Short+Story+Writing+Unit

**__Unit Overview:__** The purpose of this unit is to explore the process of short story writing. The ultimate goal is for students to be able to write a short story that is interesting and engaging by the end of the unit—demonstrating the thoughtful use of character development, plot, and conflict as tools to propel their stories in a way that captures readers. Students will read a variety of short stories as models, including Kate Chopin’s //Story of an Hour//, stories from magazines, such as //The New Yorker,// various stories from //Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,// and many stories of their own choice. These examples will give students an idea of what to strive for within their own writing. They will examine specific aspects of the stories, such as character development, plot, and conflict in order to gather an understanding of how to improve their own writing. Though reading will play a large role in this unit—the unit is essentially about writing, and as the students read, they will be doing so in a way that focuses on the writing more so that the content or analysis of the literature. After the students have had several chances to examine character development, plot, and conflict within a variety of mediums, students will then exercise their own ability to manipulate these elements within their own short stories. They will begin by writing some smaller, low stakes pieces as practice, and will eventually move on to the writing of a larger short story, which will be peer reviewed and drafted several times. While the focus of this writing unit is primarily on what makes a short story interesting (character development, plot, and conflict), the unit will also place a huge emphasis on the writing process. Through peer review and numerous drafts, alongside the lessons focusing on the fundamentals of short stories, students will learn how to become better writers. They will eventually get the chance to share what they have come up with in small groups, as a method of demonstrating their ability to write quality short stories. We will address the following Essential Questions:  · How do authors make short stories interesting?  · How do authors make their characters come to life? What makes them real to readers? How do authors make readers relate to characters?  · How do writers develop plot within a short story? (What are the elements of plot?)  · Why is it important to revise writing? How are some appropriate ways to reassess what you have written? **__Rationale:__** There are many important concepts to be taught through short story writing—in this unit, the focus will be on the **development of conflict**, **plot**, and **authentic characters**. First, understanding the concept of **character development** will help students provide better descriptions within their writing in general, and make them consider what types of details are revealing and important to include while describing anything. They will strengthen their ability to pay attention to detail, as well as to indirectly reveal important aspects about a character’s personality. The understanding of **conflict** will help students understand the basic types of conflict in the real world, while also teaching them how to better interpret texts that we will be reading later on in the year. Understanding the concept of **plot mapping** will help students better comprehend and retain what they have read. This will also teach students how to create an engaging story of their own, making sure that their stories have some sort of motion toward a climactic moment, which will engage their audience. All of these skills will contribute to the students’ ability to perform literary analysis later on, as they begin to look at literature in a more mature fashion. More importantly, this unit will improve students’ writing skills in a fun and creative way. This will allow students a means of expression that they don’t necessarily find in their other classes. Through re-drafting their stories several times, students will become more articulate, improving their abilities to manipulate the English language. **__ Unit Objectives: __** Rationale: Students will need to learn about character development in order to better interpret the texts they read later on. By practicing character development within their short stories, students will learn how to use vivid descriptions which imply things that they can’t simply state. It is a good way for students to learn how to focus in on detail. Rationale: Understanding conflict will be a useful social skill as well as literary skill. Through developing conflict within stories, students will learn how to consider contrasting sides of an argument, and how to best present a personal argument. Rationale: Understanding plot will increase students’ comprehension of any given text while also helping students to understand importance of sequencing of events. This will also help students examine the “cause and effect” of any given scenario. Rationale: Peer review can be a wonderful tool if done well. Students will learn how to give appropriate and honest feedback, which will help them often in the real world. Students also learn how to better revise their own work as they examine the work of others. This will sharpen their editing skills. LESSON 1 ** Week One: Mini Lesson—Plot (Two 80 minute periods) ** **__ Lesson Objectives: __** **__ Teaching and Learning Sequence: __** First and foremost, I will have my class set up in a semi circular arrangement, much like the classroom we have EDU 363 in. This will provide a better environment for discussion, as well as an appropriate setting for many of the activities I have planned. Before focusing on plot, I will hand out a packet on literary elements which will guide the students through the entire unit. The entire packet will simply be printed from: []. I will encourage students to use this packet throughout the unit, as a glossary/resource. We will not go over all of the terms immediately after I hand it out, because many of the concepts mentioned in the packet are things we will learn about in