Comparing Characters Across Two Short Stories

Here’s the meatball in the bowl of spaghetti. Readers build a Lunatic Mystery Case Book, collecting evidence to support their prediction about the identity of the lunatic in Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech’s Newbery Medal winning novel....

A short story is only as strong as its characters, development, and conflicts. Encourage the young authors in your class to plan their stories based on the elements of narrative writing, all provided in brainstorming graphic organizers.

This activity, which could be used in the lower grades for reading comprehension practice or with older students as part of an ESL lesson, has learners read a short story and answer six comprehension and vocabulary questions. As part of...

Class members assume the role of one of the characters in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Writing as that character, they defend a decision he/she made. Groups then are presented with problematic situations that  parallel those of...

Four questions about conclusion, climax, tone, and theme make up this worksheet about literary elements. The questions are specific to certain short stories ("The Landlady," "The Tell Tale Heart," "There Will Come Soft Rains," and "The...

Planning a short story unit? Consider including this worksheet early in your plan. "Remains of a Marriage" provides the text that could be used as the basis of a lesson on close reading, on comprehension strategies, and/or group...

Do your young authors suffer from writer's block when they try to write short stories? Access their natural creativity with C-Gor, the writing monster! The instructional activity takes aspiring authors through a new writing process...

Introduce your class to Glogster with this literary analysis lesson. At the end of your short story unit, they choose one literary element to apply to three short stories and make an online poster using Glogster. Samples are included. If...

Help your class to learn to identify the key elements of a short story using previously read works. They work in small groups to answer questions about point-of-view, conflict, characters, and setting. Then, they use a graphic organizer...

“The Gambler” and “The Journey” offer readers an opportunity to experience two very different views of Jewish life in Poland between WWI and WWII. Whether used as a part of a study of the Holocaust, or as a compare/contrast exercise, the...