: Crafting Commentary Mini-lesson #13: Putting Together the Body Paragraph Mini-lesson #14: The Conclusion Paragraph Mini-lesson #15: Initial Revisions & Editing for “Academese" Mini-lesson #16: Grammar Editing Mini-lesson #17: MLA Format Mini-lesson #18: Final Revision Forms Mini-lesson #19: Revisiting the Rubric & Final Submission Form Mini-lesson #20: Metacognition Literary Analysis Sample Essay Pack Writing Folder Progress Checklist Teacher Approval Form