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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

A Stone's Throw Away - The Dangers Of Tradition: The Lottery

For Teachers 9th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

#Summarize: Summarizing

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
What are the effects of one's life experiences? Class members view a slam poetry reading, a speech by President Obama, and read a short story by John Steinbeck about responding to tragedies. They summarize these events and then craft a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Totally Different Stories: Perspective

For Teachers 9th Standards
Two stories by Kate Chopin provide high school freshmen with an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the perspective from which a story is told. Class members read "The Story of an Hour" and a passage from The Awakening, then...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 5

For Teachers 9th Standards
Finding the central idea in a text is equally important in fiction and nonfiction. Work on analyzing a piece of writing for the central idea with Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," complete with supporting...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hispanic and English Literature

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders listen to a brief history instructional activity about the 40's and 50's mid-West America and the Migrant workers that worked the fields. Next, learners will read a short story written by Tomas Rivera (both in Spanish...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analysis of Character in a Short Story

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine a character from the short story, John Steinbeck's, "Flight." students respond to questions about the story and illustrate the character's journey.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Short Stories to Teach Vocabulary and Literary Terms

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers apply vocabulary activities to two short stories in order to increase their comprehension skills. They complete three lessons in which they examine irony, examine how it is used in text, and design an ironic skit. Also,...
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Lesson Plan
Maine Content Literacy Project

Introduction to John Updike

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Expand your pupils' understanding of the short story genre with a study of John Updike and his story "A&P." This lesson, the fourth in a series of fourteen, invites learners to examine literary terms and read and discuss the story....
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Pre-Reading Vocabulary Activities Using "The Gift of the Magi"

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
The rich language of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is only appreciable if you understand the words. A short lesson reviews 13 words from the story and prompts class members to apply each word and its definition to other situations.
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Lesson Plan
Urban Ministry

Interactive Read Aloud

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Learning how to deliver good literacy instruction is key to becoming a successful teacher. This resource isn't so much a lesson as it is a guide to leading children in an interactive read-aloud session to increase fluency, comprehension,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Short Story Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students read and discuss the short story, "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm," by Mark Twain. They assume the role of the main characters in the story and write a humorous letter of complaint using a business letter format. They...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 14

For Teachers 9th Standards
Karen Russell's short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" has a unique structure that adds value to the story. With the fourteenth activity in a unit about literary analysis and textual support, analyze how Russell has...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 17

For Teachers 9th Standards
Eighth graders demonstrate their understanding with the final assessment in a literary analysis unit based on Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." Having prepared for the assessment in the last few...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Good Man is Hard to Find

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Pupils, in groups, read and analyze the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. They present their findings tot he rest of the class and then connect the various themes discussed to outside material, events...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character Sketches

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students are introduced to the types of characters found in short stories. They read a short story in class and produce sketches of the protagonist and antagonist. Finally, they create their own characters and write about them in their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Fiction: Using Older Characters

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Out with the old and in with the new? Not so in this lesson plan, which explores the idea of writing older characters in fiction. Students learn the value of varying their characters, exploring different perspectives, and avoiding...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Parts of the Plot: Constructing a Plot Diagram

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders conduct a plot diagram for a short story. They identify the problem, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. Students are able to sequence events in a story, and identify the parts of the plot...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Multiple Perspectives

For Teachers 6th Standards
Analyze multiple perspectives in short stories. Sixth graders examine the point of view of each major character in three different short stories. After reading the stories, they role-play characters and hypothesize about the character's...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Noisy Nora, Studious Students: Story Elements

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classic Short Stories by Kate Chopin

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Learners read two classic short stories by Kate Chopin and write a comparison of the stories. For this short story comparison lesson plan, students read 'Desiree's Baby' and 'The Story of an Hour' and analyze the foreshadowing and irony....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classic Short Stories - Locked Room Settings

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students read "The Problem of Cell 13" by Jacques Futrelle and explore the mystery genre. In this mystery genre lesson, students read the short story and discuss the author's inclusion of locked room settings. Students then write their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Comparison and Contrast - Two Short Stories

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers investigate writing techniques by analyzing 2 stories written by Edgar Allen Poe.  In this language arts instructional activity, students choose two Edgar Allen Poe short stories to read and take notes on the setting,...
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Lesson Plan
CPALMS

Analyzing Vonnegut's View of the Future and His Commentary on the Present in Harrison Bergeron

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" engages adolescents with its theme about the dangers of complete societal equality. Learners complete a graphic organizer to track literary elements in the story, as well as an inference...
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Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

Star Wars and the Hero's Journey

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Is Luke Skywalker the archetype of a literary hero? Follow the path of the Hero's Journey with an engaging lesson that details the plot structure, applies it to Star Wars: A New Hope, and invites class members to choose their own example...