Short Story Unit

Planning My Unit

Unit SummaryThis unit is about the short story.

Mystery and suspense movies are some of my favorite kinds stories. We also will engage

in learning the elements of the short story.Characterization will be the one the most important strategies that you will be analyzing. Every student must be able to understand the plot, events that occur within the short story..

My Vision of Accomplishments for Students and TeacherThe teacher wants to see every student

actively involved in projects that are technology enhanced.

Students will be involved in cooperative learning group projects that will create motivation and excitement for learning.

Students will be satisfied with the knowledge they have gained.

Students will gain self esteem and confidence that they were successful in their learning.

Student Objectives/Learning OutcomesStudents will be able

to gather, analyze, organize, reflect and process information about different authors’ writing styles from a short story point of view. Students will represent this data through graphs, charts, or other visual aids.

Students will make connection through themselves and the lives of people within the short story. Students will be able to “blog” their daily journal entries.

Students will be able to demonstrate originality and creativeness by writing their own short story.

Targeted Content Standards and BenchmarksIdentify genre, tone, and plot in short stories,

drama, and poetry and identify organizational structure in essays and other nonfiction text to comprehend recreational reading materials.

Assessment TimelineBefore project work begins Students work on projects

and complete tasksAfter project work is

completed

Students will complete a K-W-L chart

Students will complete

summaries, observation

check-list, journals/blogs,

Questioning, group and

self-assessments and

conferences.

Students will complete a short story rubric.

Students will present an original short story.

Students will write a reflective essay about their presentation.

Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction

Special Needs StudentsPeer groups, peer teacher, publish teacher’s notes using the smart

board or projector, computer games, oral testing, audio library, usage of the adaptive reader workbook, reading solutions (word searches and puzzles), calendar of assignments, extra time to complete assignments, word bank

Nonnative Speakers Dual language dictionaries, graphic organizers, online tutorial, audio

library dual language, podcast lessons

Gifted/Talented StudentsResearch mystery stories and authors, create and perform their own

short stories, write and perform a movie, Power Point Presentation of their famous short story writer, draw comic strips/cartoons, create labels for candy bars, create their own class web page.

Students’ Needs AssessmentsUse a pretest for grammar skills and

reading Engage students in topic discussions to

check knowledge and comprehension skillsEngage students in personal writing to

check expressions and writing skills

Curriculum Framing Questions

Questions should address Higher Order Thinking Skills

Questions should be formatted as being essential, unit questions, and content questions.

Essential Question: What is the price of Life?

Curriculum Framing Questions Continued

Unit Question: If you were an African animal, which one would you most like to be and why?

What are the three main groups of life that live in the ocean?

Sample of Curriculum Framing Questions

Essential Question Are characters necessary in a short

story?

Unit QuestionsDescribe the character of the

protagonist.

Content QuestionsHow is the plot effected by a

character’s personality change?

What I Want to Learn From My StudentsDiscover the

students’ prior knowledge

Discover the students’ interests

Discover the students’ interests,gifts,skills

Discover students’ weaknesses

How will I Plan for Upcoming Activities

Reteach within the areas of my students weaknesses

Use lessons that students show a high Interest level

Teach multicultural lessonsProvide lessons that will

stimulate them or motivate them due to prior knowledge or experiences

FeedbackDiscuss the Outcome of the project

1. creative/thinking outside the box2. focus clear3. stayed within the time frame4. enough elaboration per idea5. interesting and not boring

Materials and ResourcesPrinted MaterialsAnthologies of Short Stories and Poems, Holt

Reader, Writers ChoiceSuppliesDVDs, CDs, Audio Lab equipmentInternet Resourceshttp://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/100stories.htmlOther ResourcesField Trips (Davis Theatre, ASF, ASU) Music

clinicians, dance choreographer, Guest Authors of poems and short stories

Additional IdeasSolicit outside help

on the projects next time such as experts:

1. Meteorologist

2. News Anchor

3. Banker4. Farmer5.Doctor6. Lawyer

Rich Thomas, Meteorologist(Standing)

Valorie Lawson, News Anchor