Curated OER
Short Story Framework
The class gets creative after listening to a short story containing a definitive structure. They are required to think about character, relationship, and setting, while attempting to show rather than tell, in their writing. Dialogue,...
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Frame Story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
Mark Twain's frame story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" provides an opportunity for a study of this story-within-a-story pattern. Using an illustrated template, class members record a plot summary of the frame story...
K20 LEARN
A Stone's Throw Away - The Dangers Of Tradition: The Lottery
Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is the anchor text for a lesson that teaches young readers how to use the Tip of the Iceberg strategy to go below the surface of a tale. After reading the short story and an article about the...
K20 LEARN
Being Mindful Of Sadness In "The Scarlet Ibis": Theme And Characterization
James Hurst's short story "The Scarlet Ibis" provides readers with an opportunity to consider how they can support others who are experiencing distress. Participants learn self-care tips and connect to the short story's characters. They...
Digital Writing and Research Lab's – Lesson Plans
Teaching Close Reading through Short Composition/Revision
This activity may have writers evaluate short compositions, but their subjects are quite tall: great Americans. Pupils read one another's compositions and closely examine how specific phrases and diction contribute to shaping American...
Literacy Design Collaborative
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to hone their close reading and literary analysis skills. After annotating their copy of the story, writer's craft an essay in which they analyze...
K20 LEARN
Active Or Passive?—"The Monkey's Paw": Grammar/Language Usage
Don't you wish you could use passive voice? Be careful what you wish for! "The Monkey's Paw" is the focus of a grammar and language usage instructional activity about active and passive voice. Readers identify examples of active and...
K20 LEARN
"The Interlopers": Are You Ready to Rumble? Conflict, Motivation, and Setting
Capulets and Montagues. Sharks and Jets. Nortenos and Surenos. Gradwitzes and Znaeyms? Hector Hugh Munro's short story "The Interlopers" invites high schoolers to consider the causes of conflicts and reflect on what it takes to resolve...
K20 LEARN
Exploring Conflict And Theme: Engaging With "The Necklace"
Teach young scholars how to determine the theme of a story, an insight the author wants to share with readers, with a lesson that uses Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" as an anchor text. Learners examine the internal and external...
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Comparing Characters Across Two Short Stories
Ninth graders listen to a read aloud of two short stories focusing on literary devices. The write about the settings and realism of the stories, and decide each main character handles the conflict he faces with nature.
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Ollie the Own Says: WHO
Scholars examine the strategy of making a story map or outline to identify the main elements of a story. They discuss the who, what, where, when, why, and how of a story, in an outline form. As a class they read a short story, answer the...
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Elements of a Short Story
Learners read a short story and then map out the elements of a short story using "Inspiration" software. They read 'Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allen Poe.
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Compare and Contrast: Literary Analysis
Great for a reading intervention or remedial Language Arts class, this lesson uses two stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III ("Terri Jackson" and "Mary Lou" to reinforce note-taking skills, story elements, and comparing and...
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Spooky Analysis
Focus on building suspense as well as evaluating web sites through creative writing. After introducing the idea of suspense and holding a discussion, class members complete a WebQuest, during which they find inspiration for their own...
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What If: The Seed Of A Story
Young scholars read and comprehend a piece of fictional writing, analyze how setting, characterization, and plot affect the theme of a story and work in a group to create a new writing assignment. This 5-day plan culminates in students...
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Identifying the Theme in a Story
Students recognize Theme through the use of simple, short stories. Using Pro Quest, students begin by researching the literary element, theme, and how it can be identified. They then identify the themes in Aesop's Fables and other short...
Curated OER
Literary Analysis - Young Goodman Brown
Why is literary analysis so important? Readers explore writing a literary analysis by reviewing literary elements such as character, metaphor, plot, setting, simile, personification, and style. They read "Young Goodman Brown" by...
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Peer Editing
Sudents read and critique three of their fellow classmates' science fiction short stories on three consecutive days for mechanics, short story elements, style, and informational elements.
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INTERPRETING A WORK OF ART THROUGH CREATIVE WRITING
Pupils create a story based upon their interpretation of a work of art. The story displays students' knowledge of writing conventions, elements of a short story, literary conflict and use of descriptive text.
Curated OER
Talk To Me About It
Students present an analysis of a short story. Working in small groups, students prepare a presentation of up to 30 minutes analyzing the major elements in a story they have read. Completed presentations are given to the class and...
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Write Me a Mystery
Eleventh graders, in groups, pre-write, draft, edit and revise a murder mystery short story to hone their skills in short story drafting, editing and revision, group collaboration and computer usage. They also evaluate writing for both...
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The Element of Color
Eighth graders study and analyze the elements of color by creating an personalized color wheel. Emphasis is placed on constructive criticism of student work by others for assessment. Students create short poems for their color wheel...
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Telling A Story
Students discover that every story has a start, middle and end. In this literature lesson, the teacher models using a picture to show the parts of the story. Students each take a picture and tell a story using start, middle and end.
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Elements of Fiction
Students identify key story elements in a fiction text. In this literacy lesson plan, students are introduced to the various elements of fiction such as the setting, plot, and theme. Students read a short story of their choice and...