Start the Year With a Short Story Unit

Have you considered starting the year with a Short Story Unit?  Short stories are a great way to engage and enlighten secondary scholars. These compact narratives pack a punch while teaching literary concepts, such as plot, setting, static and dynamic characters, irony, foreshadowing, and the all-important theme – also known as the author’s message. 

Here are seven additional benefits to teaching short stories: 

1) Short Stories are captivating and instructionally efficient. You can teach a short story in 1-3 days, whereas a novel takes several weeks. 

2) Short Stories expose students to diverse cultures and perspectives and lend themselves to text-to-text comparisons. 

3) Short Stories enhance critical thinking while providing an entry point into literary analysis. 

4) Short Stories cultivate imagination and creativity. 

5) Short Stories showcase the power of concise language and effective writing styles with precision. 

6) Short Stories explore relevant social issues, ethical dilemmas, and human experiences that resonate with students' lives. 

7) Short Stories encourage collaboration as they lend themselves to group discussions, debates, and small group activities. 

Teaching short stories offers a plethora of benefits for secondary students. By incorporating these bite-sized narratives into the curriculum, we can inspire a love for literature, create meaningful discussions, and equip students with valuable skills that will extend far beyond the classroom.

As Edgar Allen Poe, inventor of the short story, said, “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” 

Here are fifteen of my favorite short stories that do just that: 

"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

"The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs

"Charles" by Shirley Jackson

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor

"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury

"Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling

"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl 

"The Open Window" by Saki

"Thank You M'am" by Langston Hughes

"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes