Literary Luminaries: Short Story Analysis
Day One:
Day Two:
Day Three:
Day Four:
Day Five:
Day Six:
Day Seven:
Day Eight:
Day Nine: (Welcome back) April 1st
Day Ten: April 2nd
Day Eleven: April 3rd
Day Twelve: April 4th
Day Thirteen/Fourteen: April 5th/8th
Day Fifteen:
Special Day: Student Led Conferences
As term 3 comes to a close we will have just completed our Short Story Analysis and be wrapping up the term.. I want my students to know that they are the driving force when it comes to their assessment and so they should have a role in creating their report cards. Students will be complete a self assessment from this term and then collaborating with me to co-create their OLA (overall level of achievement) and report card comment which will include a self identified strength and future goal with strategies in mine to be successful.
I was inspired to do this from Trevor Mackenzie, an English teacher in Victoria. Click on his name to read about his experience doing this.
- Play a few rounds of Balderdash as a word game warm up.
- Introduce the new unit by reviewing the SOI, Key and Related Concepts, Global Context and Guiding Questions.
- Watch a video on Short Story Elements: Students will take notes while we watch and pause the video.
- Review and discuss the Short Story Terms Handout.
- Play Jeopardy as a review of the concepts we've already learn and as an intro to the new ones.
Day Two:
- Balderdash.
- Creating Suspense in Writing Video.
- Read and listen to Lamb to Slaughter. Print Version.
- How does Dalh create suspense in the story? Fill out the chart.
Day Three:
- Balderdash
- Review answers to the suspense created from Lamb to Slaughter.
- Group Character Analysis of Lamb to Slaughter.
- Hand back short stories and discuss.
Day Four:
- Balderdash.
- MLA Quote Lesson and Quote Integration Reference page.
- Quote Integration assignment using Lamb to Slaughter.
Day Five:
- Extra quote integration review and practice.
- Character Analysis PowerPoint and example essay.
- Balderdash
Day Six:
- Guided Reading: Tell Tale Heart
- Group Group: Character Analysis - use the character analysis worksheet from the last story as a template/outline.
- Share Out.
- Begin writing individual Character Analysis Essay and corresponding rubric.
Day Seven:
- Balderdash
- Finish Character Analysis Essay, see notes and ideas below.
- Write your introduction
- Describe the physical appearance of the character
- Discuss your character's background
- Discuss your character's language use
- Write about the personality of the character
- Analyze the character's relationship with others
- use integrated quotes within each of the body paragraphs. At least two per body paragraph to achieve fully meetings expectations.
- Follow the essay structure and format outline in the PPt, use the acronym SEX to help you in the body paragraph.
- Statement
- Evidence
- eXplain
- Make sure to swap with a partner and use all revision and editing techniques learned so far.
Day Eight:
- Balderdash
- Rude Gestures from Around the World.
- Point of View Lesson.
- We will watch a video about observational skills and one on the physical sense of point of view. If you have seen them before, please dont give it away to others.
- Students will complete a walk and talk down the hall towards the stairs, to the MPR and back up to the classroom QUIETLY (remember other classes are in session and noises from the halls and stairs echo). Pick 2 topics from the video lesson to discuss and be prepared to share out.
- Video Lesson: Three Little Pigs.
- Individual Practice: Write an internal monologue of the thoughts of a man who is waiting outside his boss’s office, worried that he’s about to be fired or hired. Then write an internal monologue from the POV of the boss sitting in his office getting ready to fire the guy waiting outside or hired.
Day Nine: (Welcome back) April 1st
- Balderdash
- Share out Point of View Lesson
- Review Elements of a Story.
- Watch Video to practice analyzing a story. Students will fill out the worksheet as they watch.
- Read Moose and Sparrow.
Day Ten: April 2nd
- Balderdash
- Re-cap the story Moose and Sparrow.
- Randomly put students in pairs to complete the worksheet version of a Short Story Analysis of Moose and Sparrow. This is due at the end of class. Both partners need a copy.
Day Eleven: April 3rd
- Balderdash
- Complete a guided reading of Breaking and Entering by Sherman Alexie.
- Students will complete a short story analysis on this piece as the second piece of summative assessments for this unit. Students will start off by completing a graphic organizer (elements of a short story) with a partner and then complete an individual essay. This will have a rolling due date so students can submit it prior to the hard due date in order to receive formative feedback, make revisions and then re-submit, if they so choose. With mark cut off being Friday April 12th, they need to be in by that date.
Day Twelve: April 4th
- Balderdash
- Continue with Breaking and Entering: Students will complete an essay organizer to help them identify the major components of the essay. This will be done individually and submitted along with their essay (and the the Elements of a Short Story worksheet)
Day Thirteen/Fourteen: April 5th/8th
- Students will make sure they have identified the elements of the short story and completed their essay organizer (both pre-writing steps) before moving to writing out their essays. If students would like to submit their essay for formative feedback I will need them by Saturday April 6th at 12pm noon. (share it on a Google Doc) That way I will have time to give feedback and return it to you to make revisions.
Day Fifteen:
- Balderdash
- Students will go to the library lab to print off their essays and submit them along with their organizing sheets.
- Students will complete a Term self assessment and we will go over the expectations for the student led conferences (see below)
Special Day: Student Led Conferences
As term 3 comes to a close we will have just completed our Short Story Analysis and be wrapping up the term.. I want my students to know that they are the driving force when it comes to their assessment and so they should have a role in creating their report cards. Students will be complete a self assessment from this term and then collaborating with me to co-create their OLA (overall level of achievement) and report card comment which will include a self identified strength and future goal with strategies in mine to be successful.
I was inspired to do this from Trevor Mackenzie, an English teacher in Victoria. Click on his name to read about his experience doing this.