Rather than a whodunit, "The Masque of the Red Death" is the perfect story to analyze how Poe combines literary devices to create the suspense that grips readers. The richly detailed lesson is carefully scaffolded, moving from teacher...

Nevermore worry about engaging readers in the works of one of the most famous writers in American literature. An interactive resource will beguile learners fancy into smiling.

Readers will get a peculiar thrilling sensation from this reading comprehension exercise that asks them to identify how Poe uses repetition and sensory language to build tension in his short story, "The Pit and the Pendulum."

Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" and selected images from "Condescending Wonka" are used to help kids recognize the differences between sarcasm and irony. As an exit ticket, class members create their own sarcastic captions for five...

Middle schoolers participate in an engaging, alternative assessment activity: making a silent film of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This project offers them an additional way to demonstrate their mastery of the topic. 

Are your classes weary of dreary worksheets? Are the learners nearly napping? Thrill them, fill them with delight with an interactive worksheet that asks them to identify the figurative language Edgar Allen Poe uses to add horror and...

Poe goes high tech with a lesson that asks high schoolers to use the internet and various apps as they read and analyze "The Masque of the Red Death." In addition to responding to comprehension questions in Quizlet, they use Minecraft to...

Science fiction and horror story geeks will love a carefully crafted video about H.P. Lovecraft. Those new to the Cthulhu Mythos and "Lovecraftian" fiction are introduced to the Great Old Ones, Yog-Sothoth, and Azathoth.

Edgar Allen Poe's writing goes far beyond the familiarity of "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." An intriguing video lesson explores the work, history, and style of the famous Gothic writer. Animations engage viewers in the video, and...

"The Masque of the Red Death" provides readers with an opportunity to research and plan a presentation about a topic related to Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story. 

Readers of "The Masque of the Red Death" create masks, decorate the classroom, and stage a Red Death masque to celebrate Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story.

Terror, mystery, excitement. American writers of the 19th century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson, used these elements to create morally ambiguous tales that challenged the prevailing belief in...

A chilling look of Edgar Allan Poe's works may not be a dream within a dream, but it's certainly a review within a crossword puzzle. Look down and across to find references to "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Black Cat," and "The...

How do Poe's choices of imagery, rhythm and rhyme scheme, and structure help build the desired single effect of "The Raven"? After listening to a dramatic reading of the poem, class members consider whether Poe's choices do create a...

Many and many a year ago Edgar Allan Poe crafted the chilling tale of "Annabel Lee." The poem is the perfect vehicle to introduce Poe's concept of unity of effect, the idea that every element in a poem or story should help to develop a...

How was Edgar Allan Poe able to create "intriguing, memorable, and lasting literature"? To answer this question, learners analyze the syntax, diction, and characterizations in Poe's poems and short stories and compare the impact of these...

Whether the planks hide the beating of a hideous heart, or they break away to the madness beneath, their presence makes itself known in the final lesson of a literary analysis unit. Having gathered textual evidence from "The Tell-Tale...

What happens when a tenuous grasp on sanity begins to slip? Compare Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Emily Dickinson's "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain" with a lesson focused on the development of a common central idea. High...

Rid yourself of unsupported analytic writing forever with a mid-unit assessment focused on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". As ninth graders formulate an essay based on evidence from the first seven lessons in the unit, they...

Listen to the low stifled sound that arises from the souls of your ninth graders when overcharged with awe. Inspire them with a captivating lesson about "The Tell-Tale Heart." Learners analyze how Poe uses the story structure to develop...

When you have made an end of these labors, it may not be 4 o'clock in the morning, but it's still time to work on textual analysis. Study the resolution of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" through the thematic lens of guilt and...

Eager readers have waited a long time, very patiently, for a set of literary analysis lessons that connect text structure to the work's central idea. As ninth graders continue reading "The Tell-Tale Heart," they focus on the central...