This product contains a list of topics and related themes for Shakespeare's play Macbeth. Use this list of themes and topics as a springboard for discussions and essays. After students have completed a piece of literature, I have them compile a Topics/Themes list that they keep in their Writer's Notebooks. To do this, they first brainstorm a list of topics and then convert them into theme statements. Then, we share the list as a class. Afterwards, students then select a theme to use as the thematic claim in a literary analysis essay. I do this in lieu of giving my students essay prompts because it taps into their motivation by allowing them the freedom to choose their own essay topics based upon their own interpretations of the piece of literature. It's also an excellent strategy for enabling a more organic writing process. Use this document as a key, or differentiate this activity by giving students the list and allowing them to select a theme for an essay. The Topics/Themes list a versatile tool that is sure to enrich students' interaction with the play.

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 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.

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