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Grades 6-12
Reviewers Guide
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Literature &
Thought
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How to use
Literature &
Thought
Literature & Thought offers educators a flexible resource that can easily fit within your established classroom routines—or create new ones to engage and excite your students!
Students grow into critically, visually, and informationally literate 21st-century thinkers and creators.
— National Reading Panel
Read multiple genres with a focus on shared inquiry and critical thinking as students explore relevant themes.
Develop a love of literature and explore the characteristics of genre—like science fiction, humor, mystery, and sports.
Thematic Units
Genre Studies
English Language Arts Instruction
Integration of Informational Texts
• Build context within
and around novel study using connected texts with diverse perspectives around a topic.
• Support critical thinking development for Pre-AP® and AP track students.
• Deliver whole group minilessons that connect reading and writing.
• Model literary interpretation and critical thinking grounded in textual evidence
Novels-Based
Instruction
Workshop Model
• Bring together the artifacts of an historical era and make connections across time and texts—great for a combined ELA and social studies humanities.
Eras & Historical
Perspectives
Social Studies/Humanities Instruction
Compare and contrast primary sources related
to the same historical era.
Primary Sources
• Compare and contrast texts related to the same topic.
• Practice close reading and critical thinking to grow skilled readers.
Critical Reading & Writing SKill Development
• Extend and challenge Gifted and Talented learners with projects related to the texts in each cluster.
• Offer all students choice in extension activities that appeal to their learning styles.
Research Projects & Extension
Cross-Curricular Skills
Interactive Editions
Empower students to delve into a writer’s work using sophisticated textual analysis tools.
• Employ annotation and highlighting tools to identify, label, and categorize text.
• Collect ideas and questions in the digital notebook for use in unit writing and discussion prompts.
• Utilize the close reading handbook to improve students’ reading strategies and ability to use textual evidence.
Enhance Collaborative Learning
Encourage Close Reading
Designed for collaborative learning, Literature & Thought interactive editions provide a powerful tool set for exploring
a text.
Watch an Interactive Edition
• Foster student engagement
using the discussion wall.
• Encourage critical
conversations using the point-
of-use digital teaching support.
• Review and compare students’ annotations and notes. Share
with the class or a small group.
State-of-the-art Immersive Reader technology supports struggling learners, English learners, and readers of various learning abilities and differences.
• Translation into over 75 languages!
• Text-to-speech capabilities support comprehension.
• In-line tools support readers of differing abilities—supports IEP and 504 accommodations:
— Highlight lines of text.
— Change font type and size.
— Add line focus.
— Apply background color.
— Visualize word meanings through illustrations, syllabification, and parts of speech.
Support ALL Learners
Students learn to:
• Apply close reading skills.
• Compare and contrast texts.
• Engage in active discourse.
• Learn and apply specific critical thinking, analytical, and evaluation skills.
• Respond and share ideas through writing, speaking, and listening activities.
Develop Critical Readers & Writers
Check Out Immersive Reader
Interactive Editions
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Anthologies
Historical Events & Eras
The Harlem Renaissance
Essential Question
What Was the Harlem Renaissance?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Was Life Like During the Harlem Renaissance?.................................................................................................................Describing
2. What Did Harlem Renaissance Writers Say About Being Black?......................................................................................Analyzing
3. What Contributions Were Made to American Art and Culture?..................................................................................Generalizing
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
55% Informational Selections (essays, articles, vignette, memoir, personal narrative, and journal)
45% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
50% Informational Selections (journals, essays, oral history, newspaper article, letter, biography, eyewitness account, and article)
50% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
Wide Open Spaces: American Frontiers
Essential Question
What Is the Lure of the Frontier?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Were the Explorers Seeking? ...................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
2. What Were the Effects of Manifest Destiny?..........................................................................................Comparing and Contrasting
3. Who Were the People of the Frontier?.................................................................................................................................................Summarizing
4. Thinking on Your Own..............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
A House Divided: America’s Civil War
Essential Question
Why Is the Civil War Considered a Defining Moment in American History?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. 1861–1862: What Were They Fighting For?................................................................................................Generalizing
2. 1863: A Turning Point?.......................................................................................................Comparing and Contrasting
3. 1864–1865: What Was the Price of the War?...............................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
60% Informational Selections (articles, eyewitness accounts, diary, speeches, essay, petition,
press report, and excerpt)
40% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, and historical fiction)
Voices of the Holocaust
Essential Question
Could a Holocaust Happen Here?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. How Could the Holocaust........................................................................................................................................Evaluating
2. How Were Victims Oppressed?..................................................................................Comparing and Contrasting