future lessons—this is simply something to refer to for definitions, as new concepts are introduced weekly. To pre-assess their knowledge of plot, I will read aloud the short story //The Stinky Cheese Man,// from [|Jon Scieszka] ’s children’s book //The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales//. I will then and ask the students, as a class, to map out what they felt was the dramatic structure of the story (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). However, I will do this in a fun and innovative way! I will have a projector set up in front of the classroom, with my laptop hooked up. I will use the virtual plot diagram tool available at: []. This interactive tool shows the basic diagram of a plot, and allows users to type in events and descriptions to be placed on the plot map and moved around accordingly. If the students do not seem to understand the concept, I will immediately go over the definitions of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution, and conduct the activity accordingly. However, I do want to give the students an opportunity to try filling out the virtual diagram as a class, in order to note how well they seem to understand the concept. Even if they demonstrate that they already know how to map out a plot, I will review the definitions of plot devices in the packet with them. After we have done this as a whole class, I will have them fill out some work sheets on their own. This way I will be able to assess students on an individual basis, to ensure that I am able to help those students who are struggling. For the first week, our sample short stories will come from Alvin Schwartz’s //Scary Stories Treasury.// Each student will be allowed to choose any story from the book to read and complete their plot mapping activity on. I will have assigned this reading prior to this lesson on plot, that way, after our class activity, students can immediately start working on their plot mapping worksheets, based on whichever short story they have read. The worksheet I will use is available at: **[] .** I will encourage students to use to interactive tool that I demonstrated in the class activity, and use the worksheets to record what they have done online—simply because on the online plot map, there is still an option of moving things around once you have placed them in a certain category. (I will tell them not to worry about the conflict part yet on the worksheet, since it is something we will examine in depth later on). After allowing the students an appropriate amount of time to fill out these worksheets, I will have them get into groups based on which stories they read. (I will do something in the previous class to ensure that although there is a choice, the amount of people reading each story is somewhat evenly distributed). Once they are in groups, I will allow them some time to compare notes. During this time, I will walk around to see whether or not the students in each group seem to come to a consensus upon which events of their story fall into which categories. After their discussions have concluded, I will have them turn in their individual worksheets to me to asses their understanding of plot. During the next class period, we will continue anything we were unable to finish in the last class. I will then show them an episode of //Are You Afraid of the Dark?// called //The Tale of the Midnight Madness// (Available at [] ). This will take approximately twenty minutes. (Basically the episode is about a movie theater nobody ever goes to. The owners threaten to shut it down, but the boy who works there works hard to keep it open. A crazy Doctor shows up and gives them a film that he says will save the theater: //Nosferatu.// Though this makes the theater incredibly popular, the boy finds out later that Nosferatu, the vampire, comes out of the screen of the movie and attacks the viewers nightly. There is a big fight scene, the boy jumps into the movie and defeats Nosferatu, he gets the girl, etc., etc.). I will then have students individually map out the plot for five minutes. I will have them turn this into me, and then we will have a class discussion, using the interactive plot mapping website from the previous day. After our discussion is complete, I will ask students to pull out their writer’s journals (we will have journals in the classroom all year). I will ask students to come up with basic story lines of their own including a/n exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. By this I mean, they will not be writing short stories, but the skeletal versions of what could later become short stories. A very basic example (I will expect theirs to be slightly more detailed): **Exposition:** A girl makes a new friend at school. **Rising action:** She notices that her friend acts particularly strange. **Climax:** One night, during a full moon, she finds that her friend is a werewolf, and they have a big fight. **Falling action:** She and her friend find that there is a cure for werewolf-ism. **Resolution:** They become good friends and things are normal again. This will get students thinking about writing, and the use of basic plot within their short stories, while also giving them ideas as to what they may want to write their final short stories on. After this, I will have the students use the ComicLife application on their macbooks in order to illustrate the basic plots they have written. I will limit them to two pages. This will make them focus on the most important aspects of plot. I will ask them to print these out, along with a brief paragraph explaining where the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of their stories are found within their comics. This will be their assignment for the lesson. **__ Differentiated Instruction: __** The large amount of whole class work in this lesson will be helpful to those who may struggle to understand the material on their own. The use of visual text (the video), as well as the use of reading a children’s book aloud will simplify the content of the text, so that students can focus more easily on the particular skill being taught. When it comes