Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
Close Reading Envelope Activities:
Letitia Hughes
AP Language
Barren County High School
Glasgow, KY 42141
Purpose:
This activity provides:
1. an analytical focus for students while reading any long work of either fiction or nonfiction or drama
2. opportunities for formative assessment of a student’s close reading of the text
3. categorized quotations suitable for use with a variety of summative assessments
The Strategy:
1. Identify central themes and elements of significance in a core novel or play.
2. Type up each theme/thread with a brief explanation and discussion of its scope in the text. Where appropriate, ask
leading questions that cue students to attend to subtlety and nuance.
3. Label envelopes with the themes, topics, and elements you would like them to track.
4. Distribute an envelope to each student. In large classes, I use more threads to allow for more variety of analysis.
5. Instruct the students to record on index cards or slips of paper cited quotations (page number, chapter number,
speaker name - to help them relocate the passage if necessary at a later date) that are relevant to
the focus identified on the front of the envelope.
Envelope Thread Tip: Use literary sites and teacher resources to develop the envelope
threads. My favorite is www.shmoop.com
Time Saving Tip: Pass out the envelopes. Pass out the strips of paper with the topics on
them. Pass out a glue stick per row and have them glue down the strip.
Bonus: It’s near impossible to Spark note the contents on an entire envelope.
Online Resource for Envelope threads:
Digital copies of numerous titles on the AP List are on my webpage. These threads were
created by AP teachers on the EDG. Please remember to give credit to the original
creators. Just type this URL into your browser and you should go straight to my webpage
where you will find the instructions, handouts, etc.
http://www.barren.kyschools.us/olc/teacher.aspx?s=1537
Titles Available:
1984
Alias Grace
A Midsummer’s Night Dream
A Thousand Splendid Suns
All Quiet on the Western Front
Angela’s Ashes
As I Lay Dying
Atonement
Black Boy
Brave New World
Catcher in the Rye
Death of a Salesman
Ethan Frome
Frankenstein
Grapes of Wrath
Hamlet
Handmaid’s Tale
Heart of Darkness
Huck Finn
Jane Eyre
King Lear
Lesson before Dying
Light in August
Lord of the Flies
Macbeth
Madame Bovary
Malcolm X
Night
Of Mice and Men
Pride and Prejudice
Sea biscuit
Season of Migration to the North
Tartuffe
The Awakening
The Book Thief
The Canterbury Tales
The Chosen
The Crucible
The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit
The Jungle
The Kite Runner
The Odyssey
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Road
The Scarlet Letter
The Visit
Their Eyes were Watching God
Things Fall Apart
To Kill a Mockingbird
Wuthering Heights
Some Opportunities for Formative Assessment:
Options for envelope thread activities:
1. Allow students to use the contents of their or another student’s (take them up and
redistribute them) envelope to guide a Socratic Seminar.
2. Simply count the number of quotations in the envelope at various intervals to gauge if reading is happening. The
kinds of quotations will also be quite telling about the depth of thought the student is bringing to his or her reading.
Formative feedback can be offered about the need to find passages that probe the idea of the prompt, rather than just
containing general references to the envelope topic.
3. Put students in groups, (either all students with the same envelope focus or in a mixed group,) and have them share
the quotations they have chosen. Have the students justify their choices. Provide feedback about depth and
relevance. Allow the quotations to suggest group and class discussion about the novel.
4. Put kids with the same topic together have them synthesize what they have done
and develop seminar-type questions and then lead a discussion on their topic first
in their small groups and then with the whole class.
5. “Butcher Paper Essays”: After students have completed reading the entire novel,
put them into groups of the same envelope topic. Then, as a group have them
create a meaningful thesis statement about that topic and write it across the top of
a piece of butcher paper. Then have students categorize the quotes from the
envelopes in order to support that thesis in multiple ways. Once they have some
"categories" and set aside duplicates, they can create a claim (topic sentence) that
supports the thesis , write it on the butcher paper, and then tape/glue the slips of
paper that support each of those topic sentences onto the butcher paper below the
topic sentence as data. Next have students analyze how the data (slips of paper)
supports the claim that supports the thesis; I call this warrant, others call it
commentary. You will up with giant "outlines" of meaningful analysis in a essay
form on butcher paper.
There will be an interesting variance in the data strips glued / taped onto the butcher
paper from all the envelopes. As some students may have written on different colors
of paper, post it notes, index cards, some may be neatly typed and cut apart precisely,
some may be on paper torn apart unevenly. The finished product will be as diverse as
the students in your class.
6. As a quiz grade, “Open your envelope, select X number of passages and write an
analysis of the passages.
7. As a quiz grade…. I take up envelopes and pass them back out to kids ensuring
they have a new topic and …. “Open your classmate’s envelope, select X number of
passages and write an analysis of each of the passages” Then return it to original
owner.
8. Use quotations from the envelope to generate formative quotation analysis-style quizzes.
9. Group discussions – my classes are often too big for truly effective Socratic (34
kids). Some days are like above and meet with same topic, other days we meet
with different topics in a group and some are jigsaw days where we do both.
Then we share best discussion concepts with whole class.
10. Analysis of syntax and diction in a passage on smart board. We alternate between
envelopes and analyze a passage as a class on the smart board.
Ex: While reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I selected a student’s envelope and then the
