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 close reading assessment bundle features text-dependent, high-order questions to promote improved reading comprehension and deeper analysis of 1984 by George Orwell. Brief excerpts from the novel are included in accordance with fair use regulations. Answer keys are included, as are Word Document and PDF versions of each resource.
By completing these exercises, students will:
Discern what the text states explicitly as well as implicitly
Define complex words and phrases in context
Determine and analyze the development of key ideas and themes, including the effects of mob mentality
Analyze how the author’s word choices add to the text’s complexity
Apply and articulate knowledge of literary devices and techniques including consonance, assonance, simile, euphemism, onomatopoeia, aposiopesis, and situational irony
Activate background knowledge on Nazi Germany’s treatment of the Jews and articulating historical parallels to the Two Minutes Hate
Conduct brief research to discern and articulate historical parallels to media manipulation and the falsification of records
Analyze textual details to make logical inferences about character fears, behaviors, and motivations
Analyze the emphasis on sports impedimenta and articulate how sporting events promote modes of thinking sanctioned by the Party
Analyze how the description of setting contributes to the author’s warning on the effects of totalitarianism on the masses
Analyze the author’s word choices to discern and articulate how they contribute to the development of plot
Analyze an excerpt to discern its primary function
Analyze the Party’s behaviors to discern and articulate the Party’s motivations
Make logical inferences about the Party’s reasoning for restricting access to razor blades
Identify textual evidence in support of the claim that Syme and Winston have grown desensitized to the brutalities of the Party
Identify textual evidence in support of the claim that Syme is described like an animal
Analyze why the author may have chosen to describe Syme in an animal-like manner
Analyze a brief portion of the passage, which features scare quotes, to discern the author’s intent
Articulate why the proles could pose a formidable threat to the Party
Articulate why the Brotherhood is comparatively and profoundly less powerful than the proles could be
Paraphrase what the narrator means by “[r]ebellion meant a look in the eyes, an inflexion of the voice, at the most, an occasional whispered word.”
Analyze the symbolic significance of reverberating bells and inferring why the author made reference to them in context
Analyze and articulate Winston’s internal conflict(s)
Analyze how Winston is personally affected by the singing of the thrush
Apply knowledge of assonance and sibilance and analyze how literary devices contribute to text complexity
Analyze the characterization of the thrush and compare its situation to that of Winston and Julia, articulating what these characters share in common
Identify textual details that contrast the harshness and abruptness typically associated with totalitarian Oceania
Analyze the significance of weather conditions in terms of the Party’s goals for Hate Week
Analyze textual details to infer the purpose(s) of atrocity pamphlets and the Hate Week theme song
Analyze figurative language (“happy as a lark”) to discern and articulate implied meaning as it relates to Parsons
Articulate what makes it impossible for Winston or any other individual member to take down the Brotherhood
Identify textual evidence to support the claim that Winston admires O’Brien
Compare aspects of the Party’s inner-workings to aspects of the Brotherhood’s inner-workings
Articulate what a passage reflects about George Orwell’s attitude toward rebellion against dictatorships
Articulate the circumstances under which institutions of the past would uphold truth and logic
Articulate the purpose of newspapers and other media, as well as why that purpose is significant
Articulate the consequences of interminable war
Articulate the narrator’s perspective on who the real victims of contemporary war are
Articulate Parsons’s beliefs concerning what makes thoughtcrime so dangerous
Articulate how Parsons evaluates his effectiveness as a father
Identify and explain textual evidence that contribute to Parsons’s pitiful characterization
Articulate how an excerpt illustrates the Party’s success in terms of restricting human emotions and complicating human relationships
Explain why reality only exists in the collective mind of the Party, according to O’Brien
Identify where anaphora is present in the given passage
Identify words, phrases, and details that contribute to Winston’s baby-like characterization
Infer why the author wished to characterize Winston like a child given the context of the passage
Identify textual evidence in support of a claim
Use logic and/or textual evidence to support an argument
Write with logic, clarity, and precision
Help high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and support the development of critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills with this close reading worksheet covering George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Featuring a brief passage about the Party’s definition of reality from Book 3, chapter 2, this activity may be assigned as independent homework or as a collaborative classroom exercise. An answer key is provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. By completing this close reading worksheet, students will:
Read for literal comprehension
Consult reference materials to learn and verify word meanings
Infer the intended effects of the author’s stylistic choices and narrative techniques
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Apply knowledge of literary devices including anaphora and situational irony
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Come to class better prepared to discuss literature
