Beyond the Price

This thought-provoking reading and writing worksheet is designed for students in Grades 9, 10, and 11 to strengthen higher-order comprehension and synthesis skills through cross-genre analysis. Students read a nonfiction article and a poem with contrasting tones to examine how each text critiques materialism and consumer culture, focusing on theme, message, tone, and social commentary while practicing evidence-based analysis and synthesis writing.

Academic Focus

• Comparing Texts Across Genres (Grades 9-11)
  Students analyze how nonfiction and poetry address the same topic using different forms and techniques.
• Theme & Social Commentary
  Learners identify central ideas about materialism and evaluate how each text conveys its message.
• Tone & Author’s Purpose
  Students examine how tone shapes meaning and influences reader response.
• Synthesis & Evidence-Based Writing
  The activity requires combining ideas from both texts into a cohesive analytical paragraph.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource
  Designed by educators to align with secondary ELA standards for analysis and synthesis.
• Cross-Genre Literacy
  Helps students transfer reading strategies between informational and literary texts.
• Structured Analytical Prompts
  Questions guide students from comparison to synthesis without limiting interpretation.
• Flexible Classroom Use
  Ideal for thematic units, poetry studies, nonfiction analysis, or assessment prep.

This printable worksheet gives students meaningful practice with comparative reading, thematic analysis, and synthesis across genres. By examining how different texts critique consumer culture, learners strengthen critical thinking, textual analysis, and academic writing skills. Suitable for classroom instruction or homeschool use, this no-prep resource supports deeper engagement with complex ideas and helps students confidently integrate multiple sources into clear, evidence-based responses.

This worksheet is part of our Grade 10 Reading Comprehension collection.