Guided Reading: The Declaration of Independence

This guided reading printable and answer key will lead students through the challenging text of The Declaration of Independence. It is set up as a double-sided journal. In one column is the text of the text, and the other column contains questions about the text with space for students to annotate.

The directions refer to a logical, emotional, and ethical appeal handout, which I offer for free in my store. However, students may be able to answer these questions without the handout if they are familiar with rhetorical appeals.

I have used this guide successfully in 10th grade language arts classes during a unit on argument and founding documents. It helps scaffold the task of close, analytical reading for less experienced students. It works well with the teacher guiding the reading and annotation, with students working in pairs, or with students working independently. There are many good audio and video files of The Declaration, which students could listen to/watch as they read along and annotate.

NOTE: This lesson will soon be bundled with two other founding documents ("The Crisis, No. 1" and Patrick Henry's Speech to the Virginia Convention) guided reading lessons! This bundle should be available the week of Sept. 21. Stay tuned!