Help high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and support the development of critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills with this close reading worksheet covering George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Featuring a brief passage about the Party’s violent vision for the future from Book 3, chapter 3, this activity may be assigned as independent homework or as a collaborative classroom exercise. An answer key is provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. By completing this close reading worksheet, students will:
Read for literal comprehension
Consult reference materials to learn and verify word meanings
Infer the intended effects of the author’s stylistic choices and narrative techniques
Determine the function of a given passage
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Apply knowledge of literary devices including situational irony
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Come to class better prepared to discuss literature
Support the development of close reading skills with this worksheet composed of challenging questions designed to help high school students analyze George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Featuring a brief passage about O’Brien’s personalized torture techniques from Book 3, chapter 5, this resource saves teachers valuable time at home without sacrificing academic rigor. An answer key is provided. Materials are delivered as printable Word Documents and PDFs.
This resource may facilitate small-group discussions. Through these discussions, students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development, demonstrating an ability to analyze how complex characters transform and advance the plot and themes by applying logic and citing compelling, meaningful textual evidence. They will also evaluate their peers’ reasoning and use of rhetoric to advance claims, clarifying or challenging unclear ideas. Using this resource for structured guidance, students, ultimately, will present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly, concisely, and appropriately, thereby helping their peers comprehend their thinking.
By engaging with this resource, students will:
Analyze what the text conveys both explicitly and implicitly
Apply knowledge of literary devices including onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile
Analyze character behaviors to discern their motivations
Explain the intended effect of a figurative expression
Determine the significance of a given paragraph
Determine the function of the passage
Write with logic, clarity, and precision
Help high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and support the development of critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills with this close reading worksheet covering George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Featuring a brief passage about Winston’s encounter with Julia from Book 3, chapter 6, this activity may be assigned as independent homework or as a collaborative classroom exercise. An answer key is provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. By completing this close reading worksheet, students will:
Read for literal comprehension
Consult reference materials to learn and verify word meanings
Infer the intended effects of the author’s stylistic choices and narrative techniques
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Apply knowledge of literary devices and sound devices including simile, assonance, and euphemism
Explain how a given detail is a symbol for the effects of authoritarianism on the populace
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Come to class better prepared to discuss literature
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 3, chapters 4 through 6, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Winston’s nightmare
Winston’s confession that he still hates the Party
Room 101
Winston’s worst nightmare and O’Brien’s most effective torture technique
Winston’s means of getting out of his torturous situation (betrayal)
A reunion at the Chestnut Tree Café
Winston’s ultimate feelings about Big Brother
News about the war
This bundle of 20 assessments (10 objective versions and 10 alternate short answer versions) measures general reading comprehension and holds students accountable for understanding general plot details about George Orwell’s 1984. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Questions pertain to the following key details:
“Big Brother is watching you”
Setting
Winston’s job
The telescreen and its purpose
The ironic role of the Ministry of Peace
Characteristics of proles
Writing as an act of rebellion
The Party’s efforts to stir up hate
Winston’s feelings toward the Party
Winston as a thought-criminal
Winston’s fear of the Thought Police
The Junior Spies and their job
Public executions of the Party’s dissidents
Winston’s dream involving O’Brien’s voice
Winston’s dream involving his mother
A government purge
Physical jerks
Why it is so difficult to recall one’s childhood
Oceania’s enemy country
Communication via the telescreen
Comrade Withers
The concept of “unpersoning” an individual
The purpose of Newspeak
Understanding Doublespeak
Syme’s intelligence and Winston’s concerns about it
Ironic messaging from the Ministry of Plenty
Winston’s diary entry
The government’s goal concerning sexual behavior
Winston’s ex-wife
Winston’s internal strife
Winston’s assessment on who would best stage a revolt against the government
Winston’s reasoning behind the aforementioned assessment
The logic as to why the proles would not likely stage a revolt
Living conditions
A photograph and Winston’s concerns about it
Winston’s belief on how reality should be determined
Winston’s curiosity about actual history (not the Party-sanctioned accounts of it)
Winston’s fear over being followed
An alternative to the Thought Police’s torture
The irony of Julia’s message to Winston
Analysis of Julia’s comment, " We’re not dead yet."