to the short stories the students were to have read prior to this lesson, I would make sure to get an audio copy for students who struggle with reading. If the student can read, just simply at a lower level, they stories I have chosen will be likely to be ok—I purposely chose stories written for a younger reading level so that the students are really able to focus on the concept over the content. Students will also have plenty of support from me, as the teacher. Most of their work is done during class time—even their homework is assigned while there is still class time to spare, so that students are able to come to me for assistance. Students who need further modifications than are provided can come to me—I will ensure that their work is tailored to their ability level. I will make sure to have times set aside in the mornings or during study halls where students can meet with me for further assistance. **__Assessment:__** As a method of formative assessment, I will collect the worksheets the students fill out in this lesson, though that is more of a practice exercise. Their basic plot comics, along with the brief paragraph write ups, mentioned at the end of the teaching and learning sequence will be a more formal measurement of their understanding of the content. This lesson will contribute to the development of their short stories due at the end of the unit as a summative assessment. They will also include the formative assessment piece they complete for this lesson within their writing portfolio which is also a part of their summative assessment. LESSON 2 ** Week Two: Mini Lesson—Conflict (One 80 minute period) ** **__Lesson Objectives:__** **__ Teaching and Learning Sequence: __** To pre asses their understanding of conflict, I will begin with a group activity in which we will watch a clip of the musical episode of //Buffy the Vampire Slayer//, and then discuss the various types of conflicts depicted (specifically, human vs. human, human vs. self, human vs. society, human vs. nature). This will allow me to assess how much of this has been covered in previous classes. After this, I will define conflict, and all the various types that are classically represented in literature. I will refer back to the handout of literary terms that I mentioned earlier. After I have finished defining the various types of conflict, I will break the class up into four groups. Each will be assigned one of the four major types of conflict. I will give the students about 5-10 minutes to come up with quick skits depicting the type of conflict their group was given. The students will then present the skits to their classmates, and we will briefly discuss how each skit represented the type of conflict assigned to the groups. I will then read aloud a few excerpts from Francesca Lia Block’s //Witch Baby// (I chose this because there is a //lot// of conflict)//,// and have the students complete this worksheet: []. I will have them turn this in to me so I can see how well they understand conflict after I have defined it. Once again, we will discuss each excerpt in depth, as a whole class. We will go over which conflicts fell into which categories, and why. Students will then take out their journals. I will ask them to respond to the following: “Think about a specific conflict you have faced at school. How did you overcome it? What kind of conflict was it?” I will have students write in their journals for about 15 minutes. This will be a way of practicing how to write about conflict, since the focus of this unit is really writing—they simply need to do these other activities as a way of understanding what goes into good writing. For homework, I will have students draw a slip of paper from a bucket. On those slips of paper, I will have typed up scenarios that are likely to end in conflict. (If they don’t like the one they get, I will let them draw again). They will write a short story depicting a conflict surrounding whatever scenario chose, approximately two pages in length. I will use this as a formative assessment. I will have a bucket of pre-arranged conflict starters that I have typed up. Some examples I might put in the bucket are: This will be due three days after I assign it. We won’t be revising them since they are for practice. **__Differentiated Instruction:__** Once again, this lesson uses a visual text, as well as a read aloud activity. Students who struggle with reading will be likely to need little accommodation. Students who struggle with writing however, could use some assignment modification. If a student would find it genuinely difficult to write two pages, I would allow the student to write a shorter story, as long as they got their point across. I would also allow them to choose their own conflict, if they find that it is too difficult to write about the conflict that is assigned to them. Once again, I would make sure to be available outside of class, for students who may seek assistance. Since this is likely to be a review of what the students have learned in previous English classes, I think the students will be likely to grasp the concept pretty easily. However, if some students do not, I will make sure that I find additional worksheets and resources that may suit their needs individually. **__Assessment:__** I will be collecting the worksheets from the //Witch Baby// read aloud activity as a low stakes method of formative assessment. As a more formal method of formative assessment, I will be looking at the short stories the students write based on whatever random conflict they draw from the topic bucket. I will assess these stories with highest emphasis on their ability to portray and develop conflict. This lesson will contribute to their summative assessment, since their final short story assignments will need to include a distinct conflict. They will also be putting their two page short stories from this lesson in their writing portfolio, which will also be a part of their formative assessment. LESSON 3 ** Week Two (Cont.): Mini Lesson—Character Development (Two 80 minute periods) ** **__ Lesson Objectives: __** **__ Teaching and Learning Sequence: __** We