Jack the Ripper. One of the most notorious serial killers of all time. And he was never caught. There are over 100 theories about his identity. If you're looking for a high-interest nonfiction topic to get your students interested in analyzing nonfiction, this is it! This activity has two parts. The first parts takes students through an exercise of identifying tone in a news article written about Jack the Ripper. There are four articles in this part of this lesson that all come from The London Times, late 1800s. (please note that all texts are in the public domain) Each article is followed by a series of three multiple-choice questions written using Common Core question stems. These questions will help students understand the overall message of each article and encourage them to read critically. Students are then to record examples of tone from the articles and label the tone accordingly. Identifying tone will help with part two of this activity series in which students begin to analyze sources for bias. In part two of this activity, students will assess a series of stories about Jack the Ripper all written on the exact same day, all about the exact same grisly discovery of two more female victims. By reading multiple sources on the same event, students will be able to compare/ contrast how each source represents the "truth." After assessing sources for bias, students will evaluate which source is more reliable and present their findings to the class. I have also included FIVE extension activities to use with your students after completing this activity in order to keep your students engaged with nonfiction. ***Please note that there are a couple of paragraphs in this collection that are quite graphic and may be inappropriate for some students. Please censor the articles as you see fit.*** Jack the Ripper is a topic that will keep your students intrigued from the very get-go!

This product contains 26 pages of items to support a unit on nonfiction, or informational texts. You will find graphic organizers to assess the three more common text structures: descriptive, cause/effect, and compare/contrast. These graphic organizers are accompanied by writing tasks that are great tools to use for beginning an essay analyzing a nonfiction text. You will also find question stems to use for your nonfiction unit that include questions about text features, text structures, and rhetorical devices & appeals. These question stems are excellent tools for targeting Common Core skills and for preparing for standardized tests. In addition, there are two graphic organizers for addressing the 5W's of a nonfiction text as well as comparing/contrasting nonfiction texts. Overall, this is an excellent resource to enrich your next nonfiction unit!

This product contains a close reading activity for the "Declaration of Independence." This close reading activity will target comprehension and analytical skills while exposing students to historical non-fiction. Skills assessed in this close reading include: Context Clues Non-fiction Structure & Purpose Rhetorical Devices & Effect Textual Evidence Have your students try it individually and then with a group to compare answers. For teachers in the states still taking the PARCC exam, it is important that students practice reading the diction and style of American "foundational texts" and authors because they are included on the "Simulated Research" portion of the exam. The "Declaration of Independence" can be a challenging read and is accompanied by 18 multiple-choice close reading questions that use Common Core/ PARCC question stems. Answer key included.

This multiple-choice/ matching test includes two pieces of "new material" that connect to the epic poem Beowulf ("The Seafarer" and "Ulysses" by Tennyson), a few historical questions about the Anglo-Saxon Period, a matching section of epithets to characters, a matching section of Anglo-Saxon traits to examples from the epic poem, a series of interpretation/ analysis questions, and a written response/ essay question. This test does NOT test rote memory-- it is a challenging skills application test that is 40 questions long and will truly assess your students' understanding of skills rather than plot. The two pieces of "new material" can be used as taught pieces as well. This test is a great way to align your assessments of Beowulf with the Common Core standards because it involves transferring skills rather than just memorization. Answer key is included!

This pack contains 11 different forms to use in conjunction with a Personal Narrative Unit. It includes mini-lessons on personal narrative skills such as: Show Not Tell Avoiding Cliches and Common Descriptions Writing Attention-Grabbing Hooks Crafting Memorable Conclusions Writer's Voice It also includes a self-revision form and three peer revision activities. This pack will help students write personal narrative essays that leave a lasting impression in the reader's mind.

As English teachers, we ask our students to edit and revise their peers' essays. However, students do not always know how to give constructive feedback. It's important that students are able to give constructive feedback about targeted writing skills while also maintaining the dignity of the writer. This product contains a handout with five tips for writing effective comments during peer revision and coaches students on how to go about giving thoughtful, quality feedback on academic essays in a supportive and encouraging manner. Then, there are "Comment Cards" that are divided according to targeted writing skills that give students a menu of options for giving positive comments and constructive criticism. Students are given models for writing criticism in a way that gives student an editing and revision task instead of simply marking something as incorrect. Writing criticisms as actionable items gives students a clear direction for editing and revising the essay. The Comment Cards are clustered according to the following targeted writing skills: Thesis Statement Introduction Paragraph Conclusion Paragraph Topic/ Concluding Sentences Body Paragraphs Organization Grammar & Punctuation Style & Word Choice Credibility MLA Format Following Directions Evidence Commentary & Analysis Students are also allowed to add their own comments to these cards in order to give themselves a bank of high-quality comment options. The Comment Cards are presented in two formats. The first format presents the comments clustered with their "sister" skills such as evidence and commentary. Following these pairings, each individual targeted writing skill is printed on a page of its own. You can decide how you want to give them to students as part of your writing workshop. These comments can also be used by teachers to give students feedback when they turn in essays. They can be easily converted into a checklist to accompany the essay rubric.

In this PowerPoint presentation, there are examples of literary elements such as theme, motif, plot structure, characterization, etc. from Beowulf as well as examples of literary techniques such as metaphor, irony, hyperbole, etc. Most examples contain direct quotations from the text, and I use this presentation as a means for discussing examples my students have brainstormed themselves. This is an effective summative activity to use as a review before an exam or as a brainstorming guide before beginning the writing process.

