I’ve got a snazzy new unit up on TpT. It’s kinda-sorta for Black History Month, but a good unit for pretty much any time of year. I’m a fan of speculative fiction because the topics tap into that little “what if” voice we’ve all got inside our heads. There’s a renewed interest in the genre right now, since Octavia Butler’s Kindred was made into a series for Hulu (BTW…it’s really good). Speculative lit is a genre that gets teens thinking about the world, the consequences of actions, and the fickleness of history–one SMALL change can create a massive ripple effect.

Coincidentally, some of the best writers of contemporary speculative fiction are also black. Much to the delight of my students, they are also STILL ALIVE and not authors who died 60 years ago. For kids, the “aliveness” of the authors is a major selling point. I have been informed that this unit “doesn’t suck,” which is pretty much the teenager-to-adult equivalent of saying I am the coolest person ever and have excellent taste in reading material.

As always, I put together my unit on Black Speculative Literature to be super easy for teachers to use. Each story comes in the form of an all-in-one document that takes students through pre-reading, reading the text via a linked PDF, answering 3-6 multiple choice comprehension questions, and finally writing a paragraph (or two) using a guided organizer. If you’re looking for something quick and engaging that you don’t need to prep, please check it out! I’ve got it on sale 20% off through Saturday.

Keywords: ELL, SPED, secondary ELA, dyslexia friendly, ELA, enraged2engaged, study guides, classic stories, short stories, digital learning format, lesson plans, unit plans, science fiction, black literature, black history month, black speculative literature, writing organizers, analysis writing, using text evidence