Description
This short story unit for Langston Hughes’ “Thank You, Ma’am” includes comprehension questions, literary analysis activities, assessment tools, close reading activities, and informational handouts. Suitable for online learning and Google Classroom®!
Included with this Short Story Unit for “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes:
- Langston Hughes Author Biography – Digital & Print
- 2-Page biography informational handout
- Vocabulary worksheets and targeted comprehension questions
- Guided Reading Questions – Digital & Print
- Comprehension and discussion questions to guide independent reading
- Symbolism Analysis Lesson – Digital & Print
- Identifying symbols informational handout
- Symbolism graphic organizer for “Thank You, Ma’am”
- Blank symbolism graphic organizer for any text
- Text Connections Activity – Digital & Print
- Explore three poems by Langston Hughes: “I, Too,” “Harlem,” and “Mother and Son”
- Themes in Poetry and Song Lyrics Lesson – Digital & Print
- Themes in song lyrics slideshow lesson
- Thematic song lyrics to connect to “Thank You, Ma’am”
- Short answer questions for poetry analysis
- Graphic organizers, bookmark anchor chart, and scaffolding supports
- Mentor text to model literary analysis
- Writing Prompts for “Thank You, Ma’am” – Digital & Print
- Differentiated written assessment prompts
- Editable 4-level rubrics
- Teacher Instructions for using these resource
Resources included with this Short Story Unit for Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes:
Understanding Langston Hughes’ unique life experiences will enrich students’ interpretation of “Thank You, Ma’am.” This author biography shares about Hughes’ childhood and upbringing, his family history, and his legacy in literature, including his pioneering of jazz poetry and contributions to the Harlem Renaissance.
These guided reading questions include prompts for comprehension and deeper discussion. The comprehension questions can be used alongside “Thank You, Ma’am;” you can encourage students to answer these questions while they are reading to support their understanding.
Students are instructed to use supporting evidence from the text wherever possible. The discussion questions prompt students to analyze the short story from a literary perspective and explore literary devices such as symbolism, idiom, and character foil. They will also explore characterization and think critically about the themes presented in Langston Hughes “Thank You, Ma’am.”
This symbolism worksheet defines symbolism and provides common examples in literature. It also explains how to identify symbols and connect them to larger themes within the text.
Students will be prompted to locate symbols in “Thank You, Ma’am” and note their evidence in the graphic organizer provided. They will then interpret these symbols by analyzing what they represent before connecting each symbol to a larger theme of the story.
This activity includes three poems by Langston Hughes: “Harlem,” “Mother and Son,” and “I, Too.” Students can annotate each poem directly in the worksheets provided before answering the accompanying short answer questions.
Each poem has an individual set of short answer questions that have students:
- summarize the main idea of the poem
- explore themes
- identify tone
- analyze examples of literary devices
Students will also compare the poem to “Thank You, Ma’am” by making text-to-text connections.
Help students analyze themes in poetry and song lyrics with this engaging lesson for “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes. Using an interactive slideshow, curated song lyrics, and structured writing outlines, students will compare themes and perspectives between literature and music.
The written response assessment is differentiated to meet the needs of your unique classroom and offer your students options to reach their learning goals. These assessment handouts are editable: you can modify them to add to, omit, or change any of the instructions and prompts provided.
For further differentiation, 4 separate rubrics have been provided. Each 4-level rubric has been provided in editable and ready-to-print formats.
✨ Kindly note that due to copyright restrictions, this resource is not editable. This is a common practice within the TPT marketplace in order to protect the clipartists and software providers that have authorized their intellectual property for the development of this resource.
See what other teachers are saying about this Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes:
“This was a great short story unit for “Thank You, Ma’am.” The author biography was a suitable pre-reading activity, and the text connections was a great lead into our poetry unit.”
– Melanie C.
⭒ For classrooms utilizing Google Classroom® ⭒
To access the digital version of these worksheets, simply follow the instructions within the resource to copy the files directly to your Google Drive®.