Hate Week
The prisoner transport
Winston’s reaction to Julia’s very personal admission
Primary influences on Julia’s behaviors
How the government manipulates people into frenzy
Winston’s alarming admission about his ex-wife
The room Winston rents
Julia’s encounter with a rat
The significance of the paperweight
Winston’s imagination as he stares into the paperweight
The expected vanishing of a character
Winston’s reaction to the singing of a prole woman
The hate song and other preparations for Hate Week
Julia’s accusations against the Party
An encounter with O’Brien
O’Brien’s offer to Winston
Winston’s nightmare
Winston’s previous belief that he was responsible for his mom’s death
A flood of memories returning
The Party’s influence on its members
How Winston and Julia are jeopardizing their own safety
Winston and Julia’s desire to join the Brotherhood
An encounter with O’Brien
Winston’s feelings after his meeting with O’Brien
Winston’s 90-hour work week
Oceania’s new enemy
Goldstein’s book
A singing prole woman
“We are the dead”
The picture on the wall and what it conceals
The sudden appearance of troops
A realization about Mr. Charrington
Winston’s imprisonment
A prole woman with the last name of Smith
An imprisoned poet and his crime
Parson’s imprisonment and his crime
Who turned Parsons in for his crime
Winston’s suicidal thoughts
O’Brien’s torture techniques/methods of persuasion
The Party’s efforts to control the mind
Winston’s growing appreciation for O’Brien
The Party’s efforts to eliminate their opposition
O’Brien’s comments about Julia
Room 101
Winston’s efforts to see the Party’s way
Winston’s nightmare
Winston’s confession that he still hates the Party
Winston’s worst nightmare and O’Brien’s most effective torture technique
Winston’s means of getting out of his torturous situation (betrayal)
A reunion at the Chestnut Tree Cafe
Winston’s ultimate feelings about Big Brother
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 3, chapters 1 through 3, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Winston’s imprisonment
A prole woman with the last name of Smith
An imprisoned poet and his crime
Parson’s imprisonment and his crime
Who turned Parsons in for his crime
Winston’s suicidal thoughts
O’Brien’s torture techniques/methods of persuasion
The Party’s efforts to control the mind
Winston’s growing appreciation for O’Brien
The Party’s efforts to eliminate their opposition
O’Brien’s comments about Julia
Room 101
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 1, chapters 7 and 8, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Winston’s assessment on who would best stage a revolt against the government
Winston’s reasoning behind the aforementioned assessment
The logic as to why the proles would not likely stage a revolt
Living conditions
A photograph and Winston’s concerns about it
Winston’s belief on how reality should be determined
Winston’s curiosity about actual history (not the Party-sanctioned accounts of it)
Winston’s fear over being followed
An alternative to the Thought Police’s torture
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 1, chapters 4 through 6, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Comrade Withers
The concept of “unpersoning” someone
The purpose of Newspeak
Examples of Doublespeak
An explanation of Facecrime
Syme’s intelligence and Winston’s concerns about it
Syme’s work
Ironic messaging from the Ministry of Plenty
Winston’s diary entry
The government’s goal concerning sexual behavior
Winston’s ex-wife
Winston’s internal strife
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 1, chapter 1, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
The setting
The nature of the propaganda disseminated by way of the telescreen
Winston’s professional responsibilities
The ironic role of the Ministry of Peace
The significance of Emmanuel Goldstein
The general characterization of proles
How Winston rebels against the government
The Party’s treatment of enemies of the state
And more
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 1, chapters 2 and 3, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Winston’s fear of the Thought Police
The Junior Spies and their job
Public executions of the Party’s dissidents
Winston’s dream involving O’Brien’s voice
Winston’s dream involving his mother
A government purge
Physical jerks
Why it is so difficult to recall one’s childhood
Oceania’s enemy country
Communication via the telescreen
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 2, chapters 1 through 3, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
The irony of Julia’s message to Winston
Analysis of Julia’s comment: “We’re not dead yet.”
