Other
Book Page Interview: Gary Soto
This site, part of the online version of the magazine BookPage, provides a 1998 interview with Gary Soto, in which he discusses the themes of some of his works, his background, and his use of different genres of writing.
Quizlet
Quizlet: Story Elements Quiz: 6th Grade Honors: Flashcards
These interactive flashcards provide definitions for different story elements.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Pairing Texts With Movies to Promote Comprehension and Discussion
Thematic pairings of novels/short stories with movies can help students access difficult texts and can lead to deeper comprehension and lively classroom discussion. This article suggests pairings for some commonly assigned middle and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 11th Grade: Thematic Unit: Values and Beliefs
Complete teaching unit for 11th Grade Thematic Unit: "Values and Beliefs." Students will read 8 short stories that examine how values and beliefs are shaped. They will analyze these stories, and the short story form, while considering...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Walking for My Life
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Everella's Want
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Aly's Discovery
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Earth Day Birthday
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
Georgetown University
Georgetown University: Susan Glaspell
Have you ever read any of Susan Glaspell's work? This site offers a range of material on the work "Trifles." The materials range from classroom issues and strategies, major themes, historical perspectives, and the personal issues that...
Other
Poe Decoder: The Masque of the Red Death
This site contains links to a summary of "The Masque of the Red Death" and essays about its setting, characters, point of view, style, and theme.
ProProfs
Pro Profs Quiz Maker: Story Elements Test
This test is a 35-question, self-scoring, multiple choice test covering story elements. Java is required.
Read Works
Read Works: It's Opening Day
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a boy named Matthew and his experience at opening day with his favorite baseball team. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "After the Race" by James Joyce
"After the Race" is a short story by the Irish author James Joyce. In it, we see the themes of money, status, class, politics, and paralysis.
University of Houston
University of Houston: The Journalist's Desk
This site includes eleven brief newspaper stories. Students must identify the main idea of each short news story.
British Council
British Council: Learn English Kids: Voyage of the Animal Orchestra
Use this story of the shipwrecked animals in the orchestra to focus on plot, characters, and sequence of a story. Included are assessment activities and flash cards.
TES Global
Tes: Two Kinda Truth' by Farukh Dhondy
[Free Registration/Login Required] This site provides comprehension and theme-related activities to accompany Farukh Dhondy's short piece "Two Kinda Truth." False stereotypes and evidence of racism will be discussed in the lesson.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: Teddy
Taken from J. D. Salinger's short story collection Nine Stories the story of Teddy is an example of the writer's superior prose. Read about the characters and themes in the story.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: The Killers
This short story was written one morning when Hemingway was in Spain. This site provides exciting information about the characters and important themes in the story.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: Dry September
Dry September is considered to be one of William Faulkner's finest stories. Read about the story, the characters and important themes in this informative site.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: Franny and Zooey
Published as a short story in 1955, Franny and Zooey represents J. D. Salinger's interest in Zen Buddhism and other spiritual themes.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour
Read what others have to say about these two stories that were eventually put together by J.D.Salinger. This site analyses the characters and major themes in these short stories.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: A Clean, Well Lighted Place
Read about Ernest Hemingway's story, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, in this interesting site that examines the characters and focuses on the themes of loneliness and isolation.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: De Daumier Smith's Blue Period
This both comic and tragic short story is wonderfully analysed in this site which focuses on characters and themes.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: A Perfect Day for Bananafish
This fascinating short story written by J. D. Salinger in 1948 is explored in depth in this site. Read about the characters, analysis important quotations and explore themes in this comprehensive site.