Short Stories
Lesson One:
Lesson Two:
Lesson Three:
Lesson Four:
- Introduce short stories
- Ask students: Before the invention of electricity (and therefore TC, radio, internet etc) what do you think people did in their spare time for fun? Actually, they read and the modern sitcom, drama and cartoon take their roos from the most popular literary form of the nineteenth century, the short story. People were now working outside of the home and the brevity of the short story made it popular because people did not have the time or patience for a long drawn out novel that was popular before.
- What do we know about short stories that show us the modern TV show developed from them:
- short in length
- few characters
- uncomplicated plot
- single main conflict typically
- usually fictional
- Find the definitions to the terms hidden around the room and fill out their chart.
- Review as a class
- Watch a episode of ___(have them pick a kids show on Netflix) to pick out terms.
Lesson Two:
- Read the Survivor Story. Do you know of any survivor stories?
- Ask them, what are the signs and symptoms of hypothermia?
- Mild:
- bouts of shivering
- grogginess and muddled thinking
- breathing and pulse are normal
- Moderate:
- violent shivering or shivering stops
- inability to think and pay attention
- slow, shallow breathing
- slow, weak pulse
- Severe:
- shivering has stopped
- unconsciousness
- little or no breathing
- weak, irregular or non-existent pulse
- Mild:
- Show students a youtube clip that reviews hypothermia and what to do if they get it.
- What strategies should we use when reading a story?
- Get them to look at the pictures, italics and title of the story "A Mountain Journey", and make and write a prediction of what the story is about in the middle of a piece of paper.
- Draw 5 lines coming out of the centre prediction. Each one will have a connection (text to self, world or text) as we read the story. The story will be read out loud by me and I will stop 5 times for you to record a connection.
- Each student will shareout one of their connections.
- Complete a stick demonstration to show what it would be like to have frozen hands. Have students try to pick up a pencil using two metres sticks. Show the ending of The Shining with Jack frozen to show what I picture at the end of a Mountain Journey.
- After reading it, discuss conflict in the story (man vs man and man vs himself)
- Get students to summarize the story in three sentences on the piece of paper their made their predictions and connections on. Hand in.
Lesson Three:
- Ask students to share a suspenseful show/movie they have seen. Watch the trailer for Smile. What makes this suspenseful?
- Ask them if they think they are creative/have a good imagination when it comes to writing. Next, ask them if they find their imaginations really get going in situations where they are nervous/maybe home alone at night etc? I find my really does.
- Read the story, Monkey's Paw. Have students fold their paper twice to create four boxes on each side. Have them retell the story in five pictures. Box 6 has the theme, box 7 shows character development (name on dynamic character and explain how they've changed) and box 8 is for the conflict and why its important.
- Stop at "Pitch it in the fire like a sensible man." Discuss how the author builds suspense. Show the beginning of The Shining, how does the movie build suspense without really showing anything?
- Finish the story, did you like the ending?
- Find a suspenseful scene where not a lot of shown vs one where you see everything. Which one is more powerful? (typically the one where we don't see everything as it lets our imagination take over) How does this work with writing? Its not the same exactly, you definitely need to leave the reader hanging in a way but you do need to give more detail. Sometimes drawing things out is a good tactic. Details in the little things can be helpful. And it doesn't have to have a lot of gore either.
Lesson Four:
- Discuss the importance of Imagery in a story, discuss using the Country Between and Mountains Journey.
- Play these song clips ( Jaws, 1812 Overture 13 mins in, Schindler's List, Psycho, Toccata, O Fortuna, Ride of the Valkyries) and ask students what feelings are evoked. Use the most descriptive words as possible.
- Now do the same with these: Angel, My Immortal, Someone like you. What feelings: again use the most descriptive language.
- Define imagery: visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in literary work.
- Complete the imagery worksheet by going outside to examples of things you could describe in vivid detail. This will be followed up by creating a descriptive paragraph. Here is an example of a descriptive paragraph from the Monkey's Paw. Here is another example.
- Once done drafting and typing your paragraph, complete the editing sheet. Print off a copy first to make editing easier. Make your changes and print off a new one once you have checked it against the rubric.