This is a series of four challenge activities for a F451 book club. These activities engage students in active discussion and debate within the group and with the entire class. I used these with my freshmen classes and set up the book club groups as teams. Each group formed a team name, and we turned each challenge into a competition that I would score. The winning team or teams would earn points, and at the end of the novel study, the winning team received bonus points on the test. This is a great way to get students involved with literature in a fun, competitive atmosphere. My students ask me all the time when "our next challenge is going to be."

While my students read a piece of literature, I give them "Reading Checks" to hold them accountable for the reading. These questions are not designed to be "tricky" or difficult. They exist only as a means to check whether or not students read the assigned pages; therefore, they are 100% plot questions. I use these questions to make sure students are on the same page (literally) and are ready to move beyond plot into analysis during class activities. As a side note, reading check grades are an excellent way to communicate to parents why a student may be struggling in your class because they will reflect whether or not a student is doing the assigned reading. In this document, I have attached reading checks for a novel study on Fahrenheit 451-- there are 5 reading checks in all (two for Part One, one for Part Two, and two for Part Three). Answer keys are included for EACH reading check!

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

This 57-page pack contains TEN literary analysis essays suitable for grades 9-12 on pieces of literature such as Beowulf, Macbeth, Grendel, Brave New World, among others. Some essays are shorter at 2-3 pages while others are lengthy at 5-10 pages. There are also 2-3 timed writings included. Most essays are in MLA format with a Works Cited page and parenthetical citations. There are enough literary analysis essays here to meet all of your mini-lesson needs throughout the writing process. Find this Sample Essay Pack as part of the Mega Literary Analysis Bundle, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!! A note on copyright: All essays were written and copyrighted by me, so I have exclusive rights to sell my work. I do not grant anyone the right to reproduce or sell my work without written permission.

This product contains ten different revision activities on reproducible worksheets that are ready to print and use with any argument essay: literary analysis, explication, or even persuasive! These revision activities include self-revision as well as peer revision and target skills such as: grammar, commentary, textual evidence, organization, and much more! Find these TEN REVISION ACTIVITIES as part of our Mega Literary Analysis Essay Bundle, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!

This guide to MLA Format contains an explanation of general guidelines along with excerpts from example essays and Works Cited. The final page contains an MLA Peer Revision Activity to guide students through editing for proper format. Find this product as part of the Mega Literary Analysis Essay Bundle, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!

This product contains FIVE grammar editing mini-lessons for the formal, academic essays. They focus on the most common grammatical errors in student writing. These include: COMMA ERRORS SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT RUN-ONS & FRAGMENTS Each mini-lesson includes grammar rules, examples, a short application exercise, and editing task. This is a MUST HAVE for your Writer's Toolbox. Find it as part of the Literary Analysis Essay Bundle and SAVE! Bundle sold separately.

This document contains a characterization essay assignment, the rubric, a group brainstorm/prewriting activity, a sample essay, and an essay revision activity. In all, there are 5 documents attached to this essay assignment that take students through the entire writing process. The essay task asks students to analyze the character Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 according to his physiological, sociological, and psychological traits. Characters, like people, are three-dimensional beings. They are made up of physiology, sociology, and psychology. A character’s physiology entails the physical appearance of that character. A character’s sociology entails a character’s life experiences, involving friends, family, schooling, upbringing, job, education, etc. A character’s psychology entails the character’s behavior. In essence, a character’s physiology + sociology = psychology. This means that a character’s behavior is determined by the character’s physical appearance PLUS the character’s life experiences. So, in this essay, students will use these traits as the outline for the essay and will be challenged to analyze how Montag's behavior changes throughout the novel. Attached to the essay assignment is a rubric that separates each writing skill into its own category, making it easy to give students feedback without having to write many comments. The rubric also shows students which skills they need to improve, and in this way, gives the student individualized feedback. The rubric is very comprehensive and approachable. Overall, this is an excellent writing assignment to assess Common Core Standards using F451.

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!

This Macbeth test contains 50 multiple choice questions that assesses interpretation of key quotes from the play, character motivation, vocabulary in context, literary elements, motifs, and rhetorical appeals. As an optional supplement, there is a written response/ essay portion that you can use along with the multiple choice questions or as a stand alone assessment. This test will measure students' understanding of the play and also assess their close reading skills and ability to construct/ support an argument.

These quote logs contain separate charts to help students organize analysis of plot, characterization, theme, motif, symbol, poetic devices, tragic elements, and conflicts in any Shakespearean play. They are excellent charts for students to use throughout the writing process and also work well in small group or whole class discussions. ***Common Core Standards Attached to each chart along with a Common Core reflective writing activity***

This reproducible sheet contains all of the Common Core College Readiness Standards for ELA for grades 9-12. This sheet is designed to give to students as a handout and put the power of the Common Core into their hands. The sheet contains two reflection questions at the bottom for students to answer. They are to identify the standards for a given assignment and then reflect upon their performance on those standards. This will help make the Common Core a "common" language in your classroom and enable students to track their own progress throughout the year. And, not to mention-- this sheet is a HUGE TIME SAVER for teachers because it makes students responsible for identifying and tracking standards. Give it a try!

In this assignment, students become a modern-day Chaucer and create a stereotype poem based upon a contemporary figure in society. They must write a poem that describes this modern-day pilgrim, including imagery and rhetorical devices, that reveals a clear tone either approving or disapproving of the figure. After creating the poem, students are asked to write a paragraph explanation of their stereotype poem that includes the effect of their rhetorical devices. This is an excellent way to make Chaucer's work relevant to today's society and even an effective writing task for students to complete BEFORE reading Canterbury Tales. Students will LOVE sharing their stereotype poems with the entire class! This assignment includes a student sample of a stereotype poem about politicians as well as a rubric to grade the final product.