passage about the cemetery beside Cal’s church. The description of the tombstones,
graves, etc. is long and involved but the last sentence says “It was a happy
cemetery.” We analyzed the paradox and syntax. This set the precedence for students
to pick a passage on certain days and type it up to show on the smart board and lead
the class in the analysis of the passage.
11. Sometimes they trade envelopes after X number of chapters and track something
new, sometimes they keep the same topic through the whole novel.
12. Write an in class timed essay on the topic on your envelope. You can use the
passages in your envelope as your data / evidence (Claim, data/evidence,
warrant/insight structure).
13. Have the students, (either individually or in groups,) present the quotations to the class. This provides
opportunities for formative feedback about presentation skills. You could have the students practice incorporating
media into a presentation by having the students integrate a thematically related film or audio clip into their
presentation, or you could ask them to prepare two to three Power Point slides to assist them as they explain their
chosen passages. Ex: The Crucible Logical Fallacy presentations
14. Use them as summer reading assignments. I tried this with The Great Gatsby last
year. We did many of the activities above over the course of the first few days of
school. The students showed up the first day of school with envelopes brimming
with prime excerpts from the novel already grouped thematically. The beginning
of the year began fluidly with higher level analysis. At the end of the previous
school year, I just went to the pre-AP courses and handed the assignment and the
envelopes to my future students.
Reflection: Jot down any ideas you have now about how the envelopes can be
used….. Share with the group!!!!!
Example of using the envelopes for close reading….
While reading TKAM, envelope groups met who have the same topic to share their
passages selected from the first 8 chapters. The group who had feminism was discussing
a passage that a student chose to include in her envelope and the other three had not. Her
passage was about when Dill, Jem and Scout “play” the Radleys- that all Scout gets to do
is come out and sweep the porch as Mrs. Radley.
I heard a girl say that Scout’s sweeping the porch reflects the role of women as in that
Mrs. Radley had no real say in whether Arthur was sent to the reform school like the rest
of his friends who put the beadle in the outhouse or whether he was kept at home as her
husband insisted. This is extended when her husband dies and Nathan moves in to pick
up where his father left off. She said, “You would think she would say ‘You’re free
Boo!’ when her husband died but Nathan is in control now and does things like plug up
the tree hole.” She also added that men carrying on the mission of their father whether
they agreed with it or not is part of that Southern culture and caste system.
I never even thought of that so we used it as a whole class discussion springboard. Mrs.
Radley dies in chap. 8, leaving them to wonder Boo’s fate. We discussed whose prisoner
is Boo Radley really. We even came back to this in our whole class discussion at the end
of the novel when another student had a quote from Jem about how Boo doesn’t want to
come out.
In conclusion…..
Of course, I love envelopes because it is the best thing I have done since I began teaching
AP. In my first year teaching AP- before I began using envelopes the students were too
focused on plot analysis; envelope threads are the single factor that moved my students to
close reading rhetorical analysis.
Common Core Standards addressed by The Envelope Strategy
Grades 9-10 Literature
Key Ideas and Details

RL.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.9-10.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective
summary of the text.

RL.9-10.3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop
over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Grades 9-10 Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details

RI.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.

RI.9-10.2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

RI.9-10.3. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in
which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between
them
Grades 11-12 Literature
Key Ideas and Details

RL.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

RL.11-12.2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over
the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide
an objective summary of the text.

RL.11-12.3. Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of
a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and
developed).
Grades 11-12 Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details

RI.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

RI.11-12.2. Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course
of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide
an objective summary of the text.

RI.11-12.3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals,
ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
Grades 9-10 Writing
Text Type and Purposes

WHST.9-10.2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific
procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
o
Introduce a topic and organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections
and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and
multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
o
Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete
details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge
of the topic.
Grades 11-12 Writing
Text Type and Purposes

WHST.11-12.2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific
procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
o
Introduce a topic and organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new
element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics
(e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
o
Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended
definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s
knowledge of the topic.