Phone-Free English in NYC High Schools: Printable Text Analysis Units
Phone-Free English in NYC High Schools: Printable Text Analysis Units
Yes, a New York City high school English class can run full analysis and writing units with every phone put away. The High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle gives you nine units, from characterization and argumentative essays to Macbeth, Orwell's 1984 and political speeches, built on printed worksheets, discussion and written work. It costs $109.99 and downloads right after purchase.
See the nine ELA unitsFor New York City high school English teachers working under the city's Cell Phone and Electronic Device Policy, the High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle ($109.99) is a practical fit. Its nine units cover analysis vocabulary, characterization, argumentative essays, political cartoons, speeches and rhetoric, Macbeth, Orwell's 1984, the American Dream, and listening and viewing comprehension. Students read and write on paper. It is not written for New York and is not aligned to the state's standards.
The resources
High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle, Grades 9–12
9 resources in one download: $109.99 instead of $224.91 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle | Fiction, Speeches, Essays, Macbeth & 1984 | 9 Units | Grades 9–12
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for High School ELA (Grades 9–12)
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School ELA
Teach-Life-Balance: The Complete Time-Saving Course for Teachers (incl. Planner, Guides & Templates)
The real problem
What changed in a city English room when the phones went away
Since the 2025–26 school year, students in New York City Public Schools may not use personal internet-enabled devices during the school day. The rule is the city's Cell Phone and Electronic Device Policy, an amendment to Chancellor's Regulation A-413 that the Panel for Educational Policy approved on July 23, 2025, and it puts the state's school cell phone mandate into practice. In an English class the change shows up in small habits. Students can no longer pull up a poem on their phone, photograph the board, look up a word mid-discussion or read the assigned speech on a screen. If the text is not on the desk, it is not in the lesson. That pushes teachers back to printed passages, annotation by hand and talk that runs without a search bar. At the same time, the high school English standards have been settling in: the New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards started in grades 9–10 in September 2024 and in grade 11 in September 2025. And the city's May 21, 2026 announcement brought NYC Reads, the citywide literacy initiative, to high schools for the first time, so many departments are rethinking their reading materials anyway. Supplementary units have to sit next to whatever your school uses, not replace it.
Why it fits
Why these units work without devices
The bundle was built for print and digital classrooms, and its paper side carries a lesson on its own.
- Analysis Vocabulary and Operators gives students the words for annotation before any phone-free close reading starts.
- The Macbeth unit lets a class work through drama analysis with printed scenes and written tasks.
- Orwell's 1984 and the dystopia unit turn surveillance and screens into a discussion topic instead of a distraction.
- Analysing Political Speeches trains rhetoric and stylistic devices with a printed speech and a pen.
- Analysing Cartoons – Step by Step works entirely from an image on paper, ideal for warm-up analysis.
- Writing a Comment and Argumentative Essay builds the planning, drafting and editing routine on paper.
Getting started
A five-step way to slot the bundle into your semester
One possible order for a 9th or 10th grade section; shift it for juniors and seniors as you see fit.
- Start with the analysis vocabularyTeach the operators and analysis words in the first week. Every later unit uses them, and students who already know them annotate faster and more precisely on paper.
- Move into characterizationUse Characterisation and Analysing Fiction with a short story your school already owns, so students practice the method on a printed text they can mark up by hand.
- Teach argument before rhetoricRun the argumentative essay unit first, then the political speeches unit. Students who have already written an argument of their own spot rhetorical moves more quickly.
- Give a full text its own blockChoose Macbeth or 1984 as a longer block of several weeks. Print the worksheets per scene or chapter and keep the answer keys at your desk for checking.
- Use cartoons and listening for flex daysKeep Analysing Cartoons and the listening and viewing practice pack for shortened days, sub coverage or any day the bell schedule changes at short notice.
What to buy
Which ELA purchase makes sense for your classroom
If you teach high school English and want ready units for the year's core analysis and writing topics, buy the High School ELA Text Analysis & Writing Bundle at $109.99; the nine parts cost $224.91 separately. If you need a fully structured course with carefully sequenced units across grades 9–12, ELA Complete – High School starts at $149.90, or $189.90 with the Teach-Life-Balance course. Colleagues in grades 6–8 should look at ELA Complete – Middle School ($149.90) instead. TEACHMORE15 applies only when you buy two or more Complete Curriculum packages, not to this bundle.
Honest limits
Where the bundle stops
These units are not written for New York City or New York State. They carry no New York standards codes, no NYC Reads materials and no connection to any district program, so check them against the Next Generation ELA standards and your school's plan yourself. You supply the full texts of Macbeth or 1984 if your class reads them in full, plus printing. Slides need whatever classroom screen you already have. A department sharing one copy should send Teach Lessons a short message first. If the bundle is not a fit, you can exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value, not cash.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is this aligned to New York's Next Generation ELA standards?
No. The bundle is not aligned to, approved by or endorsed for the New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards, and it is not part of NYC Reads. It covers widely taught high school skills such as characterization, argument and rhetoric. Read the unit list on the product page and compare it with the standards and your school's curriculum before you buy.
Do students need phones or laptops for any of the units?
No device is required for students. The worksheets, tasks and answer keys print, and the slides are for you to project on the screen your room already has. That makes the units usable under the city's Cell Phone and Electronic Device Policy without any workaround.
What about the listening and viewing comprehension unit?
That practice pack is about listening and viewing skills, so you play the material from your own classroom setup while students answer on paper. Nothing in the policy stops a teacher from using the room's screen. If your room has no projector, keep this unit for a day when you can book one.
Does the bundle include the full text of Macbeth or 1984?
The product lists the units as Shakespeare – Analysing a Drama (Macbeth) and Dystopia – Orwell's 1984 and Beyond. Plan to use the copies of the play and the novel your school already has. The units give you the analysis tasks and answer keys around them. Check your book room before you plan the block.
Can my whole English department use one purchase?
The license covers use in your own teaching. If several English teachers in your school want to use the bundle, send Teach Lessons a short message before buying so the team use can be cleared. Redistribution and posting the files publicly are not allowed. A short note is enough.
What if the units do not suit my classes?
Check the parts list and grade range on the product page first. If the bundle still turns out not to fit, you can exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value. It is store credit, not a cash refund. The credit can go toward another unit or bundle.
Paper, pens and a text worth arguing about
Open the product page, read the nine unit titles and see which ones fit the rest of your semester.
See the nine ELA units