will begin the lesson on character development with a hook activity. I will have the students watch a clip from //Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog// (I would cut out the inappropriate language) ( [] ). I will then ask students to describe the personality of Dr. Horrible, as well as the personality of Captain Hammer. We will hold a class discussion in which I will ask the students to explain what clues about the scene and the characters’ actions, goals, etc. contributed to their understandings of each character. After this discussion has concluded, I will have the students pull out their writing journals to conduct a pre-assessment activity in which, (and I totally stole this activity from Dr. Overstreet), I will give students 5 minutes in class to describe a character without directly revealing age or gender. They will describe the characters’ interests, hobbies, and anything else that will really define the character to the audience. They will then take turns in small groups, sharing their descriptions, and then guessing the age, gender, and type of person each other’s characters are. Then I will teach the mini lesson, using many examples of characters from books— I will photocopy quite a few passages from Francesca Lia Block stories—her character development is unique and vivid. Before presenting these examples, I will define the concept of character development for them, based on the Wikipedia definition (I looked over it to make sure it was legitimate): [] After defining character development, I will elaborate thoroughly upon the concept, explaining implicit and explicit character development. I will then ask students to write in their journals once again. I will ask students to think of a favorite character from a TV show, movie, book, or anything, and to explain how they are characterized. After giving students a few minutes to do so, I will have the class regroup as a circle. I will then have each student speak briefly about the characters they chose and how they felt they were characterized, as well as their reasoning. If the students still seem as though they are not quite getting the concept, I will try to redefine character development in a way they can understand. Once it seems as though everybody has a decent grasp on the concept of character development, I will hand out their assignment. I will allow the remainder of class time to work on their assignments to ensure that I will be around to answer any remaining questions. I will give them a worksheet of questions, which I would model after/borrow from: []. This will get them thinking more about their characters as people, and developing deep back stories and personalities for their characters. As another method of assessing the students’ knowledge of character development, I will read them //Story of an Hour//—focusing particularly on the passage that really reveals something about the main character character. I will ask them to discuss this verbally. Once the class has come to somewhat of an agreement over what characterizes the main character, I will ask what clues they used to make the inferences made. This will also help me understand how they make inferences about characters and whether or not they truly understand character development. For homework, I will have students create a collage and poem which reveals a lot about the character they initially made up in the activity we did (or a new one…). See attached handout. **__Differentiated Instruction:__** Once again, this lesson uses a video and a read aloud activity, which I have done on purpose so that students are able to focus on the concept of character development, without struggling with comprehension. For students who may need to examine a story more than once to fully understand the character development, I will provide them the link to the //Dr.// Horrible video, (shown above) as well as a link to //Story of an Hour//, ( [] ) so that the students can re-examine the stories. For students who struggle with the writing tasks, I will provide simpler and shorter activities, based on the student’s specific needs. Once again, I will make sure to be available for extra assistance. For students who really struggle with the concept of character development, I will provide extra resources and handouts, such as: [] I don’t expect that all of the students will need these, since I expect that this concept will be review for most, and we will be mostly focusing on how to //write// using character development, but these resources will be available to those who need a more solid definition. ** __Assessment__: ** As in class formative assessment, I will note what students say during their discussions of the video and the short story we will be examining. I will also collect their writing exercises to see how well they are able to write about their own characters. As a more formal method of formative assessment, students will create a collage and poem (as described in the attached handout) which demonstrates the use of character development. This will help me assess their understanding so that I can go over anything that the students may seem to be struggling with, during the remaining weeks, before the students begin their larger project. This will also contribute to their summative assessment because their final short stories will need to demonstrate the use of character development. They will also be including their poems and collages in their final writing portfolios. THE REMAINING WEEKS ( Practicing for/revising/sharing the final project) Note: These first three lessons, although they may seem to have not really focused on writing are the most essential parts of this writing unit. Students need to fully understand these concepts and how they are demonstrated within text, before they can write their own short stories. These lessons serve as scaffolding to the remainder of the unit, which is much simpler—students practice and revise writing until they are able to produce a longer, well written short story, demonstrating all of the elements that were focused upon during the three major lessons. ** Week Three: Short