The Tell-Tale Heart | Debate, Suspense & Unreliable Narrator Lesson

Engage your students with Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart through a dynamic, ready-to-use lesson that blends close reading, debate, and creative writing.

This lesson helps students dive deep into suspense techniques, unreliable narration, and the blurred line between sanity and guilt. Students will annotate key passages, participate in a structured debate, and choose between writing an analytical response or a creative rewrite.

What’s Included:

• Standards Alignment (RL.9-10, W.9-10)
• Lesson Objectives targeting suspense, tone, and character reliability
• Teacher Tips & Differentiation Options (audio support, advanced extensions, digital storyboard)
• Step-by-step Lesson Plan & Slide Deck (warm-up, annotation, mini-lesson, debate, assessment)
• Interactive Debate: Sanity vs. Guilt with guiding questions and roles for balanced participation
• Two Assessment Choices:
  • Analytical essay prompt with MLA citations
  • Creative rewrite from the police officers’ perspective
• Rubrics (analytical & creative) for quick, clear grading
• Exit Ticket for formative assessment

Why Teachers Love This Lesson:

✔️ Engages students with sound hooks, debates, and role-play
✔️ Provides flexible assessment choices to meet student needs
✔️ Ready-to-teach slides save prep time
✔️ Differentiation supports diverse learners

Perfect for a 1–2 day lesson or as part of a larger Gothic literature or Poe unit.