Teaching Julius? Something Free If You Want It

 

I have nothing profound to share just now, but I see that I'm getting increased traffic here and at my TPT store (for which I'm deeply grateful, thank you), so I thought I'd better pay a visit. I finished up with my Julius Caesar close reading study guide a couple weeks ago and posted it:

(http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Julius-Caesar-Study-Guide-625-Questions-57-Pages-with-Answer-Key)

I've added something that I've never included before, a preview of the product, consisting of an entire lesson, immediately downloadable, and FREE. It's a close reading of the assassination scene from Act III, Scene 1, and it comes complete with answer key and instructions.

If you're interested, you should probably have kids read through the scene first. That always gives them a chance to close-read independently. They need that opportunity, and you can encourage them to develop good habits formulating their own questions when you assign the reading. (Don't forget to download "Reading Fearfully Close," another of my free products, to find out more about this process.)

After kids have given it a first reading, you can hand out the questions and teach the reading of the scene according to instructions provided. Be ready; your students will object, especially if they've never had a teacher expect as much from them. So "stay the course." As you help individuals find information, make them read and do the work themselves.

Yes, I know the language is hard, but they must have this experience. We're not teaching them much when we let them read modern translations or listen to sound tapes or watch videos. Your kids will be grateful that you made them practice when they take a college entrance exam or other standardized test containing passages from Elizabethan literature.

Writing the Julius Caesar study guide was grueling! I'm constantly reminded why these teaching tools do not exist. They're incredibly difficult to produce. But Common Core Standards make it very clear: Their time has come.

If you care to create such a guide, have at it! I used to select a scene from a play or a chapter from a book and write a close reading guide for it. Then I'd write an initial reading quiz, and last, I'd assemble the test, based on the close reading. I was always buried in paperwork as a consequence. I hope these study guides help you crawl out from under yours.

If you're interested in the progress of this program and are not yet one of my TPT followers, I invite you to sign up. That will help you keep track of what's happening.

I'm going to work now on those quizzes and tests for Julius Caesar. I should have them up and running in a week or so, if all goes well.

What do you think I should do next? I'm thinking maybe Dickens' A Christmas Carol.