3. Was There Resistance? ........................................................................................................................................Generalizing
4. Why Should We Remember?.........................................................................................................................Synthesizing
5. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
50% Informational Selections (autobiographies, letters, historical accounts, biography,
oral history, essay, diary, speech, article, and report)
50% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
Literary Themes
And Justice for All
Essential Question
What Is Justice?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What’s Fair—What’s Not?........................................................................................................................................Evaluating
2. Who Judges?.....................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. Punishment or Mercy?.....................................................................................................Comparing and Contrasting
4. Thinking on Your Own........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
45% Informational Selections (articles, speech, letter, essay, commentary, biography, and anecdote)
55% Literary Selections (short stories, folk tales, poems, satire, monologue, and drama)
Family Matters
Essential Question
Does Family Matter?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Is a Family?.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................Defining
2. How Are We Influenced by Family?................................................................................................................Comparing and Contrasting
3. How Do Families Deal with Problems?........................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
Decisions, Decisions
Essential Question
How Do I Make a Decision?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Influences a Decision?....................................................................................................................................Analyzing
2. Good Decision or Bad Decision?.........................................................................................................................Evaluating
3. What Are the Possible Consequences of Our Decisions?..................................................................Predicting
4. Thinking on Your Own........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
23% Informational Selections (personal narratives, articles, and humor column)
77% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, and dramatic monologue)
On the Edge of Survival
Essential Question
What Can Be Learned from Survival Literature?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. Why Do People Take Risks?...........................................................................................................................Hypothesizing
2. After Surviving?..........................................................................................................................................................Generalizing
3. What Would You Risk?..............................................................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
29% Informational Selections (speech, first-person account, article, autobiography, newspaper column, maxim, and personal narrative)
71% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, and fable)
The Best of Friends
Essential Question
What Is the Value of Friendship?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Is a Friend?..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................Defining
2. What Would You Do for a Friend?........................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. Friend or Enemy?.................................................................................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
38% Informational Selections (autobiographies, informational text, article, editorial essay, and biography)
62% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
29% Informational Selections (articles, autobiography, personal reminiscense, and essay)
71% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
To Be a Hero
Essential Question
Who Can Be a Hero?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Are Some Types of Heroes?........................................................................................................................................................................Classifying
2. What Makes a Hero?............................................................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. Hero or Not?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
41% Informational Selections (autobiographies, articles, essays, editorial essay, memoir, and eulogy)
59% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, song, Greek myth, Arthurian legend, drama, satire,
and fairy tale)
Who Am I?
Essential Question
Who’s the Real You?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. How Do I Find Out Who I Am?..................................................................................................................................Defining
2. Where Do I Fit?.................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. What Do I Believe?.......................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
27% Informational Selections (personal essays, autobiography, article, essay, and memoir)
73% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
Literary Genres
Echoes from Mt. Olympus
Essential Question
Why Do Myths Endure?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Are the Qualities of the Gods and Goddesses?.......................................................................Generalizing
2. How Does Myth Explain Nature?...............................................................................Comparing and Contrasting
3. How Does Myth Explain Human Nature?....................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
What on Earth? An Ecology Reader
Essential Question
How Do We Protect Our Planet?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Is Our Relationship with Nature?..........................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
2. What Happens When Humanity and Nature Collide?..................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. How Can We Live in Harmony with Nature?..........................................................................................................................Problem Solving
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
What’s So Funny?
