Assessments
Pre-test: At the start of the unit, the class will have a short discussion about what makes a story good. It will be noted whether or not the students credit any of the elements of short stories.
Post-test: The assessment for this unit will be a combination of writing and a multiple choice/short answer/short essay quiz. The writing is part of the final lesson (Putting it All Together), and the exam can be seen here.
Other assessments used throughout this unit can be seen below and in detail within the unit lesson plans.
Introducing Short Stories- Multimedia/Inquiry
Plot- Direct Instruction
Conflict- Concept Development
Point of View- Socratic Seminar
Putting it All Together- Collaborative Learning
Post-test: The assessment for this unit will be a combination of writing and a multiple choice/short answer/short essay quiz. The writing is part of the final lesson (Putting it All Together), and the exam can be seen here.
Other assessments used throughout this unit can be seen below and in detail within the unit lesson plans.
Introducing Short Stories- Multimedia/Inquiry
- Students will take part in pre reading activities that include finding information on this unit’s readings and their authors. They will individually gather information through the internet and their textbooks, and they will site their sources in MLA format.
- All students will either do a portion of a Smart Board activity or write on the Smart Board; all students will participate in a Smart Board poll about the short stories we will be reading in this unit.
Plot- Direct Instruction
- Students will place in small groups to complete a plot diagram as it applies to a chosen children’s story.
- Students will read Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” and then complete a plot diagram naming and summarizing all five of the elements of plot.
- Students will watch a movie or television show of their choice, and then create their own plot diagram, which must include five elements of plot in correct order.
Conflict- Concept Development
- Students will be given an in-class worksheet with five conflicts, and they will have to correctly identify all of them as either Internal or External and Human VS Human, Human VS Self, Human VS Society, or Human VS Nature.
- Students will read Saki’s “The Interlopers,” and they will have to describe the Human VS Human, Human VS Self, and Human VS Nature conflicts shown in the story. Then they will choose one to illustrate as a storyboard.
Point of View- Socratic Seminar
- All students will participate in a Socratic discussion of point of view and it’s effects on the short stories we have read so far throughout the unit by directly answering the teacher's question as well as adding to or disagreeing with classmates' answers with respect.
- After reading “The Invalid’s Story,” the students will identify the type of narration used as well as brainstorm reasons Twain chose to write with that narration style and evaluate whether or not he chose the best point of view for the story.
Putting it All Together- Collaborative Learning
- In small groups, students will read Ray Bradbury’s short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains,” focusing on a literary element assigned to them. Through discussion, they will fill out their group’s portion of the Elements of Short Stories graphic organizer individually. Then groups will be rearranged so there is an expert of each element in every group. Through discussion, the members of the new groups will be able to complete the graphic organizer.
- Students will write their own short stories to show their understanding of how all the elements of a short story work together. The final product will be submitted as a podcast with the student reading their original story.