Short Story Unit High School “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”

Item description

Short story unit for high school to teach symbolism
and allegory using “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” by Joyce Carol
Oates

This unit
is perfect for teaching your students the concepts of allegory and symbolism,
and includes anchor charts and guide questions to support an allegorical
interpretation of this amazing short story.

PLEASE
NOTE:  This unit DOES NOT include the
text of Oates’ short story—I cannot include that here as the story is under
copyright.  The story is, however,
available on the internet and readily pops up if you do a Google search (see
more detailed product notes below).

PLEASE
ALSO NOTE:  This story contains some
adult language and mild sexual innuendoes. 
If these aren’t issues you wish to address in your classroom, please don’t
purchase this unit.

There are
also quite a large number of ancillary materials for this unit that I had to
link for you, as I’m also unable to include texts of them due to copyright.  You, however, can print and copy/distribute them
in your classroom under fair use without penalty as long as their use is educational
and non-commercial.  I’ve taught this
unit multiple times and branching out beyond the actual text of this story
really helps deepen and illuminate its interpretation for students.  The ancillary materials provide context and
depth for this complex text, and this unit is crafted around their use—I don’t
recommend omitting them.

This resource
includes:

• Unit
  checklist for students listing all the steps they must complete, in order, for
  this unit (ancillary materials provided as links which can be printed/copied
  and distributed or accessed digitally)
• 12
  partially-completed vocabulary graphic organizers that students will complete
  for words from the text
• Detailed
  notes to the teacher with tips and links for optional further reading and
  extension activities
• Double-entry
  journal for quotes analysis
• Two anchor
  charts for literary terms:  allegory and
  symbolism
• Copy of
  “The Children of Hameln,” the Grimms’ recording of the classic folktale, which
  is in the public domain
• Anticipatory
  set and guide questions with detailed ANSWER KEY
• Culminating activity:  Writing a
  personal response – assignment description, rubric, and example

This unit does not include a copy of “Where Are You Going, Where Have
You Been,” although the story is available online and I did provide a link to a
website dedicated to Oates that has the story posted.  As stated above, none of the ancillary
materials are in the public domain, so I can’t include them here, but they’re
all available online and I’ve linked them in the student document (and in the
teacher’s notes) for you.  If for some reason
a link does not work, please email me directly at marie@mountainlaurellit.com.  If your students have tech, they can read
these materials digitally; if they don’t, you’ll need to run them off, which
can get into some prep work.  The only
ancillary text I was able to include with this unit is “The Children of
Hameln,” which is in the public domain.

As far as prep, this unit does require some running off of copies, even
if your students access all the texts digitally.  They will need the vocabulary graphic
organizers (12), the anticipatory set/guide questions and step-by-step
directions for completing the work, the double-entry journal for quotes
analysis, and the assignment description and rubric for the culminating
activity.  Please refer to the detailed
Notes to the Teacher included in this resource for additional tips, ideas, and
further reading (optional) as you prepare to teach this fantastic short story.