The Great Gatsby Teaching Resources
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has to be one of my all-time favorite novels. Every time I read it (and that’s at least 15 times now since high school!), I find myself immersed in 1920s-era New York (one of my favorite cities even today), and I always find something I haven’t noticed before.
I enjoy the way Fitzgerald capitalizes on his characters’ weaknesses without condemning them (well, at least most of them). Gatsby has a good heart, but he’s a criminal. Daisy is sweet and witty, but she’s weak. Narrator Nick says, at the end of chapter 3, that he is one of the few honest person he has known, but it seems to me that he has to be lying to himself to he believe it. Or at least he has a pretty shallow view of honesty.
The smallest details captivate me: Meyer Wolfsheim’s cufflinks made of human molars, the whistles of the National Biscuit Company factory (which, of course, later became known as NBC), Nick’s staring at Gatsby’s mansion from his lawn “like Kant at his church steeple” while Gatsby and Daisy do their reacquainting.
I generally reserve Gatsby for my advanced students, and it’s on the eleventh-grade reading list at our school. As with many other novels, my students usually hate the story at first, but once they get to the party scenes, they’re hooked. By the end, they’re pretty much as in love with Daisy as most anyone else who’s read the book and don’t want it to end.
Available Teaching Materials
- Anticipation Guide - Word File
- Quiz #1 (pages 5-51) - Word File (not available for download)
- Quiz #2 (pages 52-98) - Word File (not available for download)
- Quiz #3 (pages 99-145) - Word File (not available for download)
- Quiz #4 (pages 146-189) - Word File (not available for download)
- Venn Diagram - Word File
Send me a message if you are a teacher who’d like copies of my quizzes or tests. I want to share, but I have to keep quizzes and tests secure. :) Please include the name of your school and/or district, your school e-mail address, and the title you’re interested in.
Unless otherwise noted, my teaching resources are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License, which allows you to share and remix the works noncommercially, as long as all alterations or transformations are redistributed under the same or a similar license. Attribution is a part of this license; however, unless otherwise noted, I do not require any attribution for these materials.
Updates
- 7/17/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes and unit test to a teacher in the Brick Township Public Schools in Brick, New Jersey.
- 9/15/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes and unit test to a teacher at the Amman Baccalaureate School in Amman, Jordan.
- 9/20/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Rutherford County Schools in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- 9/28/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Colbert County Schools in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
- 10/4/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Quincy Public School District #172 in Quincy, Illinois.
- 10/11/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at Monte Vista High School in Danville, California.
- 10/27/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Sevier County Schools in Sevierville, Tennessee.
- 11/5/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Center Area School District in Monaca, Pennsylvania.
- 11/10/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at South Burlington High School in South Burlington, Vermont.
- 11/11/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at New Hope High School in Huntsville, Alabama.
- 11/12/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas.
- 11/12/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District in Baytown, Texas.
- 11/15/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at O.D. Wyatt High School in Ft. Worth, Texas.
- 11/15/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at Aberdeen Central High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
- 12/12/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at Lawndale High School in Lawndale, California.
- 12/23/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at Armijo High School in Fairfield, California.
- 12/23/08 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
- 1/2/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at East Alton-Wood River High School in Wood River, Illinois.
- 1/11/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in School District 27J in Brighton, Colorado.
- 1/11/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at Brandon Valley High School in Brandon, South Dakota.
- 1/11/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher at La Canada High School in La Canada Flintridge, California.
- 1/11/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Grand Prairie Independent School District in Grand Prairie, Texas.
- 1/12/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to an Illinois State University student teacher at Normal Community High School in Normal, Illinois.
- 1/12/09 :: Sent Gatsby quizzes to a teacher in the Northern Cambria School District in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania.
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Posted: October 23rd, 2008; 8:56 pm »
Hello-
I would love for you to send anything you have on The Great Gtasby and to Kill a Mockingbird. I am a special educaot/English teacher at south burlington high school in south burlington vermont.I’s love to shake up the routine a bit!
If you need further information please let me know.
Thanks!
Meika Laszlo
School Address is:
SBHS
550 Dorset St.
S.Burlington, VT 05403
Posted: October 27th, 2008; 9:44 am »
Thanks for the helpful resources. I appreciate the time you put into creating them and maintaining your site.
Posted: October 28th, 2008; 10:02 am »
Hello:
I don’t know if this went through, but I will send it again. I love your website, and would greatly appreciate it, if you could send me everything on the great gatsby. Thanks for all your hard work.
Morgan
Posted: November 10th, 2008; 9:59 pm »
@ Mike: Thank you so much for those kind words!!
@ Meika: You Gatsby quizzes are on their way to your Inbox. I can’t help right now with TKaM materials, though; none of my materials are typed up yet. But they are soon to be! (*wink* @ my current ninth-graders…)
Posted: November 11th, 2008; 10:59 pm »
@ Morgan: Thanks for your compliments!! I just emailed you the Gatsby quizzes. Sorry for the lengthy delay. :/
Posted: January 3rd, 2009; 12:10 pm »
Hello Mrs. Hawke,
I was hoping to have you e-mail me your quizzes so that I can look at them and possibly use them for my students as we dive into Gatsby in a couple of weeks!
Thank you in advance,
J
Posted: January 29th, 2009; 12:44 pm »
I would love to have a copy of your Great Gatsby quizzes and unit test. This is my first time teaching the novel. The students are so very interested, and I want to keep their attention. Thanks!
Tracy Rafferty
English 10
West Liberty Salem Schools (Ohio)
Posted: March 2nd, 2009; 3:46 pm »
i would like to have a copy of your quizzes for The Great Gatsby and Animal Farm.
Thank you
Posted: March 23rd, 2009; 9:48 am »
Mrs. Hawke -
I would to possibly incorporate your Great Gatsby quizzes and unit test into the lesson plan I am preparing. This is my first time teaching this novel and I would love as many good ideas as I can get.
Thanks
Kim Sorise
English III - American Lit.
Walden School
Louisville, KY
Posted: March 24th, 2009; 1:57 pm »
Mrs. Hawke,
Thank you for sharing your resources with fellow teachers. I am teaching an American Literature and Composition class for the first time in my 3 years of teaching. I was wondering if you would be willing to share your quizzes with me and anything else you may have over Gatsby.
Thanks,
Kelly
(Missouri)
Posted: May 6th, 2009; 1:17 pm »
I am a mentor for teachers. One of the teachers in our department is teaching the Great Gatsby and while I have some materials on this novel, I don’t have many. Could you please share your quizzes, tests and other items for The Great Gatsby. I would be willing to share some of the materials I have for other novels with you.
Thank you
Debora
Posted: May 16th, 2009; 12:59 am »
Hi Mrs. Hawke,
If you are still willing to share, I would love to have a copy of your Gasby quizzes and tests (and anything else Gatsby) that you’d be willing to share.
Thank yo very much for contributing to the community and to our students.
Posted: May 20th, 2009; 1:05 pm »
[...] Bryan Frazier: Hi Mrs. Hawke, If you are still willing to share, I would love to have a copy of your Gasby quizzes… [...]
Posted: July 2nd, 2009; 11:10 pm »
Hello there,
Your cite is quite impressive. I just found out today that I will be teaching Grade 11 English in summer school on Monday and the Great Gatsby is on the reading list. If you have any time I would appreciate it if you could send me your resources on the Great Gatsby
as it would be so helpful.
I am a new teacher and any help is extremely appreciated. Your website is quite helpful and is great to see.
Thank you,
Melissa