High school students need guided practice to attain mastery of the close and critical literary reading and analysis skills that the Common Core Standards demand. In Mastering Close Reading: 99 Practice Passages on Motif, Subject, and Theme, authors and veteran high school teachers Kara Mopps and Caitlin Joyner give teachers the classroom-proven tools that will build critical-, close- and active-reading skills: ready-made, differentiated exercises for 99 prose- and poetry-based passages from familiar authors that can be used flexibly as bell ringers, full-period explications, homework assignments, or even a mix of all three; a systematic, skill-building approach that begins with understanding how to identify motifs and subjects of an excerpt, continues with determining the more specified subject phrase, and culminates with ascertaining theme to construct thematic statements; individual and cooperative learning activities that support standards-based skills and strategies in reading, writing, discussion, interpretation, synthesis, and critical thinking that help students complete end-of-course examinations, state assessments, and college entrance tests; teacher notes for each exercise, including detailed and insightful suggested responses; and reproducible student handouts with helpful hints and quick-reference lists for practice and mastery. These adaptable, time-saving exercises elevate the level of analysis in your classroom and help you meet the demands of state and national assessments, curriculum objectives, and the Common Core Standards.