American Literature

Salem Witch Trial is another one of my poems that was inspired by my oldest daughter's gorgeous red hair. Salem Witch Trial is the original title of the poem, but at one point I changed the title to Sarah Bright - 1682. Sarah Bright is the name of the teenage fictional girl in the poem. I am curently working on a sequel to the Salem Witch Trial poem titled The haunting of Sarah Bright. I hope you enjoy the poem. I have included an audio recording of the poem for those of you who would rather…

This lesson is designed to be taught near the end of the book. It uses the Prendergast story line in The Devil in the White City as well as the Burnham plot line to analyze author's use of suspense. Included in this document is an activator, lesson materials including teacher's key, and summarizer.

This is an argumentative writing assignment for Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown." Three prompts are given with a quick rubric included. The file is in an editable .doc file so that you can modify your length requirement or tweak the prompts if desired.

This is an argumentative writing assignment for Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown." Three prompts are given with a quick rubric included. The file is in an editable .doc file so that you can modify your length requirement or tweak the prompts if desired.

Use Poe's short story to have students practice ACE questions by writing a statement and supporting it by using textual evidence and their own words. Have students practice paraphrasing to clarify understanding. Reinforce students' understanding of narrative frame and figurative language. Check fo...

Please enjoy four free assignments over this short story from Hemingway. This assignment, formatted like a standardized test, has 12 multiple choice questions over the selection.

An entertaining frame narrative that is useful for teaching students to analyze text for the purpose of understanding character. This lesson includes a side-by-side text and questions for students. The teacher key is formatted the same way. The summative assessment requires students to write a tw...

You can easily incorporate the following RAFTT Writing Assignment into your course work over The Devil in the White City. The assignment is ready to print. Each student chooses the Role, Audience, Format, Topic, and Tone for the assignment making the writing his or her own creation. This assignment ...

A multiple choice over the first two chapters of Larson's creative nonfiction, this activity calls for students to read for meaning and to understand the elements of Realism and Naturalism in American literature. ...

Get the image of a personal response dialectical journal out of your mind! Students are required to make literary responses to selected readings over H. H. Holmes in Erik Larson's book about the Chicago World's Fair. Students will peer evaluate each other's journal entries, using rubrics that are...

Poe's short story is in one column with questions and activities placed in an adjoining column. It is easy to read and easy to follow. ...

A quick write having students think about H.H. Holmes's own words. Works well as a bell-ringer or as a ticket out the door.

A rubric for evidence-based responses to questions. ...

Help your students get to know their classmates by having them complete this activity.

A three-page biography of Hemingway, this product has suggestions but no activities. ...