Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass | Complete Teaching Unit

This complete unit has everything you'll need for profoundly engaging lessons on Frederick Douglass's memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass! The daily quizzes, discussion questions, literary device exercises, and writing assignment will challenge your students to dig beneath the surface of the text and unlock profound interpretive insights!

Here is everything you'll find in this 90-page editable unit:

• Unit & Pacing Guide: Suggestions for how to pace the reading homework and organize the classwork for Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. (2 pages)

• Discussion Questions: Fifteen pages of higher-order discussion questions guaranteed to inspire profoundly thoughtful class discussions! This unit features double-sided handouts with 8-10 discussion questions for each section of Douglass's Narrative! The discussion questions are the beating heart of this curriculum. Every question is grounded in concrete textual details and challenges students to think critically about their significance. They challenge students to build interpretive arguments that require the support of carefully selected textual evidence — leading to keen interpretive insights! Guaranteed to foster deep thinking and dynamic discussions! (15 pages)

• Discussion Questions ANSWER KEYS: The answer keys to the discussion questions are informed by cutting-edge scholarship by professors who specialize in African-American literature and especially Frederick Douglass: Henry Louis Gates, Saidiya Hartman, Fred Moten, David Blight, etc. Of course, there is rarely a single "correct" answer for any question; rather, the discussions questions are made up of higher-order questions designed to foster lively exchanges and interpretive debates among students. They challenge students to build interpretive arguments supported by carefully selected textual evidence. (35 pages)

• Vocabulary Lists: Lists of 10-12 vocabulary words for every section of the book, complete with definitions and sample sentences with each word as used in Douglass's Narrative. A total of over 60 SAT-worthy words. (5 pages)

• Vocabulary & Reading Quizzes: Build students’ vocabularies while holding them accountable for the nightly reading homework. Each quiz contains 7 questions on vocabulary words plus another 3 questions on reading comprehension. Grading these quizzes is simple and quick. They’re an easy way to log an additional 5 grades into your gradebook. Answer key included. (10 pages)

• Literary Devices Quiz: This quiz challenges students to identify the literary devices used in thirty quotations from Douglass's memoir. The literary devices include metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, apostrophe, allusion, and more. This bundle also features a glossary with definitions of the literary devices as well as examples of how each device is used in Douglass's memoir — so you can review the devices with students before they tackle the quiz. The quiz can be used either for assessment or as a fun refresher. Answer key included. (5 pages)

• Academic Scholarship: Excerpts from scholarly articles and monographs focused on specific scenes from Douglass's memoir. (1 page)

• Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on Douglass's powerful memoir. Let students choose amongst 5 thought-provoking sample topics — or invite them to develop an original topic of their own. Writing schedule included. Rubric included. (5 pages)

• Poetry Pairing: Seven thematically relevant poems by three twentieth-century African-American poets: Robert Hayden, Lucille Clifton, and Natasha Trethewey. (9 pages)

This unit is filled with dozens of visual images that shed light on important scenes from Douglass's memoir: illustrations from early editions of Douglass's memoir, documentary photographs of antebellum plantations, lyrics from the slave song that motivated Douglass to liberate himself, the masthead of Douglass's abolitionist newspaper, etc. But what really distinguishes this curriculum is how the discussion starters and writing prompts deepen students' thinking and help them arrive at profound interpretive insights!

This resource packet will come to you in two separate formats: Word docs *and* PDFs. Because the Word docs are editable, you'll be able to customize them to suit your teaching style and/or the skill levels of your students — year after year! If you don't have Microsoft Word, you'll still be able to use the PDF version — which is easy to navigate and quick to print!

In case you'd prefer to purchase this product via the TPT website, here is a link that will take you to the product page on TPT.

I'm eager to do everything I can to ensure that you have an amazing experience while teaching Douglass's Narrative. If you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to get in touch via the email address below. I love hearing from fellow teachers who share a passion for great literature!

Happy teaching,

Adam Jernigan

adamjernigan@gmail.com