Masque of the Red Death, Poe – Close Reading & Literary Analysis Unit

Description

Use Poe’s creepy classic, “The Masque of the Red Death” to practice close reading and other critical ELA skills while teaching symbolism, allegory and imagery.

This 23-page “The Masque of the Red Death” packet of activities and handouts includes:

• Detailed 1-3 Day Close Reading Lesson Plan—enabling students to read with a purpose, extract key concepts, and comprehend at a deeper level

• Copy of the Story—organized with numbered paragraphs for quick reference, so that students can mark up and annotate the text as they read

• Symbolism Activity and Handout—to help students identify and analyze important symbols and their significance.

• Room Symbolism and Source Text Activity—to enable students to analyze the deeper meaning of Poe’s room colors after exploring Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” and the Seven Deadly sins.

• Copy of Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man”—including definitions of challenging terms, so students can analyze and compare source materials to the author’s work.

• Imagery Handout—to help students identify imagery and sensory details, analyzing how they help to create mood.

• Fun Theme and Mood Activity—a creative activity in which students act as party DJ, choosing a playlist that reflects the story’s mood and themes and explaining their selections.

• Reader Response Activity—so that students can reflect upon and write about what they learned, citing evidence from the text

• Detailed Answer Keys—to save you time and generally make your life easier

Common Core Standards Covered:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1 (Close reading and textual evidence)

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2 (Theme and its development)

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.9 (Author source material analysis)

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7 (Analysis of two artistic mediums)

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4 (Word choice and tone)

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.9 (Drawing evidence to support analysis)