Scary Stories

Looking for some additional materials for Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"? Included in a 14-page packet are an anticipation guide, a vocabulary list, exercise, and quiz, a list of literary terms, and an essay assignment with pre-writing...

How do events, characters, setting, and tone work together to create an engaging short story? Would the impact or theme of a story be different if one of these elements were changed? After reading Mark Twain's slightly screwy "A Ghost...

There's nothing like the prospect of writing a scary story to get your middle schoolers' writing juices flowing! In the lesson presented here, pupils listen to scary short stories read to them by the teacher. Then, a discussion ensues...

Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate  the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of a...

A quick review of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" by author Alvin Schwartz. Helpful hints for teachers.

Do your class members complain they don’t know what to write about? Give them disposable cameras and ask them to take pictures of 12 things that make them happy. After the pictures are developed, they are pasted on a poster board and...

Best resource ever! Teaching and learning to teach ASL just got easier. For special education teachers or those working with hearing impaired students, this instructional activity provides story and time telling practice using ASL. Each...

Focus on building suspense as well as evaluating web sites through creative writing. After introducing the idea of suspense and holding a discussion, class members complete a WebQuest, during which they find inspiration for their own...

Ghost stories are the hook suggested in this proposed unit to engage reluctant readers. 

This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, portrays one telling of the story, "How Raven Gave Light to the World", a creation myth often told by the Tlingit.