Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to hone their close reading and literary analysis skills. After annotating their copy of the story, writer's craft an essay in which they analyze...

After reviewing the elements of the short story, learners develop a script and storyboard from a published or original story. Students then film and edit a video of the story to present during a class film festival.

Familiar fairy tales are used as guides to help students analyze the elements of the short story: plot, theme, setting, point of view, and character.

This is an online study guide/notes for the collection of short stories "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" by Flannery O'Connor including author information, literary elements, short story summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.

This is a complete online study guide/notes for the short story collection The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.

This is a complete online study guide/notes for the historical novel Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.

This is an online study guide/notes for the novel Bleachers by John Grisham including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.

This mystery-writing lesson focuses on the structure of a short story and the elements of a mystery in particular. Students complete the entire writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Students...

This is the seventh installment of a series giving advice to the author who is new to writing novels. This article focuses on how to take your characters and use them and their conflicts to develop the plot of your story. W.9-10.3b...

This is a complete online study guide/notes for the novel The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.

This is an online study guide/notes for the non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis. The book tells the stories of six...

This writing tutorial focuses on helping the aspiring author find a good place to start on his or her fiction.