Essential Question
What's So Funny?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Makes You Laugh?.........................................................................................................................................Evaluating
2. How Is Humor Used? ..................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. What Are Some Types of Humor?.......................................................................................................Classifying
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
45% Informational Selections (newspaper columns, autobiographies, articles, quote, letter, comedy, and nonfiction collection)
55% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, comedy sketch, cartoon, drama, and parody)
21% Informational Selections (articles and essay)
78% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, and drama)
13% Informational Selections (essays and personal narrative)
87% Literary Selections (myths, poems, short stories, hymn, and epic)
The Main Event
Essential Question
What Is the Value of Sport?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What is Sport?.......................................................................................................................................................................Defining
2. What Does It Mean to Be an Athlete?...............................................................................................Analyzing
3. Is Winning Everything?.................................................................................................................................................Inferring
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
The Sci-Fi Factor
Essential Question
What’s the Fascination with Science Fiction?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What’s the ‘Science’ in Science Fiction?..........................................................................................................Analyzing
2. Who’s Out There?.................................................................................................................................................Hypothesizing
3. What Can We Learn from Science Fiction?........................................................................Drawing Conclusions
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
52% Informational Selections (essays, articles, interview, humor column, personal opinion, autobiography, and speech)
48% Literary Selections (poems, short stories, and folk tales)
48% Informational Selections (articles, essays, interviews, and autobiography)
52% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, and cartoon)
11% Informational Selections (essay and article)
89% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
Flights of Fantasy Essential
Essential Question
Why Read Fantasy?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Is a Fantasy?......................................................................................................................................................................................................................Defining
2. What Can Fantasy Teach Us?.....................................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. What’s Real and How Do You Know?.............................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
Mysterious Circumstances
Essential Question
Why Are We Fascinated by Mystery?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Makes a Mystery?........................................................................................................................................................................................................Defining
2. Whodunit?.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................Investigating
3. How Do You Solve a Mystery?.................................................................................................................................................................Logical Thinking
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
15% Informational Selections (article, government report, and biography)
85% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, and satire)
Government & Current Events
Individual Rights: The Blessings of Liberty
Essential Question
What Prevents Tyranny?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. How Would Society Be Different Without the First Amendment?.............................................Evaluating
2 How Well Does Federalism Protect Individual Rights?............................................................................Defining
3 Why Are Suspects’ Rights Important?...........................................................................................................Integrating
4 Thinking on Your Own..............................................................................................................................................Integrating
83% Informational Selections (speeches, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, primary sources, letters, editorials, articles, analysis, historical account, biographical essay, oral commentary,
web commentary, argument, news story, blog, report, and website)
17% Literary Selections (poems and novel excerpt)
The Three Branches of Government
Essential Question
Which Branch Is Most Powerful?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. How Well Does Congress Represent the People?...................................................................................................................................Defining
2. What Makes a President Great?............................................................................................................................................................................Evaluating
3. How Does the Supreme Court Effect Change?..........................................................................................................................Summarizing
4. Thinking on Your Own..................................................................................................................................................................................................Integrating
85% Informational Selections (essays, historical analyses, speeches, personal account, interview, argument, and court opinion)
15% Literary Selections (poems, novel excerpt, and humorous)
We the People: Foundations of American Government
Essential Question
Does the Constitution Work Today?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Ideas Shaped the Founders?.....................................................................................................................Analyzing
2. How Should Government Power Be Divided?..........................................................................................Evaluating
3. What Constitutional Compromises Matter Today?...............................................................................Evaluating
4. Thinking on Your Own............................................................................................................................................Integrating
96% Informational Selections (essays, columns, primary sources, articles, speeches, analyses, argument and analysis, blog, historical account, and survey)
4% Literary Selections (humorous)
The more I used the text with the students, the more impressed I became. These are really premium pieces of literature. The excerpts get right to the crux of the issue. I could pick this up and use a tremendous amount without doing anything extra. It’s really the important information. Students were asking to read ahead. I enjoyed this more than any other text in my years of teaching."
—English/Drama Teacher, Shenandoah Valley Academy
New Market, Virginia
Times of Change: Vietnam and the 60s
Essential Question
What Effect Did the Decade of the 60s Have on the United States?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Were the Roots of the Conflict?.....................................................................................................................................................Summarizing
2. What Was the War Experience?.............................................................................................................................................................................Analyzing
3. What Was Happening Back Home?..........................................................................................................................................................Generalizing
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
60% Informational Selections (articles, memoirs, essays, oral histories, autobiographies, speech, interview, and vignette)
40% Literary Selections (song lyrics, short stories, and poems)
Free at Last: The Struggle for Civil Rights
Essential Question
How Do We Achieve the Ideal of Equal Rights for All?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. What Are the Roots of the Civil Rights Movement?...........................................................................................................................Analyzing
2. 1954–1961: What Were the Critical Moments That Sparked the Civil Rights Movement?......................Evaluating
3. 1962–1968: What Resistance Did the Civil Rights Movement Meet?............................Comparing and Contrasting
4. Thinking on Your Own.............................................................................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
60% Informational Selections (autobiographies, speeches, essays, articles, vignette,
U.S. Supreme Court decision, interview, and memorium)
40% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
Dark Days: America’s Great Depression
Essential Question
What Was the Great Depression?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. How Were People Affected?...................................................................................................................................Evaluating
2. What Was the New Deal?.................................................................................................................................Summarizing
3. How Tough Were the Times?..................................................................................................................................Analyzing
4. Thinking on Your Own.........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
60% Informational Selections (articles, oral histories, letter, memoir, and essay)
40% Literary Selections (short stories and poems)
From There to Here: The Immigrant Experience
Essential Question
Should We Keep America’s Immigration Door Open?
