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Help students connect with literature with this set of bell-ringer writing prompts! For each writing task, students are given a compelling quote and asked to explain the author’s message and the extent to which they agree or disagree with the idea. Then, they’ll support their position, providing reasons and examples from their own life experience, observations of others, or academic studies. The magic happens when students share their answers either in small group or full-class discussion. In that discussion, students will begin to see how the quote relates to many modern life situations. There are several ways you might want to use these slides/handouts in your physical or digital classroom, including: 1. Use as a routine bellringer writing/discussion activity to begin class one day each week. 2. Use the writing prompts whenever a lesson wraps up more quickly than planned or to help fill an emergency sub plan. 3. Use thematically related prompts as a supplement to novel studies. 4. Use as timed writing practice. This collection of 18 slide/handout sets includes words of wisdom from the following: <em>The Picture Of Dorian Gray </em>by Oscar Wilde <em>The Catcher in the Rye </em>by J.D. Salinger <em>Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire </em>by J.K. Rowling <em>The Book of Unknown Americans </em>by Cristina Henríquez <em>The Storyteller </em>by Jodi Picoult <em>Lord of the Flies b</em>y William Golding <em>Dear Martin </em>by Nic Stone <em>Pride and Prejudice </em>by Jane Austen <em>Frankenstein</em> by Mary Shelley <em>Of Mice and Men </em>by John Steinbeck <em>Fahrenheit 451 </em>by Ray Bradbury <em>Paradise Lost </em>by John Milton <em>The Outsiders</em> by S.E. Hinton <em>Beloved </em>by Toni Morrison <em>Children of Blood and Bone</em> by Tomi Adeyemi <em>Dracula </em>by Bram Stoker <em>Extras </em>by Scott Westerfeld <em>Diary </em>by Chuck Palahniuk This download includes: • 18-page PDF of slides you can project in a traditional classroom setting • 18 JPG slide images you can drop into a Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to share in a secured online classroom • 18-page PDF of full-sheet handouts where students can write their answers (They also could use binder paper or a blank MS Word or Google Doc to complete this task.) • 18-page PDF of half-sheet handouts if you’d like students to write shorter answers Five additional slide/handout sets are available here for free in my shop: <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/product/free-response-to-literature-bell-ringer-writing-tasks-quickwrite-warm-ups-ccss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://laurarandazzo.com/product/free-response-to-literature-bell-ringer-writing-tasks-quickwrite-warm-ups-ccss/</a> Download includes: 18 slides + 18 writing sheets (all uneditable PDF) Thanks for stopping by!

Take a challenging poem and it make it far more accessible with these dynamic multimedia materials that will help students build connections between our modern world and the 1817 thoughts of American poet William Cullen Bryant. Romanticism poetry can be tough for today’s teens to master, but linking a poem’s themes to students’ own lives and popular media helps create a much richer experience. These print/post-and-teach materials do just that! This lesson, which will take at least two class periods to complete, includes: • A step-by-step lesson plan with helpful tips and advice. (This lesson could be left for a substitute teacher, too, as everything is clearly explained.) • A Quickwrite topic to hook students’ attention • A 16-slide lecture introducing William Cullen Bryant and providing some historical context of the man's work and his era (Prezi, Google Slides, and PDF versions included) • A single-sheet copy of Bryant’s poem, “Thanatopsis,” with helpful footnotes and space to annotate • Video links to a famous song that also employs the same theme as found in “Thanatopsis” • A handout of close-reading, text-dependent questions for students to answer as a solo assignment or in teams of two • A high-interest informational text article about near-death experiences • A handout of homework or discussion questions to accompany the informational text/non-fiction article • Detailed answer keys for all materials to make grading easy and/or help guide class discussion Download includes: 7-page PDF; 16 slides; Prezi & Google Drive format (all uneditable) Thanks for stopping by!

This single-period lesson on Matthew Arnold’s famous poem, “Dover Beach,” can be taught as stand-alone materials but also works as a supplement to Antigone, <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/product/fahrenheit-451-question-set-analysis-ray-bradbury-pdf-google-drive-ccss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fahrenheit 451</a>, or any British Literature unit/class. You probably remember “Dover Beach” as the poem in <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/product/fahrenheit-451-question-set-analysis-ray-bradbury-pdf-google-drive-ccss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451</a> that Guy Montag reads to his wife as he tries (and fails) to convince her and her friends about the beauty and power of words; let’s help Arnold’s words have a greater impact on our students. This lesson is a must-have for any study of Fahrenheit 451, but the poem also mentions Sophocles and can easily be tied to the Greek tragedy, Antigone. No knowledge of any piece of literature is necessary for students to be able to successfully answer every question in this poetry lesson. This 3-page download  includes: • An attractively designed copy of the public domain poem with helpful footnotes and illustrations. • A separate sheet of 10 questions that will require students to dig into the text and their own minds to find the answers. • A detailed answer key, which will allow for easy grading and serve as a discussion guide as the teacher reviews the answers with the class. Download includes: 3-page PDF + Google Drive version of handouts (uneditable) Thanks for stopping by!

Skip the typical Ray Bradbury introduction lecture and empower students to find their own interesting facts about the <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/product/fahrenheit-451-question-set-analysis-ray-bradbury-pdf-google-drive-ccss/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Fahrenheit 451</a> author’s life with this “Author Bio” print/post-and-teach activity. This single-page worksheet is a powerful research organizer that’ll get students digging deep into Bradbury’s background. Please note: This download does NOT include a specific article or links to defined articles. It is an organizer tool for students to use as they conduct their own research. In my experience, students take more ownership of the material when they are the ones to research and discover the elements that make a literary figure’s life fascinating. They’ve seen enough of our introductory slideshows; this time, let your kids do the work and discuss/determine what they think is meaningful about this author’s life. Here are a few suggested uses for this flexible research tool: 1. Book your school’s computer lab or have students access Ray Bradbury’s biography information on their own devices. Assign students to either work solo or in teams of two. Once the grids are complete, have students share and compare answers in small groups, focusing on the four interesting facts they discovered, the meaningful quote, and the personal/professional obstacle. Then, pull the students into a full-class discussion, having each group present an interesting fact, quote, or obstacle until every team has contributed. No repeats allowed. This assignment works great as an “into” activity, but it could also be a “through” activity to add variety to your in-class routine as you work through a longer work. If you’re using this as an “after” activity, during the discussion I would also ask how any of the biography elements are reflected in the author’s work/s the class just studied. 2. Assign the worksheet as a traditional homework assignment. Launch the discussion mentioned in #1 at the beginning of the next class period. 3. Use the grid as the beginning assignment to a larger project where students must read two or three pieces by this author. Later, this author study could be turned into a compare/contrast essay or a speech presentation, if you wish to expand the assignment. (Author Bio sheets on a variety of different writers are available in my shop if you want to vary speech topics within one class.) 4. Use as an emergency sub plan. I hope you and your students enjoy this activity! If you need an Author Bio worksheet for any author not currently offered in my shop, please send a message to me through the “Ask a Question” tab and I’ll do my best to quickly make that happen. Download includes: 1-page PDF + Google Drive version (uneditable) (Please note: This item is not included in any of my other Ray Bradbury/Fahrenheit 451/science fiction materials. Also, the image on the student PDF worksheet is slightly ghosted to save printer/copier ink. I encourage students to doodle/shade in that space as they work.) Thanks for stopping by! Image credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-light/332925230" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Alan Light, WikiMedia Commons</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">CC BY 2.0</a>.

Use this package of chapter-by-chapter questions as you take your class through Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s compelling true story, Farewell to Manzanar. As we work to pull more non-fiction materials into our Common Core-aligned classrooms, this autobiographical account of life in a Japanese internment camp during WWII is an important title to include. The worksheet questions were designed to pull your students into the Wakatsuki family’s story and inspire them to think deeply about the author’s themes. This packet includes 22 pages of student handouts with detailed short-answer questions covering every chapter of Farewell to Manzanar. A separate 10-page detailed answer key is also included, of course. (A total of 32 pages in PDF format + Google Drive version of student handouts.) In addition to working as homework assignments, the sheets can also serve as small-group or full-class discussion starters, short-answer quizzes, and/or differentiated enrichment. I like to mix-and-match the use of these worksheets to keep things fresh as we work through our Farewell to Manzanar unit. More details on this here: <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/conquering-question-fatigue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://laurarandazzo.com/conquering-question-fatigue/</a> Download includes: 32-page PDF + Google Drive version of student handouts (uneditable) Want to expand your teaching materials for this memoir? Add this compare/contrast activity that examines the opening of this book and a slice of the New York Times best-selling biography Unbroken as one of your opening lessons: <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/product/unbroken-farewell-to-manzanar-compare-contrast-non-fiction-pdf-google-drive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://laurarandazzo.com/product/unbroken-farewell-to-manzanar-compare-contrast-non-fiction-pdf-google-drive/</a> Thanks for stopping by!

Get teens excited about non-fiction with this two-day lesson featuring a compare-and-contrast of two gripping stories from World War II. First, read an excerpt of Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand’s New York Times bestselling biography of Olympic runner and Army Air Corps P.O.W. Louie Zamperini. Then, introduce your students to a family confined to a Japanese internment camp in California’s Death Valley, as documented in Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir Farewell to Manzanar. Don’t have class sets of either book? No problem! The publishers have released free excerpts online of the portions used in this lesson. (Links included on page 1 of the PDF. Just print-and-teach or have kids use their phones/devices/computer lab to access the online material.) After reading the two short pieces, have students complete the question handout, which will require them to dig back into the texts and their own minds to find the answers. A detailed answer key is included to help guide a class discussion as you review the answers on the second day with your entire class. This step is especially helpful to serve as a model for students who struggle with text complexity and analysis. Additionally, a follow-up compare/contrast Venn diagram activity is included, designed to be used on the second day of instruction. Students can complete the handouts either as solo work, small group tasks, or as independent homework assignments – your choice! Designed as a two-day stand-alone lesson, but these materials would also make an excellent supplement/companion lesson for any unit on WWII literature, including: Night The Diary of Anne Frank The Boy in the Striped Pajamas The Book Thief Download includes: 5-page PDF + Google Drive version of handouts (uneditable) Need more materials to take students through a full reading of Farewell to Manzanar? Click here for chapter-by-chapter study questions with detailed answer key: <a href="https://laurarandazzo.com/product/farewell-to-manzanar-japanese-internment-chapter-questions-pdf-google-drive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://laurarandazzo.com/product/farewell-to-manzanar-japanese-internment-chapter-questions-pdf-google-drive/</a> Thanks for stopping by!