Looking at Portraits: Reading Poe

Yes. Make up your mind to use this reading comprehension resource with your readers. You need not be nervous, not even a little nervous. An answer sheet is provided.

Use the guiding questions on this page to fill out the two graphic organizers included in the materials tab. All of the materials focus on character or personality traits and ask pupils to find textual evidence of the traits they...

In this "The Tell-Tale Heart" worksheet, students write an essay about how Edgar Allan Poe keeps the reader in suspense. The worksheet helps students construct the essay through eleven different scaffolding steps.

Scout Finch, the rough-and-tumble protagonist of Harper Lee's iconic To Kill a Mockingbird, learns quite a bit about how the world works as she observes her father's defense of Tom Robinson. Learn more about Scout and her distinctive...

Assign this practice test to your ninth graders reading "Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allen Poe. They examine the characters, the plot line, the mood, and different themes in the text during this 32-question quiz. 

Develop a mystery character using clues from a bag. This engaging activity will help learners understand character traits. They develop a list of the items from the bag, discuss and develop the character with a partner, and create a...

Find the central idea in an except of Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a literary analysis lesson. As your class analyzes a section of the story, they determine how the author forms the central idea with...

Faber, one of the character’s in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 observes, “Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.” As an assessment, ask your pupils to select a quote from their...

Everything you wanted to know about the history of English literature and language but were afraid to ask. From Beowulf to Canterbury Tales, the Knights of the Round Table to Robin Hood, Addison, Fielding, Shakespeare, Swift, and many...

Hearken! And observe how well a literary analysis unit can help ninth graders read closely and connect text structure to a central idea. Focusing on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", learners take notes and track the development...