story practice (Two 80 minute periods) ** At the start of this week, I will hand out the assignment for the final short story. The first draft will be due the following week. (See attached handout). Before students are to write their final short stories, I will take one week for students to have practice opportunities to use the three skills they recently acquired. I will give them several prompts before allowing them to write their own freestyle short story. During this week, I will assess their understanding of character development, plot, and conflict. If it seems they need more practice, I will give them another week or so. For each class during this time, I will have the students write one in-class piece based on a topic I will provide. For example (the classic writing prompt): Write a story starting with “I remember…” I will also do the activity, “Write a list of things that make you mad.” Then I will have them choose something from the list to elaborate upon. These in class writing sessions will take between 10-20 minutes per day. I will give the students time to share with their peers after each in class writing session. This will get them more comfortable with each other, so that they will be able to interact more freely during the following week, when we begin peer review groups. During this week, I will ask students to go to the library and choose one short story that they would like to share with the class. During the remaining class time, after free-writing time, I will have the students read aloud the stories they chose (or I will read aloud the stories they chose if they are uncomfortable). This way the class will have an opportunity to hear a variety of short stories to draw examples from—not just the kind of short stories I would be likely to choose. ** Week Four: Short story draft due—Peer Review groups (Two 80 minute periods) ** The first draft of the students’ final short stories will be due this week. I will create peer review groups, (which I will make appear completely random), but in reality, the students will be somehow grouped by writing skill levels in order to ensure that everyone gets at least one quality review. I will do a mini lesson on the concept of peer review, and hand out papers with specific questions to answer about each piece so that the students won’t get away with the “Yours was great,” useless feedback. The questions I will make the students answer for each story they read will be: I will make sure to very clearly discuss the concept of peer review prior to this. On the first day, I will bring in a one page long horribly dry, boring, story (which I will write) full of mistakes for the students to review. I’m going to purposely make the content horrible as well—something that is full of generalizations, which will get them worked up. Such as, “All boys are mean. Girls aren’t strong,” etc. I will teach them that it is ok to disagree. I will project it so everyone can see it, and give everyone a copy to write on. I will encourage students to express what they think, and write completely honest comments. I think this will help get them comfortable writing honest and useful comments on each other’s work. By showing them, with my terrible sample piece, that you can’t always pass back a paper and say “good job” I think they will understand how to give more useful feedback. I will, however, make sure that students do not offend one another. I will go over appropriate and inappropriate commenting. I will make sure students know that I will be collecting and reading their peer reviews in order to ensure that they are providing quality feedback and not taking it as an opportunity to bully one another. After the students finish peer reviewing one another’s short stories, they will write their final drafts. ** Week Five: Short story sharing (80 minute period) ** On the last day of the unit, students will share their short stories in small groups and/or with the whole class if they are comfortable. I will ask them to create some sort of interesting way of presenting the story, perhaps making it into a book or creating some sort of artifact that relates to the story. They will really have freedom in how they do this, as long as they are creative. (They could illustrate the story, for example.) I will ask students to pay close attention to their peers’ use of character development, plot, and conflict within their stories. After they have shared their stories, I will give the students the option of submitting it to the “class zine.” If they want to share their stories with the entire class, I will put together a little zine, with the stories of whoever submits their stories. They will also turn in their writing portfolio on this day. FOR THE UNIT IN GENERAL: **__Differentiated Instruction:__** I will modify assignments for students who may find them either too difficult or too simple. For writing assignments, I may lengthen or shorten the required page length, etc. While examining short stories, I might assign easier short stories to those who struggle, and more complex short stories for those who need more of a challenge. I will also assign several types of group work giving students the opportunity to learn from one another. I will also have students examining videos as a “visual text” to reach out to those who may not have the best reading skills. I will try to find as many different mediums as I possibly can to explain the concepts of character development, plot, and conflict—from music to excerpts from novels. **__Assessment:__** **__ Other projects and assignments: __** The weekend before week four, as the students practice their short story writing, I will assign two take home assignments: **Read & Respond:** I will have the students do a response to whatever short story they chose to bring to class. I will ask that they read the story of their choice, and in a one page response briefly discuss the plot, character development, and conflict they saw in the story, as well as a general reaction to the story. This will help them think more about the goals and objectives, since it will get them to further consider the fundamentals