Description
Have your students dive into Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart with Character Collabs, a fun, engaging, and collaborative character analysis project that brings this chilling short story to life.
In this activity, students analyze the Narrator and the Old Man using multiple methods of characterization to explore personality traits, motivations, relationships, and psychological tension. Through close reading, inference, and textual evidence, students demonstrate a deeper understanding of Poe’s exploration of guilt, obsession, and unreliable narration.
Students present their analysis on a collaborative poster, blending literary thinking with creativity to make analysis both memorable and meaningful. This hands-on approach boosts comprehension and retention while strengthening critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills. The completed posters also serve as impactful classroom displays that reinforce key characters and ideas from the text.
This project is ideal for teaching short story analysis, characterization, theme, and Edgar Allan Poe, helping students engage with complex ideas in an accessible and creative way.
Everything you need for smooth implementation is included, featuring a comprehensive teacher guide, clear student directions, a holistic rubric, and a brainstorm character analysis worksheet to support thoughtful planning. You’ll also receive blank coloring pages for each character, answer keys, an example of a completed project, and digitally colored sample posters for every character. Editable versions of the directions, rubric, and brainstorm worksheet are provided for easy customization.
Each poster is made up of six pieces of paper that can be printed on standard copy paper or cardstock and assembled into a final display measuring 28” x 15” once completed.
Perfect for middle school and high school ELA, this Poe character analysis project transforms The Tell-Tale Heart into an engaging, collaborative learning experience students won’t forget.