This lesson plan, intended to help students understand how to analyze a short story. Students use a note-taking chart to help break the story down as they read, then select quotations from the story that reflect their feelings as readers.

This lesson focuses on A Christmas Memory, a short story by Truman Capote. Students read the text independently and answer text-dependent questions before beginning work on a written assignment that accompanies the text.

Students will understand how to interpret long, complex texts by reading this short story written by Isabel Allende and published in the book, Cuentos de Eva Luna.

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In this unit, students will explore great works of American literature and consider how writers reflect the time period in which they write. They will write two literary analysis papers and also work in groups to research and develop anthologies of excellent American stories.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze stories from several 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century American authors. After researching a time period, they select stories from that period to create an anthology. The readings enhance their understanding of the short story, increase their exposure to well-known American authors, and allow them to examine the influence of social, cultural, and political context.
Students examine elements of short stories and have an opportunity for close reading of several American short stories. During these close readings, they examine the ways that short story writers attempt to explore the greater truths of the American experience through their literature.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

If you were to write a short story about this decade, what issues might you focus on?
What defines a short story? Just length?
To what extent do these stories reflect the era or decade in which they were written?
To what extent are the themes they address universal?

CLASSROOM FILMS

History.com has short videos on the Vietnam War (“Vietnam” and “A Soldier's Story”).

In this lesson, students will explore dialogue and speech. They'll work with each other to understand the significance of the language and diction we use and consider how we are judged by the way we speak.

In this lesson, students will define terms related to plot and will “map” the plots of familiar stories. Using “The Tell-Tale Heart” again, they will discuss how writers build and develop plot in their stories.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to Edgar Allan Poe's theory on the “single effect” of the short story. They will read a passage from Poe as well as his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

In this lesson, students will begin to learn about the American short story. They will have an opportunity to practice close reading, and they'll explore the qualities of the short story genre through Quick Writes and discussion.

In this lesson, students learn about the types of irony after an analytical reading of Kate Chopin's classic short story, The Story of an Hour.

In this lesson, students read The Open Window, a short story by Saki that features a twist ending not unlike a horror movie. Students also read The Possibility of Evil, by Shirley Jackson, then compare the texts and examine the different ways they feel about both authors' characters.

This lesson provides examples of how to incorporate a discussion of setting into other parts of short story analysis. Students consider the setting in addition to the characters and themes in an attempt to tie all of the elements of a story together.

This lesson introduces new teaching methods for a classic short story. Students and teachers have access to vocabulary terms, a quiz, a powerpoint with background information on the story, and a handout on how to compare the story to an engaging episode of the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As one of literature's most iconic figures, both Shakespeare's plays and poetry provide an interesting glimpse into a variety of essential themes. In this lesson, students will examine how Shakespeare used the sonnet tradition to enhance his stagecraft by performing a scene from his play Romeo and Juliet.

Lesson plan where students must write an original short story that cannot contain over 100 words.

In this lesson, students complete a comprehensive project based on a short story they've read in class. Students craft a presentation, create a test, and create a puzzle or game based on the story.

In this lesson, students learn or review the elements of a plot by writing their own short stories. To avoid the common problem of students having difficulty ending their stories, students start at the end and work their way backwards through the plot chart to the exposition of the story.

This lesson takes a cross-curricular approach to teaching students about financial literacy through the classic short story, The Devil and Tom Walker. Students read the story and interpret themes about money that can apply to their everyday lives.

In this lesson, students examine Ray Bradbury's use of sensory details in his short story, The Pedestrian. Students discuss descriptive writing, then look for examples of sensory details in the text before revising a previous draft of their own work to strengthen the sensory details it contains.

In this lesson, students examine "The Interlopers," a short story by Saki, in an attempt to find the theme of the tale. Students consider the text and its twist ending, including various elements of short stories, before working in small groups to try and come to a conclusion about what the theme of the story might be.