Daily Teaching Tools
Daily Teaching Tools: 10 Graphic Organizers for Download
These graphic organizers will engage students in planning strategies for writing assignments. Students will participate in planning stories and critiques via story maps and critique planning sheets.
Read Works
Read Works: Drawing Conclusions Kindergarten Unit: Short Story
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson plan teaching students to make conclusions based on a sentences and short texts. Students use textual cues to explain how the conclusions were reached. Ideas for direct teaching, guided...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: When I Was Young In, a Literature to Language Experience
Past meets present in this lesson in which students practice verb tense when they write personal short stories that they then publish in a flip book.
Other
Biography Base: Aesop Biography
This is a biography of Aesop, the supposed author of Aesop's Fables, a collection of folktales that use talking animals to teach morals or lessons about life. It also provides of some of his fables.
PBS
Pbs: "Cora Unashamed" in the Classroom
Langston Hughes' short story "Cora Unashamed" was made into a Masterpiece Theatre production. This brief teacher guide offers ideas about using it in the classroom. The site also includes background on the time period, the Harlem...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Real World Conflict Resolution
A unit plan that uses short stories, graphic organizers, and journal writing to get students to think about conflict resolution. Uses "Abd al-Rahmen Ibrahima" by Walter Dean Myers, Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," and...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Plot and the Most Dangerous Game
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart teaches students about plot and gives examples from short story and also highlights vocabulary.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: O. Henry
Have you ever heard of O.Henry and his Texas tales? Use this informative resource featuring links to lesson plans, teaching ideas, biographical information and more.
Read Works
Read Works: Casey Saves the Play
[Free Registration/Login Required] This short literary text passage shares the story of a character who is able to particiapate . This passage is intended for guided practice and is designed to reinforce essential reading comprehension...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Yeshi's Luck by Naomi C. Rose
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see the...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: The Pros and Cons of Discussion
Contains plans for four lessons that use "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. to engage students in a discussion about what constitutes equality. Lessons use re-writes, persuasive essays, computer activities, and informal class...
Penguin Publishing
Penguin Random House: 'Dust' Teaching Guide [Pdf]
"Dust", a novel by Canadian author Arthur Slade, is set in a prairie town during the Depression. The story revolves around a mysterious man with a rainmaking machine who is somehow connected to the disappearance of children in the town....
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Literary Visions
A series of 24 instructional videos, each about 30 minutes in length, designed to teach literary analysis. Topics include Responding to Literature, The Elements of Short Fiction, Tone and Style in Short fiction, The Elements of Poetry,...
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.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Developing Characterization in Carver?s ?A Small, Good Thing
Contains plans for three lessons that teach characterization using Raymond Carver's short story "A Small, Good Thing." In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and sites used in the...
TES Global
Tes: Two Kinda Truth' by Farukh Dhondy
[Free Registration/Login Required] This site provides comprehension and theme-related activities to accompany Farukh Dhondy's short piece "Two Kinda Truth." False stereotypes and evidence of racism will be discussed in the lesson.
Teachnology
Teachnology: Lesson: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
In this lesson, young scholars use the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day as a springboard for writing their own very-bad-day story.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Avoiding Debt
Students read a short story and a handout to learn about excessive debt and ways to avoid or reduce debt.
Georgetown University
Georgetown University: Charlotte Perkins Gillman (1860 1935)
Issues, context and a bibliography of useful sources make this a good first stop when planning to teach Charlotte Perkins Gilman's famous short story.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 11th Grade: Thematic Unit: Values and Beliefs
Complete teaching unit for 11th Grade Thematic Unit: "Values and Beliefs." Students will read 8 short stories that examine how values and beliefs are shaped. They will analyze these stories, and the short story form, while considering...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Character's Decalogue [Pdf]
In this instructional activity learners will write a personal decalogue for themselves, create a decalogue for an imaginary character and then, in the spirit of Because of Winn Dixie By Kate DiCamillo, they will write a short story where...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Critical and Analytical Thinking About Literary Characters
Contains plans for four lessons that use the short story "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry to teach about characterization using word maps. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in...
TES Global
Tes: Character Profile
[Free Registration/Login Required] This site contains a downloadable worksheet for a character profile booklet.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 5th Grade Author Study: Gary Soto
Complete teaching unit for 5th Grade Author Study: Gary Soto. Students will read 4 short stories and 2 poems by Gary Soto that examine romantic and family love. Students will analyze these texts while considering the essential question:...