of short story writing. Responding to the work of other authors will help them come up with ideas to better their own writing. Also, simply the act of //writing// a response will be a good practice opportunity to write about something. **Write:** I will also ask the students to write a 2 page practice short story. I will ask them to fictionalize an important event in their lives (e.g. the day my baby brother was born, visiting Grandma in Japan, the day I got my puppy, etc.). I will ask them to pay careful attention to the build up of their plot, as well as how they characterize themselves. I will ask them to try to include at least one conflict, however small. (E.g. I thought for hours about what pair of shoes to wear that day…). This will serve as good practice for their final short story. Though we will be doing many similar prompts in class, giving them a few days to think about it will help them think through the writing process—which is completely different when the extra time is available. **__Student Handouts:__** (see attached) Character Collage & Poem For this assignment, I am asking you to develop a character that you may or may not use in your short story. The main purpose of the assignment is just to get you thinking of realistic characters, and how to get into the mind of a character you have created. We talked about **character development** in class—this is your chance to demonstrate how awesome you are at developing your own characters! First, write a brief, two paragraph description of your character—what he or she looks like, how old he or she is, what is his or her attitude is like, likes/dislikes, interests, etc. Next, use this description to create a collage about your character. Include pictures that remind you of your character, or reveal something about your character in some way. After this, write a short, free verse poem, as your character. Write it as you feel they would write it. Write about something you feel they would write about. There is a lot of room for choice here, so I am really expecting you to get into the head of your character!   <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Character Collage & Poem Grading Sheet <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Collage/ Write up    <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Poem <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">  || <span style="font-family: 'Bernard MT Condensed','serif'; font-size: 26pt;">Final Short Story <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Write a 4-5 paged short story about any topic of your choice. (See me if you really can’t come up with a topic). As long as it is school appropriate, your story can be about anything, just remember: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">As you turn in your final draft, you will also be turning in a writing portfolio. Include any written responses, practice stories, and any writing you would like to include that shows your growth as a writer over this quarter. Write a one page reflection on what you have learned, and how you have become a better writer. Put all of the artifacts in a folder and hand them into me. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Rough draft due: 3/11 <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Final draft AND Writing Portfolio due: 3/19 **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Short Story Unit ** <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Objectives: **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">This unit will focus on the writing of short stories. Though we will read some as examples, our main focus will be upon the understanding of the basic elements of a short story, and how to write a short story, using those elements. Throughout the unit, you will have many practice opportunities for writing. These practice opportunities will build up to the final assignment: one larger short story about any topic of your choice. I will also ask that you turn in a writing portfolio, along with this assignment, including any written responses or smaller assignments you have completed throughout the unit, in order to demonstrate your progress as a writer. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">We will be addressing the following questions: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">How do authors make short stories interesting? <span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">How do authors make their characters come to life? What makes them real to readers? How do authors make readers relate to characters? <span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">How do writers develop plot within a short story? (What are the elements of plot?) <span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Why is it important to revise writing? How are some appropriate ways to reassess what you have written? <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Readings ****<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">: ** <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Topics we will address: ** <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Assessment: **<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">We will have many pre-assessment activities in class. Aside from the short story and portfolio you will be required to turn in as a summative assessment, there will be some smaller homework assignments. As a formative assessment, you will be turning in: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">
 * Short Story Writing Unit Plan **
 * ** Students will be able to demonstrate the use of character development. **
 * ** Students will understand how to interpret and develop conflict. **
 * ** Students will have an awareness of plot movement. **
 * ** Students will learn how to effectively critique and revise the work of others. **
 * ** Students will have an awareness of plot movement. **
 * ** Students will learn how to map and label the various parts of a plot. **
 * ** Students will begin to understand how to develop plots of their own. **
 * Students will understand how to interpret and develop conflict.
