Free American Literature Resources (Grade Level)

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. I hope some of these materials are helpful to you.

Beginning of the Year/Introducing the Class

• Introducing American Lit Class (My 2012 PowerPoint)

• Intro to American Literature via Art PowerPoint

• 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.

• American Literature Time Periods Graphic Organizer

Native Americans (The Sky Tree)

• Native American Literature "Poster" (time period notes in giant font)

• "The Sky Tree" Text

• "Sky Tree" Essay Outline

Puritans (Anne Bradstreet)

• Introduction to the Puritans Activity & PowerPoint

• Puritan Journal Prompts

• Anne Bradstreet Vocabulary PowerPoint

• Anne Bradstreet "Upon the Burning of Our House" Text (I changed some of the lines to make them easier for the kids.)

• Anne Bradstreet "Upon the Burning..." Lesson Notes

• Grading Rubric for Bradstreet Annotations

Rationalism (Ben Franklin)

• Introduction to Rationalism PowerPoint

• Introduction to Ben Franklin PowerPoint

• Ben Franklin Vocabulary PowerPoint

• Personal Credo Assignment

Romanticism (Emerson)

To introduce Romanticism, I showed kids a clip of Legends of the Falls and went through the below handout.

• Introduction to Romanticism Handout

Below are my handouts and activities for the rest of the unit.

• Romanticism Jigsaw. You will need this HOLT Textbook:

• City vs. Country Persuasive Essay

• Romanticism Journal Prompt

• Introduction to Vocabulary in Emerson's "Nature"

• 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)

• Emerson Photo Summary Activity (Presentation Prep)

• Emerson "Nature" Presentation Note-Taking Guide

• Emerson "Nature" Quiz

• 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.

• Saltwater Buddha Vocabulary Matching

• Saltwater Buddha Decision Chart

• Vocabulary for Part 1 of Saltwater Buddha

• Vocabulary Predictions for Pages 55-110 of Saltwater Buddha

• Vocabulary Definitions for Pages 54-110 of Saltwater Buddha

• Romanticism/Saltwater Buddha Collage

• Review for Saltwater Buddha/Romanticism Quiz

• Saltwater Buddha/Romanticism/Emerson Quiz

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)

• Realism Graphic Organizer

• Realism Choice Book Double Entry Journal Assignment

• Double Entry Journal Examples

• Podcast/Video Script Template

• Realism and Choice Book Fakebook Assignment

• Realism American Lit Facebook Assignment

• "The Art of the Metaphor" TedEd Video

• "War is Kind" Comprehension & Analysis Handout

• "War is Kind" Irony Handout 1

• "War is Kind" Irony Handout 2

• Introduction to Figurative Language

• Gettysburg Address Analysis w. Graphic Organizer

• Jack London "To Build a Fire" Socratic Seminar

• "How A Slave Becomes a Man" Text Excerpt

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Audiobook

• Frederick Douglass Writing Prompts

• Jacobs & Douglass Discussion

• "A Pair of Silk Stockings" 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.	The author's story about his early life in America as an immigrant in California.	​A young man joins the war and be a hero but quickly learns the realities of what he has signed up for.

Modernism/Harlem Renaissance

• Introduction to Modernism PowerPoint

• Introduction to Modernism Note-Taking Guide

• Traits of Modern Writing Note-Taking Guide for Holt textbook (above)

• "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.)

• Modernism Fakebook Rubric

• "The Girl Who Wouldn't Speak" Handout

Their Eyes Were Watching God

• History.com Harlem Renaissance Video

• Major Writers During the Harlem Renaissance

• Their Eyes Were Watching God Opening Lines Discussion

• Their Eyes Were Watching God Socratic Seminar

• Seminar Grading Checklist

• 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

• Brief Intro to Postmodernism PowerPoint

*Did not make it this far this particular year.* I'll update this section if I find some materials in my later units.

Exams That I Used Throughout The Year

• American Literature Multiple Choice Quiz (no answer key)

• American Literature Midterm Exam (essay)

• Final Exam Review Activity

• American Literature Final Exam (English 11)

I hope that these materials are helpful in getting you through a school year. Let me if one of the links does not work. If you have any American Lit materials that you'd like to share with others, please leave them in the comments.