Cluster Questions & Critical Thinking Skills
1. Who Were the Immigrants and Why Did They Come?.................................................................Investigating
2. What First Experiences Did Immigrants Have?.........................................................................................Analyzing
3. Did Immigrant Expectations Match Reality?....................................................Comparing and Contrasting
4 What Is the Immigrant Experience Today?.................................................................................................Evaluating
5 Thinking on Your Own..........................................................................................................................................Synthesizing
70% Informational Selections (essays, autobiographies, personal narratives, article, pamphlet, oral history, biography, and commentary)
30% Literary Selections (short stories, poems, ballad, and song)
Explore 25 unit-based
Anthologies
Unit Studies
for Critical
Thinking Reading, and Writing
Literature & Thought provides a wealth of opportunities for students to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills through the close reading of complex texts—engaging students and promoting dynamic, inclusive discussions.
Robust Teaching Support
Lesson Planning
Plan and manage implementation over two to six weeks using lesson plans and pacing guides.
• Create context using introductory essays, visuals, concept vocabulary, and timelines.
• Help students identify their own positions and ideas prior to reading using the Anticipation Guide.
• Incorporate text sets into the unit using a range of literature at a variety of reading levels.
Instructional Support
• Interactive minilessons for critical thinking skills, reading skills/strategies, and textual analysis.
• Writing expectations and rubrics.
• Support for analyzing photos, art, and other media.
• Suggestions, prompts, and strategies for engaging students in collaborative learning using the Teacher Guide.
• Assessment options including vocabulary tests, writing activities, and longer project suggestions.
Whether implementing Literature & Thought in print, digital, or a blended model, all teachers have access to the digital support tools, including:
Explore Relevant Themes
Each of the 25 anthologies has a central essential question to guide reading, writing, and discussion. Each unit within an anthology focuses on a critical thinking skill.
Students develop both communication and literacy
skills as they collaborate to:
• Uncover meaning.
• Share perspectives.
• Respond to the essential questions through discussion, writing, and a range of media.
Explore Relevant Themes
Engage Active Discourse Literacy
Transfer new critical reading skills through connected literature
Through a cluster of related readings, students learn to:
• Apply close reading skills, reading
deeply for meaning.
• Compare and contrast texts.
• Engage in active discourse.
• Learn and apply specific critical
thinking, analytical, and evaluation
skills.
• Respond and share ideas through
writing, speaking, and listening activities.
Teacher Guide
provides suggestions for
related literature.
I love the Literature & Thought series and so do my students. It helped them gain prior knowledge for their U.S. History class as we focused on literature dealing with Vietnam, Civil Rights, WWII and the Civil War."
—Teacher
Peekskill, New York
Anthologies
Further extend study of the Literature & Thought titles using thematically-related, engaging novels and informational texts.
These titles provide opportunities for students to relate the readings from a Literature & Thought title to aligned longer works.
Thematic
Text Sets
• The American Frontier
• The Harlem Renaissance
• The Civil War
• The Holocaust
• Immigration
• The Great Depression
• Civil Rights
• Vietnam and the 60s
• Decisions
• Family
• Friendship
• Heroism
• Identity
• Justice
• Survival
Historical Events & Eras
Literary Genres
• Decisions
• Family
• Friendship
• Heroism
• Identity
• Justice
• Survival
Literary Themes
• Ecology
• Humor
• Mythology
• Sports
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Science Fiction
Government &
Current Events
• American Government
• Liberty
• The Three Branches of Government
• Decisions
• Family
• Friendship
• Heroism
• Identity
• Justice
• Survival
View Title Listings
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