12th Grade Short Stories Centers

This bundle includes the in-class and digital version of our Pit & the Pendulum Escape Rooms!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock. Now, you can facilitate our popular Pit & the Pendulum Escape Rooms in the classroom and at home for distance learning with this meticulously-crafted bundle. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours run smoothly from start to finish. All tasks are skills-based so that with these fun lessons, learning is not sacrificed. Whether they are in school or at home, your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize how much they've learned about the short story.

How does it work?

In this escape room, students will try to escape out of the Inquisitor's dungeon of gloom and doom by solving 5 different puzzles, discovering a hidden message, and finding clues along the way.

• Plot Diagram: In the first task, students must order scrambled plot points from The Pit & the Pendulum and place them in the correct spot on Freytag's Pyramid. Highlighted boxes will reveal the code.
• Figurative Language: In the second task, students must identify 7 types of figurative language within the story. Highlighted boxes in the correct answers will reveal the code.
• Jig Saw: In the third task, students must solve a colorful jig saw puzzle that when intact, displays an important quote from the story.
• Close Read: In the fourth task, students must answer challenging multiple choice questions about T_he Pit & the Pendulum_ that when correct, will reveal the code.
• Hidden Message: In the fifth and final task, students must discover the hidden message (a quote from The Pit & the Pendulum) using clues from the first four tasks.

In-Class Escape Room Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Visual "Keys"

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

- Theme Reflection for homework assignment or in-class writing activity

Digital (Paperless) Escape Room Includes:

- Instructions for how to access and share escape room and answer key through Google Drive

- Materials for 5 Tasks: digital task signs, detailed task instructions, and worksheets

- Digital Student Answer Booklet

- Digital Teacher Answer Key

*Note that this is the digital version of the escape room; tasks are identical, just reformatted for digital experience. Requires use of Google Slides.*

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This resource features a bundle of all of our lesson plans, materials, and activities for Edgar Allan Poe's chilling tale of terror and torture, The Pit and the Pendulum. Each product is thoughtfully crafted and allows students to think outside the box by delving deeply into the story's themes, characters, vocabulary, and plot development. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. This activity bundle provides a week's worth of material to bring the story to life (if you dare!).

Included in this Bundle:

The Pit and the Pendulum Literature Guide: This literature guide features a comprehensive mini-unit for The Pit and the Pendulum. The packet provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the short story and encourages students to think critically about Poe's use of sensory details, literary elements, figurative language, and symbolism. A full answer key is provided along with two bonus student-tested lesson plans and full procedure for conducting a P&P Socratic Seminar in your classroom. The wide range of activities in this guide will keep your students engaged and help them to gain a deep understanding of one of the most horrifying tales in American literature.

The Pit & the Pendulum ESCAPE ROOM: This meticulously-crafted resource features all of the materials you need to conduct a full-length Escape Room for The Pit & the Pendulum. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours runs smoothly from start to finish. The activity involves movement, energy, creative thinking and most of all, collaboration. Your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing of this game!

The Pit and the Pendulum Socratic Seminar (also included within Literature Guide): This resource features lesson plans and materials to conduct a formal set of Socratic Seminars for P&P. Socratic Seminars (or "Fish Bowl" Conversations as referred to in this resource) are higher order ways of assessing whether your students are able to understand and react to your class texts. These seminars rely on the power of inquiry and allow students to take the lead in their learning and discussion. The only problem? They require a great deal of preparation. Fortunately, this student-tested resource includes everything you need to conduct a structured and formal set of Socratic Seminars in your classroom surrounding the short story... and no preparation is required by you at all.

The Pit and the Pendulum Sensory Detail Lesson Plan & Materials (also included within Literature Guide): This product features 3 engaging, differentiated activities that focus on the rich sensory details of Edgar Allan Poe's ultimate tale of torture. The activities span before, during, and after reading the story with the intent to not only identify the sensory details, but to analyze their importance and how they add to the reader's experience with the tale. The activities support multiple learning styles so that all students walk away from this difficult story with an entirely new appreciation for Poe's incredible use of the English language while having fun at the same time!

**Bonus File: Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary - Halloween Lesson Plan: Students get the chance to create the epitaph for the gravestone of one of the most revered authors in American literature. The activity encourages students to be thoughtful with their knowledge of Poe but also to be creative with their inscriptions. This can be done in or outside of class and also works as a great emergency substitute plan during the month of October. To be festive, I love to give this assignment on the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's actual death day, October 7.

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence