Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Analyzing Complex Text
During this activity, students will use close reading strategies to analyze aspects of the setting in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. [7:57] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10, RL.11-12.10a/b Text Complexity
Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center
Wisconsin Rt I Center: Text Dependent Questions [Pdf]
Describes a reading strategy where students must respond to text by supporting their ideas with text-based evidence. Lists different categories of questions the teacher can prepare based on the text chosen, with examples for each.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Nighttime in Texas"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "Flying Blind" and "Nighttime in Texas" are both suspenseful. Question sets are provided for each separately and combined.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "See if I Care"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "I Don't Like Ron Gonzales" and "See If I Care" each have a narrator with a very distinct voice. Question sets are provided for each passage separately and combined.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "World's Greatest Robot" by w.m. Akers
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "Streetcar!" and "World's Greatest Robot" explore the nature of sibling relationships. Question sets are provided for each passage separately and combined.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Field Trip" by Aditi Sriram
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "Partial Eclipse" and "Field Trip" share the theme of astronomy. Question sets are provided for each passage separately and combined.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Whom Does He Look Like?"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "My Three Sisters" and "Whom Does He Look Like?" have the common theme of physical similarities between family members. Comprehension question sets are available for each separately...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Finding Salinger"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "Taken by Surprise" and "Finding Salinger" share the common theme of change. Question sets are provided for each passage separately and combined.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Learning to Skate" by w.m. Akers
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "Brown Onions" and "Learning to Skate" share the theme of father-daughter relationships. Question sets are provided for each passage separately and combined.
Other
Critical Reading: Three Ways to Read and Discuss Texts
Designed to help students think about their reading and writing skills, this page offers three different ways to interpret and discuss texts.
TES Global
Blendspace: E2: Close Reading Rules of the Game
A sixteen-part learning module with links to images, texts, and videos to use while reading "Rules of the Game" from Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club.
Read Works
Read Works: The Life Line
[Free Registration/Login Required] This five-page PDF includes a picture of the painting "The Life Line" by Winslow Homer and text that discusses it. It is followed by 10 comprehension questions. Click double arrows to download, print,...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages:"new Orleans and the History of Jazz "By Loren Schoenberg
[Free Registration/Login Required] This article "New Orleans and the History of Jazz "by LorenSchoenberg focuses on the beginnings of New Orleans and its history of Jazz. A comprehension question set follows the passage. 11-12.3 Text...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Background for the Graphic Novel Persepolis: A Web Quest on Iran
This lesson focuses on students researching and learning about Iran's culture, society, and leadership before and after the 1979 Revolution in preparation for reading the graphic novel Persepolis. Students work in small groups to...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: "Zebra Mussels and the Hudson River"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The information passage "Zebra Mussels and the Hudson River" focuses on the Hudson River ecosystem and how the introduction of Zebra Mussels would impact it. A Step Read, an easier version of the...
Read Works
Read Works: Good Bye to Xochimilco
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a fictional passage about growing up near the canals of Xochimilco and spending weekends watching the bumper car-like traffic jams on the canals. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
Read Works
Read Works: The Legend of the Goddess Tin Hau, or Mazu
[Free Registration/Login Required] This fiction passage focuses on Mazu and her power to guide her brothers to safety from a terrible storm at sea while weaving quietly in her house. Can she save them? A comprehension question set and a...
Read Works
Read Works: Yawn! By Dan Risch
[Free Registration/Login Required] This article is about sleep including how much people need, why some people are not able to sleep, and some tips for overcoming sleeping problems. A comprehension question set and a vocabulary worksheet...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: "First Day Folly"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The passage "First Day Folly" focuses on a pre-teen who is nervous about the first day of middle school. It is followed by a comprehension question set and answer key and a vocabulary worksheet for the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Progress, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Eighteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the industrial, racial, and technological progress of the late-nineteenth century.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Frederick Jackson Turner
This site from the Fordham University contains the introductory text of "The Significance of the Frontier in American History, 1893" by Frederick Jackson Turner.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
Critical analysis of both the historical documents and the literary texts connected with the Salem trials is key to this lesson, which includes a number of activities and some wonderful resources.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Create Reading Accountability
Engaged, accountable reading requires students to interpret, and respond, often creatively. This article suggests several personalized ways to hold students accountable for their reading.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Citizen Leadership in the Young Republic
Lesson on citizen leadership explores the point of view of John Adams on essential qualities of leadership and a new nation. Lesson content includes background, text analysis and Close Reading questions, vocabularyand teacher's notes....