Short Story Unit for High School

Item description

This print-and-go unit provides high school English Language Arts
students with an overview of the elements of short stories, including
character, setting, conflict, point of view, tone/mood, and theme.
Students will work through a variety of activities and assignments that
will teach them to identify and analyze various story elements. The
lessons included will provide 4-5 weeks of teaching material, depending
on the skill level of the class that it is used for. This unit includes
PDF documents (non-editable) for the following activities/assignments:

1) Full unit plan with instructions and story suggestions.

2)
Story vocabulary matching cards – students match key terms related to
short stories with their definitions. This can be used as a formative
assessment at the start of a unit to determine prior knowledge that
students may have related to the elements of fiction.

3)
Story analysis – can be used as formative assessment at the start of a
unit to determine if students can identify elements of fiction in a
story. Can be completed individually or as a group.

4)
Characterization notes and activity – students learn about direct and
indirect characterization. Practice scenarios are provided that help
students identify examples of direct and indirect characterization.
Answer key included.

5) Character sketch – students
complete a character sketch on a character from a story; they identify
character traits (using the included character traits list) and track
evidence from the story using a chart to organize their information.
Once they have gathered their evidence, they write a descriptive
paragraph about the character. Marking guide included.

6)
Setting activity – this activity can be used to show students how the
setting of a story can influence the thoughts and feelings of
characters; an additional activity helps students practice using the
five senses to describe a setting in a detailed way.

7)
Setting assignment – students will track elements of setting and
describe a story setting in detail. Next, they will examine how the
setting affects the behavior of characters in a story, and determine if
the setting in a story is a background setting or an integral setting.
Marking guide included.

8) Conflict notes and scenarios –
provides students with an overview of the different types of conflict.
Scenarios are included that will help students practice identifying the
various types of conflict. Answer key included.

9)
Conflict tracker and interview assignment – Students use a tracking
chart to identify conflicts in a story. Then, students write an
interview article based on the story that they read. Marking guide
included.

10) Point of view notes and assignment –
includes notes about the different types of point of view (first person,
second person, third person objective/limited/omniscient) and examples
of each. Students explore the point of view used in a story and then
choose a character and point of view from another story to develop a
short writing piece. Marking guide included.

11) Tone/Mood
– notes are provided that give students a general overview of tone and
mood. Scenarios are provided for students to practice identifying tone;
an additional activity shows students how a mood can be changed
depending on perspective, content, and techniques. Answer key included.

12)
Mood assignment – students identify a mood in a text and find examples
of language and techniques used to develop the mood. Students explain
the impact of the language use/techniques on the reader. Marking guide
included.

13) Theme PowerPoint and activity – the
“Identifying Themes in Fiction” PowerPoint will teach students about
what a theme is, how to identify themes, and how to write theme
statements. Practice scenarios are included so that students can work on
identifying themes in a text. Answer key included.

14)
Theme assignment – after reading a story, students can work individually
or in groups to brainstorm topics from the text, write theme
statements, and support their statements with textual evidence. Marking
guide included.

15) Final assignment – this unit includes 3
options for a final assignment that will assess student knowledge of
the elements covered in the unit. Students can write their own original
short story, review a short story, or develop a visual representation of
a story. Each option is in a separate document, so you can use the
assignment that fits your needs, or provide students with multiple
options. A graphic organizer is also included for the review; this can
be used to help students structure their review prior to writing a
draft. Planning pages and marking guides are included for all three
versions.

82 pages include PowerPoint slides and are non-editable PDFs.