Free American Literature Materials(Grade Level)
- Erica Margaret
- Jul 21, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 24, 2025
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The resources in this post are from the one or two years in which I taught American Lit. The handouts were for my grade-level & integrated 11th graders. When I first started teaching the class, it made sense to teach the class by time period, so that is how the materials below are organized. I drifted away from this in later years and I can post those materials when I come across them. For this particular year/blog post, I chose one representative piece for each time period so that we could move through the year at a good clip. We studied "The Sky Tree" for Native American oral myths, Anne Bradstreet for the Puritans, " Ben Franklin for the rationalists, Emerson for Romanticism, Jack London and Frederick Douglass for the realists and William Carlos Williams for modernists. I hope some of these materials are helpful to you.
Beginning of the Year/Introducing the Class
Intro to American Literature via Art handout/Note-taking Guide. After this activity, I had kids write me a letter about which time period they felt they would best connect with based on the activity.
Native Americans (The Sky Tree)
Puritans (Anne Bradstreet)
Rationalism (Ben Franklin)
Romanticism (Emerson)
To introduce Romanticism, I showed kids a clip of Legends of the Falls and went through the below handout.
Below are my handouts and activities for the rest of the unit.
Romanticism Jigsaw. You will need this HOLT Textbook:
Lines from Emerson's "Nature" (Introduction to the language/summary practice)
Emerson "Nature" Summary Sheet (Presentation Prep)
Emerson Nature Passages for Summary Presentations (Divided into 4 sections)
Thoreau Passages w. Vocabulary (You can use these in place of the Emerson passages above.)
Saltwater Buddha & Romanticism
As part of the Romanticism unit, I thought it would be fun to have kids read the book Saltwater Buddha instead of a more traditional piece. Saltwater Buddha is a memoir about a teen who ran away from home and embarked on a quest to learn how to surf. I thought the kids would connect with it...but it was just OK. It didn't excite the kids as much as I thought it would, but I think it could be a good text with some tweaking of my lessons, or for kids who actually live near the ocean and understand surfing.
Vocabulary Definitions for Pages 54-110 of Saltwater Buddha
Realism
Transition from Romanticism to Realism w. Grizzly Man (only a few clips of Grizzly Man are appropriate for the classroom. See this post for clips & times)
Gettysburg Address Analysis w. Graphic Organizer
Jack London "To Build a Fire" Socratic Seminar
Books That Connect to Realism Characteristics
(not necessarily American or from the Realism period)
 |  |  |  |
​A girl learns that her mother has cancer. | ​The story of two girls in early America: one a black slave and one a white indentured servant. | The true story of a young man who burned his cash and walked into the Alaskan wild. | ​A young girl in the Dominican Republic fights for her personal freedom. |
 |
A memoir about a boy who was trained to be a child soldier in Africa. |
Modernism/Harlem Renaissance
"White Space" Article by Gary Lehman (LOVE THIS ARTICLE!)
Modernism Fakebook Assignment Sheet (You will need the HOLT textbook or access to the short stories via Google.)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapters 1-7 Test (no answer key)
Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapters 10-20 Test (partial answer key at end)
Postmodernism
Exams That I Used Throughout The Year
I hope that these free American lit materials are helpful in getting you through a part of the school year.