Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour" and John H. Young's "Our Deportment, or the Manners, Conduct, and Dress of Refined Society" offer high school juniors an opportunity to compare the role of women in the 19th century with...

How should pupils read short stories? Set them up for this unit with an introductory lesson that goes over the main characteristics of a short story and starts learners off reading their first short story of the unit. In order to get a...

TV for homework? Your pupils' dreams have come true! After reading Sandra Cisneros's "Eleven," they analyze the elements of the story, particularly the plot and and climax. The lesson could work with any short story that you are using to...

Help your pupils track the plot of a short story with this SMART Board activity. Using the short story "The Dinner Party" by Mona Gardner (though the instructional activity would work with any other short story), they define the...

The second lesson plan in a series of fourteen, this plan takes the short story basics a step further. Learners complete a quiz about the story from the previous day, discuss the text, learn about Anton Chekhov, and work in groups to...

Do your young authors suffer from writer's block when they try to write short stories? Access their natural creativity with C-Gor, the writing monster! The instructional activity takes aspiring authors through a new writing process...

Introduce your class to Glogster with this literary analysis lesson. At the end of your short story unit, they choose one literary element to apply to three short stories and make an online poster using Glogster. Samples are included. If...

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

Students compare two paintings, depicting urban life in America in the 1940's, answering a series of questions, then create a short story about the paintings' characters. They compare 'Nighthawks' and 'Nightlife.'

Seventh graders view a PowerPoint presentation about short story elements. They complete a plot diagram using a previously read short story. Students brainstorm events in the story. They discuss the difference between major and less...

Using the SMART Board, teacher reviews the elements of a short story while students follow along in their notebook. Continuing with the SMART Board, teacher introduces the definition of plot and the five parts as students take notes....

First graders will be creating and filling in a graphic organizer using Kidspiration, as a pre-writing activity for their short story piece. They then use their graphic organizers to write their entire short story. Once written, the...

A reading of Kevin Lamb's short story "Lost in the Woods" launches a study of how writers use elements such as foreshadowing, mood, character development, setting, and conflict to engage readers. Class members then demonstrate what they...

Ray Bradbury's short story "A Sound of Thunder" is the anchor text in a activity that asks high schoolers to find examples of cause, effect, and foreshadowing in the tale. They then create a brochure advertising trips with Time Travel, Inc.

Encourage scholars to retell their favorite short story or folktale, adding personal details to make it their own. After reading their book of choice several times, story tellers retell a tale verbally to their classmates. 

There is more going on under the surface of Ernest Hemingway's work than one can glean in an initial reading. A literature resource compares the themes and structures of several of Hemingway's works before prompting class members to use...

After reading background information about Kate Chopin, pupils complete their shared reading of her short story, "The Story of an Hour."  Participants then consider the irony of the ending.

Students define and interpret the elements found in a short story. Then they identify the elements of plot found in a short story. Students also apply knowledge of plot to an original work of fiction. Finally, they identify the...

Introduce your class to Edgar Allan Poe with a series of mostly self-guided tasks and assignments. Class members follow the list of tasks, starting by watching a video with background information and ending with a compare-and-contrast...

Students engage in a lesson that investigates the elements that are necessary in a short story. Each element is covered separately while they take notes for each part. Then the teacher points out each element while reading a short story...

Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is a bit of a puzzle. Critics have long debated Montresor's motives for killing Fortunato. Young scholars examine examples of the three types of irony (verbal, dramatic, and...

Use this SMART board activity with any short story in your unit plan. The SMART board file contains a step-by-step guide to plot diagrams, including an interactive practice page and an assignment. This resource is beneficial for language...

Students write and publish a short story using KidPix computer software. They discuss the basic elements of a story, observe a demonstration of how to use KidPix, select a setting and characters, and print out their background picture to...

Somebody. Wanted. But. Then. Introduce your classes to the structure that supports stories with a lesson plan that teaches readers how to identify the four basic components writers use to craft their tales. After identifying these...