Penguin Books
Educator's Guide: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is filled with secrets. Help readers find the clues, solve the riddles and puzzles, and unwrap the mysteries with a six-page guide that includes before, during, and after reading discussion questions and...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Three Skeleton Key
Encourage your learners to interact with the text as they read. While reading "Three Skeleton Key," class members note predictions, define words and study their meanings, take notes on how the suspense builds, and jot down ideas about...
Curated OER
Perfecting My Pal's Poe Paragraph
After analyzing the compelling first paragraph of Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death," high schoolers draft original opening paragraphs using techniques identified Poe's writing. The relationship between suspense...
Curated OER
Creepy Read Week
Here's a clever technology twist to writing in the round. Participants rotate through a series of computers adding to stories and editing by keystroke and mouse click. "Locked" forms prevent the loss of stories filled with suspense and...
Curated OER
Vocabulary in Context: Test Yourself with the New York Times
Drawn from the New York Times' superb Learning Network program, this multiple choice question checks readers' knowledge of two vocabulary words in a paragraph from a review of the 2011 film Take Shelter. An interactive answer key clearly...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
Fifth graders study narrative writing. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders review how an author uses vivid verbs, imagery, and adjectives to capture reader's attention. Students explore literary devices of foreshadowing, flashback...
Curated OER
Number the Stars, Lesson 3
Students consider how an author creates a feeling of suspense in a reader's mind. They analyze characters in the story. Students make a character map for Peter. They discuss how suspense unfolds in the novel Number the Stars.
Georgia Department of Education
Creating Suspense
Fifth graders practice creating suspense in writing. In this narrative lesson, 5th graders read stories that create suspense through the use of cliff- hangers. They use cliff-hangers in their own writing.
Curated OER
Story Writing
Young scholars examine story writing. In this writing lesson, students discuss the structure of a story and create a story using suspense and character description with dialogue.
Curated OER
Round Robin Suspense
Pupils, in groups, write suspense stories. At the end of a timed period, they pass the story to the next student to continue it. At the last writing session, the papers are returned to the originators and they share the stories with the...
Curated OER
Classic Short Stories- Locked Room Settings
Students read the short story "The Problem of Cell 13" and examine the plot devices that build suspense. In this instructional activity students create their own short story using the same locked room setting.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: The Hound of the Baskervilles
View, read and discuss Conan Doyle's tale, "The Hound of Baskersvilles," and compare and contrast the story with the film. Explore the genres and elements of mystery and suspense that are present, and analyze characters, especially...
![Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Evil Lurks [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Evil Lurks [Pdf] Activity")
Chase Young, PhD
Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Evil Lurks [Pdf]
A reader's theater script for a suspenseful piece, Evil Lurks, is provided on these pages. Six character roles are needed in this activity.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Short Stories: Instruction Page 2: Short Stories
This lesson focues on plot, irony, and suspense as seen in short stories by Richard Connell and Edgar Allan Poe. It defines each term and provides examples.
TES Global
Tes: An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will complete this reading guide for J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls as they read or as a reflective reading activity. Students will be able to analyze characters, the historical context,...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Nighttime in Texas"
[Free Registration/Login Required] The paired passages "Flying Blind" and "Nighttime in Texas" are both suspenseful. Question sets are provided for each separately and combined.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway:writing an Engaging Story With Literary Strategies to Enhance Plot
You will be able to use various literary strategies and devices, including dialogue and suspense, to enhance the plot in a short story. W.11-12.3b Narratives
Chase Young, PhD
Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: "The Bad News" [Pdf]
A reader's theater script for Alvin Swartz's short story, "The Bad News" from More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, is provided on these pages. Five character roles are needed in this activity.
Chase Young, PhD
Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Roger and the Three Knocks [Pdf]
A reader's theater script for Roger and the Three Knocks is provided on these pages. Six character roles are needed in this activity.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Lois Duncan
What do you know about the life and work of Lois Duncan? This site features links to several of her books that contain lesson plans, teaching guides and more.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Richard Peck
What do you know about Richard Peck's life and work as an author? Use this informative site to learn more about this young adult author and to find resources for lesson plans.
TES Global
Tes: The Dark Beneath by Alan Gibbons
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PowerPoint presentation includes incremental steps that will help students write a language analysis essay of Alan Gibbons' The Dark Beneath.
Chem Tutor
Wyzant: Lessons: Chemistry: Other Types of Mixtures
A discussion of the "other" mixtures, colloids and suspensions. A good overview of these types of mixtures. It also provides a table of the properties of colloids.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Suspense
This slideshow focuses on the use of suspense in fiction by stating the purpose of suspense, discussing four ways authors create suspense, showing that all forms of literature contain suspense, and presenting an example with John...