The Masque of the Red Death Lesson Plan: Pre-Reading, Discussion Questions, and Activities

A story about the ultra rich who hole themselves up at a raging party during a deadly pandemic? For better or worse, this story is not quite as far-fetched as we might have thought (or hoped). But how to get students past the over-the-top language of the text so that they can appreciate the perhaps-not-so-over-the-top elements of the story is the real challenge. The key is to build their confidence and understanding piece by piece. For me, this looks

The Cask of Amontillado Lesson Plan: Pre-Reading, Discussion Questions, and Activities

A tale of a cruel murder told by the very man who committed the crime? Yes, please! But the thing about Poe’s classic story is that without the right support, students will rage quit after the first sentence—and justifiably so. An unhinged, delusional narrator who obfuscates his guilt mostly by using overly complicated words and convoluted sentence structures makes for a challenging read for sure. And if students don’t have a way to get past their frustration, they’ll never

Salem Witch Trials Lesson Plans: Understanding the World Behind the Accusations

As the nights grow longer and the leaves fall from the trees, I feel the yearly call of all things creepy and macabre. It’s witch season! But if you’ve spent any time on this blog, you probably already know that few things bother me as much as a cutesy gimmick—especially when it’s being used to teach the government-sanctioned execution of innocent people. Still, I love learning about the dark times of the distant past—especially when it can teach us a

Harrison Bergeron Lesson Plans: Why a Story I Don’t Like Is Still Worth Teaching

To be honest, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s classic short story “Harrison Bergeron” kind of rubs me the wrong way. It feels dated, cynical, and mean-spirited—and the one example of resistance is focused mostly on how physically attractive Harrison and the ballerina are. Harrison tries to dissent, but his rebellion hardly gives students a good example of what to do when faced with an oppressive government. And it ends on a depressing note with people just going along with the status quo.

American Lit. Curriculum: What I Always Wanted to Teach

I have always loved American Literature. It’s just so fresh, exciting, and inspiring—from Gothic horror to contemporary Native poetry, from immigration stories to feminist sonnets, from jazz-inspired poetry to accounts of the witch trials. Yet the more time you spend reading American literature, the more you realize that so much of our greatest writing comes from moments we’d rather forget. It’s a relatively short history, but it’s one full of injustice, cruelty, and just plain shameful acts. So how do

Teaching Ideas for a Great Romeo and Juliet Unit Plan

I love teaching Shakespeare’s over-the-top tale of two teens who get caught up in a death-obsessed, violence-soaked world. Romeo and Juliet is the first Shakespeare play for many students because it feels so relatable. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to teach. The language is hard for students. The story is old. Then there’s the barrier of knowing it’s Shakespeare— and we know how difficult that guy is. Add to all this the pressure of not just getting through

How to Teach Act 3 of Romeo and Juliet: Beyond Plot and Into the Big Ideas

Act 3 is where Romeo and Juliet really starts to speed up—the body count starts to build, the cycle of violence seems unending, and Juliet moves towards the only solution she (thinks) she has to solve her problems. This is also the point in the play where students should be invested enough in the characters and interested enough in the ideas that they don’t need gimmicks to relate or be engaged—and where your role as a teacher shifts from trying

Teaching Shakespeare Sonnets in High School

Personally, I love anything Shakespeare. But I’ve also been teaching long enough to know that just hearing me say “No, I promise, it’s going to be so good!” is not enough to get the average teen to wade into the depth of a his sonnets. Shakespeare’s sonnets are great for teaching for so many reasons—they’re master classes on why humans use figurative language; they’re dense enough to reward close reading without forcing students through chapters and chapters of text; and

Teaching “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson: How to Go Beyond the Twist Ending

When Shirley Jackson first published “The Lottery,” her mother told her in a letter, “This gloomy kind of story is what all you young people think about these days.” It’s been seventy-eight years since that letter, and given the world they have inherited, young people are still thinking about gloomy stories. Yet it’s easy to teach this classic story as nothing more than a shocking twist ending set safely in the past. Whether we like it or not, the question

Teaching Ideas for a Great Hamlet Unit Plan

When you think of Shakespeare’s classic play, you might not think it has much to do with the iPhone-wielding students in your class, but I’ve found that students connect more than you’d expect to the young Dane and the struggles he faces. There are so many great questions to tackle: What happens to us when we die? Do the ends justify the means? Why do we put things off, especially when it matters most? Still, this play is not

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