Texas Instruments
Collaborating on Flashback
Explore a flashback in a story with readers. They will read a story, identify the flashback in the story, then evaluate how the flashback is used. Using the NoteFolio, students analyze the meaning and merit of a flashback in a story....
Vanier College
Analyzing Short Stories/Novels
Good questions can help focus readers' attention on the elements writers use to add depth to their stories. The questions on this worksheet do just that and encourage readers to think critically about a story and author's purpose.
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
Curated OER
Incorporating Flashbacks in Narrative Text - The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis
After watching a video segment of an interview with one of the survivors of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, young writers create an original narrative that utilizes flashback to tell the L.D. Cox's story. Writers determine who or...
Curated OER
Educator's Guide: Holes
You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...
Curated OER
Lesson 3: Exception Questions in Stories with a Flashback
Fourth graders respond to a text using textual evidence to support their answers to questions. Students observe the teacher model a quick warm up on the chronological sequence of events from the passage, Leaving Home. In this literacy...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 4: Level 8
Need a quick but comprehensive reading strategies exercise? Even your most reluctant readers will be engaged by the story of a nuclear reactor explosion at a top-secret Idaho base. After reading the short passage, learners answer nine...
Curated OER
Chronological Order of Events in a Story with a Flashback
Fourth graders read the story Leaving Home and put the story events in chronological order. In this chronological order lesson plan, 4th graders use index cards and refer to the flashbacks in the story.
Curated OER
A Little Mystery and Intrigue in Writing Short Detective Stories
Students read and analyze the twelve short stories in the novel "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." They create their own detective that has to solve a new kind of crime, and write and edit a short story with their original detective as...
Curated OER
Flashbacks
Students create a piece of original fiction utilizing flashbacks. Students define and identify the use of flashbacks in the novel Holes. Definitions and examples are recorded in student journals. They use their examples as springboard...
Hampton-Brown
Esperanza Rising
Accompany a reading of the novel, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, with a series of lessons that dive deep into the literary world of a young girl and the journey she takes to start a new life. Lessons and their...
Curated OER
Ingredients For a Great Story
Focus on writing with this presentation. It includes a list of the ingredients of a great story. It is an interesting and thorough exploration of this topic. This is a great presentation to show to your class before a creative writing...
ReadWriteThink
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a comic strip combines both images and words for the ultimate narrative effect. After reading The Three Little Pigs and deciphering the plot elements, elementary readers work through four...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Love, jealousy, hatred! Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera has it all. Whether or not you have used Gaston Leroux's novel with your classes, you will find much value in this resource. The guide includes background information, an...
Curated OER
Story vs. Plot
Students, after reading and discussing the two texts by Flannery O'Connor, "Good Country People" and "Greenleaf," analyze the plot, tone, characters, themes and setting in each story. They write their own short stories dealing with a...
Shoop English
Literature Terms Activity
Designed to be used with an independent reading book, this activity provides practice with identifying and explaining literary terms. While they read, individuals find instances of literary devices and elements in use in their books....
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
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...
EngageNY
Analyzing Text Structure: To Kill a Mockingbird (Chapter 2)
Scholars use the Narrative Structure graphic organizer to analyze the structure of the smaller stories within To Kill a Mockingbird. They talk with a partner to discuss how the structure adds meaning.
Curated OER
Building a Literature Pyramid
Students create a literature pyramid. They review and discuss their assessment task and rubric and select the literature for their pyramid. They read the literary selection and complete a pyramid sheet for one of the four literary...
Curated OER
Comparing Characters Across Two Short Stories
Ninth graders listen to a read aloud of two short stories focusing on literary devices. The write about the settings and realism of the stories, and decide each main character handles the conflict he faces with nature.
Curated OER
Up Close and Personal with Black Bayou Lake
Students get up close and personal with Black Bayou Lake. Visiting web sites and taking virtual tours, they write multi-paragraph essays using descriptive words and literary devices.
Ohio Department of Education
A Glossary of Literary Terms
If you're tired of defining allusion, onomatopoeia, and satire for your language arts students, hand out a complete list of literary devices to keep the terms straight. Each term includes a definition that is easy to understand and...
Curated OER
Novel Study: The End of the Line
The End of the Line, Angela Cerrito's gripping novel about an adolescent murderer incarcerated in an unusual "school," is the subject of a comprehensive set of support materials. Chapter vocabulary and discussion questions are excerpted...
Curated OER
What Happened Next?
Fifth graders read one short story on their own. After reading, they are given a series of sentences and events from the short story and put them into the correct sequence. To end the lesson, they draw pictures from the story and...