Mills 1

Cody Mills

Gelber

EDUC 495

11 May, 2022

Unit Overview

Unit Theme: Short Stories

Standards: 9-10 RL:

1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what a text states

explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over

the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by

specific details; provide an objective summary of a text.

3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations)

develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the

plot or develop the theme.

4. Determine the figurative or connotative meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are

used in a text; analyze the impact of words with multiple meanings, as well as

symbols or metaphors that extend throughout a text and shape its meaning. (See

grades 9–10 Language Standards 4–6 on applying knowledge of vocabulary to

reading.)

5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events

within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create

such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

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6. Analyze a case in which a character’s point of view and actions signal acceptance or

rejection of cultural norms or intellectual ideas of a period or place, drawing on a

wide reading of world literature.

Central Learning Goals: This unit is perfect for fostering higher level thinking in students

because of the self contained nature of short stories. With each of the stories the student will be

presented with new themes, new context, and a wide variety of writing styles. With each story

they will have to not only recognize different literary devices but figure out why authors employ

such elements in order to advance a greater theme. Therefore, students will need to be able to

recognize, cite, and justify literary elements within a text; effectively nurturing a critical view of

written texts that can be transferred over into other units.

Primary Skill: To justify authors’ uses of literary devices by citing textual evidence.

The goals of the unit pose an interesting challenge in planning lessons, the main one

being the broadness and variety of short stories as well as the multitude of possible devices to

focus on for each one. I would begin by finding the short story and then focusing on the most

prevalent literary device for each one. By prevalent I am referring to either the most frequently

employed device or the device that most benefits the theme of the story in question. For many of

these it is self evident, such as character development with “The Tell Tale Heart,” or looking at

different uses of irony within “The Cask of Amontillado,” or even symbolism within “The

Scarlet Ibis.” Once I found these I planned my activities in ways where I would read the stories

with the students and then allow them to work together in order to analyze the text and ultimately

share their findings as class. This way allows students who understand to justify their

understanding to others, but also helps struggling students analyze texts in a low stakes

environment. Students will also be required at times to form their own conclusion through
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creative writing, giving them a medium of expression while simultaneously getting them to think

critically about how characters are portrayed and how to keep tone and theme through writing.

The final assessment will include two different exercises: a group poster project to learn deeply

about a short story they have covered or one of their own choosing; as well as a narrative essay

assignment asking them to employ devices they have learned within their own creative writing.

Lessons Chart:

Harrison Bergeron The Sniper The Cask of The Tell Tale Heart
Objective: SWBAT Objective: SWBAT Amontillado Objective: SWBAT
support the main theme identify how authors Objective: SWBAT compare character
of Harrison Bergeron use language to identify irony and how development over the
by citing main points establish themes. it advances narrative course of reading
from the text Activity: and theme “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Activity: - Brief history Activity: Activity:
- Read to of Irish Civil - Irony Mini - Listen to
students War Lesson audiobook as
- Before, - Read to - Listen to a class
During, After students audiobook as - Fill in and go
Reading - Go over Story a class, over
Graphic Elements pausing for Character
Organizer Organizer and clarification Development
Differentiation: N/A discuss plot and discussion Worksheet
and themes - Students Fill Differentiation: N/A
Differentiation: N/A out 3 Types of
Irony
Worksheet
Differentiation: N/A

By the Waters of The Scarlet Ibis Thank you M’am Short Story Poster
Babylon Objective: SWBAT Objective: SWBAT Objective: SWBAT
Objective: SWBAT identify symbolism of demonstrate justify close reading
identify how the author weather and seasons understanding of of short stories
establishes mood within “The Scarlet POV and theme through poster
Activity: Ibis” through creative presentations
- Students read Activity: writing Activity:
for homework - Seasonal Activity: - Student get
prior/ listen to Symbolism - Read through into groups
audiobook in intro exercise the story as a (up to 4)
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class - Read story/ group - Choose a

- Fill out mood audiobook - Mini short story
jamboard - Annotate discussion on and complete
- Discussion on seasonal the meaning a poster that
mood and symbolism of kindness/ includes
tone and write how criminals pictures,
Differentiation: N/A symbolism should summary,
reflection handled in literary
Differentiation: society elements,
Abridged text - Write thank definitions,
you letters to and quotes.
Mrs. Luella Differentiation: N/A
Bates
Differentiation: N/A

Reflection

During the course of teaching my lessons across multiple different class levels I have

found varying results of things that work very well in the unit and some aspects that are not as

viable. One great example is that while teaching my honors class, which was the class in which I

was able to fully complete the unit with, I found that I was able to rely on the students to have

more autonomy with the texts and activities I assigned. This would either include relying on

students to read the texts beforehand or giving them more autonomy during a lesson to complete

individual work. Meanwhile, when I taught the same lessons to either my sophomore or

freshmen college prep I had to take a much more hands on approach to my teaching. To adjust I

would usually have the stories read as class or read alongside an audiobook, the latter of which

being expressed as the most enjoyable for the students. Furthermore, it was much more difficult

for students in these courses to understand or complet work on their own and so I would often go

through worksheets either through discussion or as we read/ listened along to the short stories.

Students became much more receptive and open to talk about their analysis of short stories rather

than have to write about their thoughts.