 * Students will understand how conflict is defined, and what the four basic literary conflicts are.
 * Students will be able to recognize conflict within a text.
 * Students will begin to understand how to write conflict into a story.
 * You were attacked by a vampire. You tried to tell your mom—now the entire town thinks you are nuts, and shuns you.
 * You are accused of a crime you did not commit. The whole neighborhood is against you.
 * You accidentally stepped on the mouse of a particular species, making it extinct, and now you feel like you should turn yourself in.
 * You bite into a sandwich and find a worm in it. Your friend who made the sandwich is laughing.
 * You are on a game show and you lose because the other person cheated. You confront them after.
 * You get lost in the woods and need to survive.
 * Aliens have invaded your town. Do you fight them, or try to make a peace agreement with them?
 * ** Students will understand what defines character development. **
 * ** Students will be able to recognize character development within stories. **
 * ** Students will be able to demonstrate the use of character development within their own writing. **
 * Was there distinct plot advancement in the story?
 * Were the characters authentic and well developed?
 * Was there realistic and distinct conflict in the story?
 * What did you especially like about the story?
 * What do you think needs more work?
 * Any additional comments?
 * **Pre-assessment—**Most importantly, the pre-assessment that will come before all of these pre-assessments is the assessment of their writing skills. I will have every student write a couple of responses to prompts before any of these lessons take place. I would test this in two ways—I will have them write one response to a prompt in class, which will create a time limit and allow me to test their on-demand writing skills. Then I will also assign one short piece based on a different prompt, for the students to take home and take their time on. This way I will be able to determine the students’ strengths and weaknesses in the writing department. The unit will start after this. I also pre-assess my students on the skills I am teaching in this unit, at the start of each lesson. This is typically done through an in class activity, as seen above.
 * **Formative Assessment**—Each week, students will have smaller assignments to formatively assess their understanding of each new concept that is introduced. First they will be assessed on their understanding of plot, then conflict, then character development. After it seems as though they have a decent grasp of these concepts, their work will all come together in their practice short stories—which will also be a form of formative assessment. For a formative assessment of their understanding of plot, I am having them create a ComicLife product with a very basic plot. To demonstrate their understanding of conflict, they will be writing practice short stories, demonstrating conflict, based on a conflict they choose at random. To demonstrate their understanding of character development, they will be creating collages and poems, which reveal things about a character they have made up.
 * **Summative Assessment**—Students will write many short stories and journal entries throughout the unit. Their final project, however, will be a longer short story (in some sort of artifact form), along with a portfolio of the writing they have done. Their short story will demonstrate their understanding of conflict, plot, and character development, as well as their growth as writers. The portfolio will mark their progress from start to finish. (See attached handout.)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Interesting, appropriate images fill the page.  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">The collage fits the description of the character written up  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Creativity/attractiveness  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">The write up is the appropriate length and well thought out.  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/30   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Creative title  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Captures the voice of the character described  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Reveals something important about the character  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Mechanics, punctuation, spelling, usage  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Creativity of the poem  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/10
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Total  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">__/100   ||
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">You need to demonstrate an understanding of plot. Your story should have a distinct exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">You need to clearly depict at least one of the four types of conflict we went over: human vs. human, human vs. nature, human vs. self or human vs. society.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Your characters need to be authentic and well developed.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Kate Chopin’s //Story of an Hour//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Short stories from //The New Yorker//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Alvin Schwartz’s //Scary Stories Treasury//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Various other children’s books, to examine basic concepts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Plot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Conflict
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Character Development
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Peer Review
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">A ComicLife product demonstrating plot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">A collage and poem demonstrating character development
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">A short story demonstrating conflict
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Writer’s workshop worksheets
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif';">Several short stories