Hate Week
The prisoner transport
Winston’s reaction to Julia’s very personal admission
Primary influences on Julia’s behaviors
How the government manipulates people into frenzy
Winston’s alarming admission about his ex-wife
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 2, chapters 7 and 8, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Winston’s nightmare
Winston’s previous belief that he was responsible for his mom’s death
A flood of memories returning
The Party’s influence on its members
How Winston and Julia are jeopardizing their own safety
Winston and Julia’s desire to join the Brotherhood
An encounter with O’Brien
Winston’s feelings after his meeting with O’Brien
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 2, chapters 4 through 6, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
The room Winston rents
Julia’s encounter with a rat
The significance of the paperweight
Winston’s imagination as he stares into the paperweight
The expected vanishing of a character
Winston’s reaction to the singing of a prole woman
The hate song and other preparations for Hate Week
Julia’s accusations against the Party
An encounter with O’Brien
O’Brien’s offer to Winston
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this set of two quizzes covering Book 2, chapters 9 and 10, of George Orwell’s 1984. A multiple choice quiz and short answer option are included. Use one for post-reading comprehension checks, and use the other as a guided reading worksheet or re-assessment opportunity. Answer keys are also provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Winston’s 90-hour work week
Oceania’s new enemy
Goldstein’s book
Crimestop
A singing prole woman
“We are the dead”
The picture on the wall and what it conceals
The sudden appearance of troops
A realization about Mr. Charrington
Help high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and develop critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills with this close reading worksheet covering the short story “And of Clay Are We Made” by Isabel Allende, as translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. An answer key is provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. By completing this close reading activity, students will:
Identify what the text states explicitly as well as implicitly
Utilize dictionaries to ensure knowledge of word meanings
Infer the intended effects of the author’s word choices and narrative techniques
Describe tone in context
Determine the functions of given excerpts
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Apply knowledge of literary devices including foreshadowing, metaphor, personification, situational irony, symbolism, and more
Reflect on what the story implies about the power of the media
Consider themes in context
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Come to class better prepared to discuss literature
Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this plot-based quiz covering the short story “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabel Allende, as translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. The assessment may double as a guided reading worksheet to facilitate active engagement with the text. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following aspects of plot:
The nature of the natural disaster
The age of the trapped girl
The identity of the narrator
Rolf’s career
Means by which people try to help the trapped girl
Rolf’s reflections
Interactions between Rolf and the trapped girl
The narrator’s assessment of Rolf’s condition
And more
Help middle and high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and develop critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills with this close reading worksheet covering the short story “Catch the Moon” by Judith Ortiz Cofer. An answer key is provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. By completing this close reading activity, students will:
Identify what the text states explicitly as well as implicitly
Utilize dictionaries to ensure knowledge of word meanings
Infer the intended effects of the author’s word choices and narrative techniques
Explore the author’s use of punctuation in context
Describe tone in context
Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Evaluate whether the protagonist’s father bears responsibility for his behavior
Activate knowledge of the fairy tale “Cinderella” and compare the titular character to Luis
Apply knowledge of literary devices including epiphany, hyperbole, symbolism, and more
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
Come to class better prepared to discuss literature
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement the short story “Catch the Moon” by Judith Ortiz Cofer. A crossword puzzle, a word search activity, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: ancient, barrio, cementerio, correspondence, decapitate, hijo, hubcap, juvenile, makeshift, metal, relic, and vulgar.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences