"The Pit and the Pendulum" Fun!

The Pit and the Pendulum

By Edgar Allan Poe

Here is a fantastically dark and engaging story to keep 11th graders reading! Pair it up with "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" and you have a winning combo to study with your class!

Spanish Inquisition Power Point

9 slides total with guided notes

 Guided Notes (For Power Point Above)

Analytical Questions

Reliable Narrator Handout (also found at http://www.shmoop.com)

Taken From http://www.shmoop.com

Black Out Poetry Project

Blackout Poetry Prezi by Laura Randazzo

https://prezi.com/0kcwb7gk_la0/blackout-poetry/

"The Devil and Tom Walker"

The Devil and Tom Walker

By Washington Irving

Activating Question

The following question was modified from one I found on the internet. I really found it to be an engaging question that got my non-talkers and non-participators to participate. Also, instead of adding clip art that depicted the normal red devil, I chose one that had a Duke Blue Devil on it. I did this because 1) I knew my husband would be proud and 2) A student in my class is a huge Kentucky fan, and it gave me great joy to rib him a little by inserting this clip art. 

After discussing the activating question, we then read the story (using audio on You tube), stopping to ensure understanding along the way. 

We did not get through the whole story, so their homework was to finish the story, so that we could discuss and analyze the story the following day. To ensure reading, I made a quiz. See below. 

Analytical Questions and Writing Prompt

First Page Preview

Second Page Preview

Fourth Page Preview

Reading Quiz

change the font please...it's so not pretty:)

Benjamin Franklin Fun!

Benjamin Franklin Scavenger Hunt and Background

There are not a whole lot of ways to make Benjamin Franklin introductions fun, but I was determined to at least make a scavenger hunt to accompany a biography sheet that my co-teacher made from the following website. Here is the product. 

Amazingly, students enjoy filling in the blanks. If you make it a race with candy incentives, they like it even better:)

Content taken from http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/ . Content modified and pictures added.