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A great example of this can be judged by the sheer number of students who turned in

worksheets after a lesson across multiple different classes. Initially, in the honors class students

who would turn in worksheets were optimal, ranging in a 2/22 of the class not turning in papers

and or not completing worksheets. Meanwhile in the college prep classes, those numbers

increased across the initial lesson to 7/22 missing sheets for students in the sophomore class and

up to 15/22 missing sheets for students in the freshman course. Alternatively, when I started to

incorporate more class/ group discussion, with the worksheets acting as note sheets for those

discussions, I saw a significant increase in participation and engagement through submissions.

The college prep course in particular went up to 1/22 missing worksheets for the sophomore

class, and only 4/22 unsubmitted sheets for the freshman class. Here is an example from Quinn,

showing the first assignment being before incorporated discussion, and the second assignment

being with incorporated discussion:

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Name:_________________________ Course:___________English_____________
Period:________ Date:______ Subject:__________English_______________

BEFORE: Prepare to Read DURING: Question & AFTER: Summarize and

Comment Synthesize

List: • I wonder why.... • Three important points/ideas are...

• title(s) • What caused... • These are important because...
• headers • I think... • What comes next...
• subheaders • This is similar to... • The author wants us to think...
• captions • This is important because... • At this point the article/story is
• objectives • What do they mean by... about...
• themes • What I find confusing is... • I still don’t understand...
• words to know • What will happen next is... • What interested me most was...
• Ask questions • I can relate to this because... • This means that...
• Make predictions

● Story set in future ● ●

● Maybe about
inequality because
written in the 60’s
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Isn’t it Ironic?

Name__________________________ Period ____________

What is irony? Irony is the contrast between an appearance or an expectation about something
and the reality of that thing. Irony also often involves some form of deceit, duplicity, or
hypocrisy, be it intentional or accidental.

Type of Definition: Example: Explanation: Your Turn:

Irony
“My dear
Verbal Words are used to When Bob points Joe is deceiving Fortunato, you
suggest the opposite out the obvious, Joe and mocking are luckily met.
of what is meant exclaims: Bob by calling How remarkably
(sarcasm). “Wow, you’re a him a genius, well you are
regular Einstein!” when what he looking to-day!
really means, is
that he is not He was drunk at
smart. the time and
doesn’t mean this

“He! he!
Dramatic When the In a typical horror The babysitter he!—he! he!
reader/audience movie move, the thinks she’s he!—yes, the
knows something scared babysitter doing the smart Amontillado. But
that the character runs to hide in the thing by hiding is it not getting
does not know. basement and bolts and locking the late? Will not
What appears to be the door behind her, bolt, but we they be awaiting
true to the character but we already know know it’s the us at the palazzo,
is not what the the killer is waiting worst thing she the Lady
reader/audience behind the boiler could possibly Fortunato and the
knows to be true. with an axe. do. rest? Let us be
gone.”

He thinks they
are going back to
the festival, but
he is going to die
there
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“You are not of

Situational When an event An ambulance The ambulance’s the masons.”
occurs that directly rushing to the scene intention is “Yes, yes,” I
contradicts of a car accident clearly to rescue said; “yes, yes.”
expectations. runs over one of the and help the “You?
victims who had victim, but Impossible! A
been crawling across instead it causes mason?” “A
the street to get away harm (the mason,” I
from the wreckage. opposite of its replied. “A sign,”
purpose). he said. “It is
this,” I answered,
producing a
trowel from
beneath the folds
of my roquelaire.

Showing
fortunato his
trowel as a
profession, he is
also showing
how he will kill
him

Looking at these examples it can be seen how much more engaged students became after

adjusting to a more collective approach to analyzing the texts.

Once I reached the end of the unit with my honors class, they had already gone through

every short story and held a significant grasp of each one according to the assessment I gave

throughout the course of study. Their final assessment, a poster project, was designed for them to

be able to pick their favorite story and demonstrate an understanding of multiple literary

elements within. All groups did well during the presentation and execution of the poster and
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received full marks according to the rubric I designed. The main issue I observed during the class

period surrounding their presentation were that multiple groups, ⅗ to be precise, chose “The Tell

Tale Heart” as their poster project, leading to redundancy during the presentations. In the future,

while it pains to limit choices I will most likely limit groups to unique stories or even consider

some form of auctioning, or randomized system to make sure every group receives a different

story.

In closing, I believe that in order to truly improve the unit I will need to navigate better

the natural aversion students have to analyzing texts, especially the monotony of analyzing

multiple texts across a couple of weeks. In order to create more engagement I am working into

creating mild competition for the stories, such as placing all the stories into a form a bracket and

having students vote on their winning story for the whole unit. My mentor teacher utilizes this

method for her poetry unit and I felt that students were much more susceptible to closely reading

texts when there was an overall appraisal involved as an incentive Furthermore, I wish to add a

better assessment at the end of the unit, my plan being a narrative essay. I want them to take what

they have learned from reading short stories and create their own stories based on these findings.

This way students would be able to be assessed through a more creative outlet which I have

found to be very effective during my course of student teaching. It would consist of students

either rewriting stories from a different perspective, adding in sequel or prequel material for the

stories we have read, or even creating their own original works so long as they work around one

of the themes we have covered over the unit. Overall, I still stand by short stories as a means to

teach literary devices, but I now know that engagement and excitement is key in getting students

to truly learn.