W.W. Jacobs' story "The Monkey's Paw" provides plenty of foreshadowing which readers use to make predictions in this tightly composed, sound instructional plan. Your class reads the story, recording predictions and checking for veracity...

Here's a clever technology twist to writing in the round. Participants rotate through a series of computers adding to stories and editing by keystroke and mouse click. "Locked" forms prevent the loss of stories filled with suspense and...

Examine foreshadowing with your emerging writers. First, define the technique, and then search the first three chapters of Barbara Haworth-Attard's Home Child for examples. 

S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders is still relatable to teenagers today, even though it was written more than 50 years ago. Explore how the figurative language of the story works to establish characterization, and how foreshadowing lays...

"What happens next?" Using real-life scenarios, movies, images, and other prompts, pupils practice making predictions based on inferences from clues. A SMART board activity takes them from making predictions to writing a prediction...

Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...

Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...

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....

Here's a strategy that can be used with any narrative, whether read by the instructor or as independent reading. At the end of each chapter, learners predict, using prior knowledge as clues, what will happen in the next chapter. Readers...

Students explore racial prejudice in South Africa through the reading of "A South African Storm" by Allison Howard. In this cultural and geography lesson, students discuss ethnicity and prejudices and cite examples from the letter....

Fifth graders study narrative writing. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders review how an author uses vivid verbs, imagery, and adjectives to capture reader's attention. Students explore literary devices of foreshadowing, flashback...

Encourage your middle schoolers to interact with the text as they read. While reading "Three Skeleton Key," class members note predictions, define words and study their meanings, take notes on how the suspense builds, and jot down...

Here's an activity that uses a reading comprehension strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy to focus readers' attention on key passages from Edward Bloor's Tangerine. Worthy of a place in your curriculum library.

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 lesson 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.

What is this thing called the Internet? A KWL activity elicits what the class knows about how the Internet works. Then pupils read a copy of a memo about the need to keep the Internet open and accessible by everyone. 

The manipulation of time is one of the most essential elements in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As your language arts class participates in a jigsaw discussion activity, they work together to analyze the play's plot structure and...

Students discuss examples of foreshadowing and find information about the Maori culture in Whale Rider.  In this Whale Rider activity, students define foreshadowing and find examples.  Students evaluate whether...

Students read the novel, Music from a Place Called Half Moon. They are assigned chapters to analyze for literary elements and to assign titles to the book chapters.

Seventh graders read the novel, The Light in the Forest. They work in groups to research and create artifacts for a Native American Living Museum. They complete a Powerpoint presentation of their virtual museum to classmates.

Students read and discuss Act V, Scene 1. They define foreshadowing and identify examples of it from the text. They edit a partner's diary entry. They identify key ideas from the scene.

Students read two classic short stories by Kate Chopin and write a comparison of the stories. For this short story comparison lesson, students read 'Desiree's Baby' and 'The Story of an Hour' and analyze the foreshadowing and irony....

Students explore Shakespeare's words. In this literature lesson, students memorize and recite a dramatic interpretation of a passage from Julius Caesar.

This discussion guide accompanies the fiction book Midnight Magic written by Avi, enforces story elements, inferences, and theme/plot. Have the class work on it over time, it will engage even your reluctant readers.