"The Tell-Tale Heart" | Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

 "The Tell-Tale Heart" | Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive

URL:

 https://aptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/poe17-ela-heart/the-tell-tale-heart-edgar-allan-poe-buried-alive/

Content Source:

 PBS
Type: Audio/Video

Overview:

Explore Edgar Allan Poe’s famous short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,“ in this video from the American Masters film Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive. Discussion questions, teaching tips, and a student handout ask students to analyze the work while also learning more about the art of writing a short story. Students are asked to consider why the story remains popular today, its connections to music, and how Poe hooks readers from the very first sentence. Students are also asked to identify the theme of the work. Students also analyze the author's word choice or diction.

Content Standard(s):
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 6
1. Identify and explain an author's rhetorical choices, including point of view, purpose, anecdotes, and figurative, connotative, and technical word meanings, to develop central and supporting ideas.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 7
17. Identify the conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing.

a. Identify subject-verb agreement with compound subjects joined by correlative and coordinating conjunctions and with collective nouns when verb form depends on the rest of the sentence.

b. Identify the usage of simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex statements and questions to signal differing relationships among ideas in a text.

c. Evaluate the functions of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 8
3. Analyze how authors use key literary elements, including setting, plot, theme, characters, internal and external conflict, dialogue, and point of view, to contribute to the meaning and purpose of a text, using text evidence as support.
Tags: American Literature, analyze, diction, Poe, repetition, Style, summary, The Tell Tale Heart, Theme, word choice, word meaning
License Type: Custom Permission Type
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AccessibilityText Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
Comments

A Close Reading

After watching the video, ask students to complete “The Tell-Tale Heart” A Close Reading handout to help students analyze how Poe’s use of diction, repetition, and punctuation help to establish the narrator’s state of mind.

Literary Salon

Create a literary salon like the gatherings held during Poe's time for a dramatic reading of the short story. Rearrange desks, add mood lighting, wear costumes – brainstorm other ideas. Ask students to take turns reading the story “in character.” Have fun!

Literary Tableau

Ask students to dramatize the story by creating a tableau of a scene in the story. In pairs or small groups, ask students to create a still-life representation of a key scene in the story.

The Soundtrack of Madness

Ask students to select a song they think would work well as a soundtrack for the story. Have them share a short clip of the song with the class and explain why they think the piece of music works well with the story.

Vocabulary

diction | (n.) word choice.

repetition |(n.) in literature, the recurrence of a word or phrase that reinforces meaning

style |(n.) a way of using language, including word choice, punctuation, etc.

unequivocal |(n.) leaving no doubt; unambiguous.

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Author: Jessica Byrd