Making a Movie Script Based on a Short Story

How can reading short stories benefit people? To conclude a unit study of this genre, class members script and film a public service announcement addressing this essential question.

Roald Dahl’s classic World War II short story, “Beware of the Dog” is the focus of a close reading exercise that asks learners to respond to text-dependent questions with evidence drawn from the story. Participants record responses on...

How should pupils read short stories? Set them up for this unit with an introductory lesson that goes over the main characteristics of a short story and starts learners off reading their first short story of the unit. In order to get a...

This final resource in a series of fourteen lists all of the assessments for a short story unit. While designed to go specifically with the unit, these assessment ideas could be used to inspire projects for other units as well. Included...

Get your writers composing their own short stories by following some or all of the ideas included here. You'll find short lessons and activities, handouts and assignment pages, sample paragraphs and sentences, and all sorts of great...

There are so many authors of short stories, and your class can have the chance to study quite a few. This seventh instructional activity in a series of fourteen continues the decision-making process for the final assessment: a short...

The second lesson in a series of fourteen, this plan takes the short story basics a step further. Learners complete a quiz about the story from the previous day, discuss the text, learn about Anton Chekhov, and work in groups to begin...

Stephen Vincent Benet’s, “By the Waters of Babylon,” offers learners a chance to examine the difference between mood and tone. After a close reading of an excerpt from the short story, the class lists the diction and imagery that builds...

What elements make the short story a distinct genre? After generating a list of common elements and a working definition, class members identify the characters, setting, plot, rising action, crisis, climax, and conclusion in “The Three...

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...