The Great Gatsby Novel Study

About this resource

Teaching The Great Gatsby and writing the chapter questions the night before each class? This novel study for 10th, 11th and 12th grade does that work. It is made for use with the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (the book is not included; students need their own copy, any edition). The book has nine chapters and each one gets its own question page with five questions on ruled lines: four short answers and one Think Deeper. For every two chapters: a page of ten words to look up. Around them: a setting and context page, a tracker for Nick Carraway, a page for the people in the story, four key symbols (the green light, the valley of ashes, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and Gatsby's car) to find and analyze, four themes, sentence starters, and an essay planner with three prompts and a lined draft page. Every question, symbol and word has an answer key.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (45 pages)

• 24 student pages, every one with a name line, one instruction, and ruled lines or table cells with room to write
• Before You Read: 5 statements to agree or disagree with, revisited after the last chapter
• Setting and Context: a short fact box and a table of 6 places to fill in as the class reads
• 9 question pages, one per chapter: 45 questions in all, 3 ruled lines under a short answer, 5 under each of the 9 Think Deeper questions
• 5 word pages: 45 words to look up, with columns for the page found, the student's own meaning and their own sentence; the last page also has 5 blank rows for words students find on their own
• Nick, Chapter by Chapter: a tracker with a row for each chapter, ending in how Nick sees Gatsby now
• The People in the Story: Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, Myrtle and George Wilson (7 entries)
• Key Symbols, 2 pages: 4 symbols to find in the book, with where, what it stands for, why it matters
• Themes: 4 themes defined (the American Dream, wealth and class, the past, truth and illusion); the student chooses 2 and finds evidence for each
• Sentence Starters: 13 starters for claims, evidence, explanation, then-and-now and endings
• Essay Planner with 3 prompts (claim, three pieces of evidence, so what, ending) and an Essay Draft page
• 9 answer keys: every question (three chapters per page), the key symbols, the 45 words in two keys, the people and themes, the tracker and Before You Read pages, and the setting page, each with a notes box for your own wording
• A Reading Plan: one-line synopsis of each chapter, its study pages, a blank for your dates
• 1 reading log (one row per student page), 1 class grid (15 students), 1 filled example for an invented student
• 1 family page with a discussion question for each part of the book, 1 phrase bank of 16 feedback and conference starters
• 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and terms of use

Built For Grades 10 Through 12

No mascots and no clip art. Clean pages, body text at 11 point or larger, a numbered question and ruled lines under it. The direction on every question page is the same: answer in complete sentences, with a detail from the chapter. The word pages ask students to look each word up and use it, and to write the page where they met it. The book includes a violent act, a fatal car accident and a shooting. The questions ask what the book shows and leave the discussion to your class; preview the later chapters and decide how you will frame them.

Type In, Or Print

The name, date and period lines, every ruled line, the word, setting and character tables, the reading log, class grid and family page are type-in fields in any PDF reader. Every page prints clean in black and white. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

High school ELA in 10th, 11th and 12th grade, resource rooms and co-taught classes, homeschool families and tutors reading this novel in any month. Some questions are about events; the open ones have a "look for" key, so check the chapter notes against the edition in your room before you grade.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A complete novel study with the record-keeping around it. There is no rubric or point value printed on any student page; the log has a blank for your own wording. It is not a test, a reading-level screener or a clinical tool, and it makes no claim about any student's grade level or rate of progress. The novel itself is not included and none of its text is reproduced beyond a few short phrases.

This resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by any publisher or edition of The Great Gatsby.