English 3: American Literature and Composition - Short Stories Unit
Students will read various short stories and excerpts from American authors as they learn about characterization, setting, plot order, plot structure, narrator, and point of view; and write a short story for a final project.
Angelia Derrick (she/her)
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What's included
11 pre-recorded lessons
4 weeks
of teacher support1 year access
to the contentHomework
2-4 hours per week. Students will need to read and study the texts, do the weekly activity pages, do short written responses outside of class, and write a short story.Letter Grade
Your Final Grade will be determined from your homework, quizzes and final project grade. Final project grading rubric will be provided with the assignment. Reading questions and most of the homework is graded Pass/Fail with credit given for completing the activity; partial credit given if the activity wasn't complete or done incorrectly. Grammar and vocabulary quizzes will be graded.Grading
Students can opt out of having a grade issued. It is recommended that they still do the reading and activities to get the most out of the class, but they don't have to turn anything in.Class Experience
US Grade 11
✨New to Outschool? Use code OUTAngelia20 to save $20 on any class! ✨ Short Stories Unit for American Literature and Composition Students will read various short stories from American authors. Students will learn about different elements of narrative writing including characterization, setting, plot order (foreshadowing, flashbacks, linear, etc.), plot structure, narrator, and point of view. Students will study short excerpts from various short stories and analyze two short stories per lesson in connection to the different elements of narrative writing. Final project for the unit will be to write their own short story. This class can be used as a core English/Literature/Language Arts/ELA course for 10th or 11th grade (US standards). For non US-students, this should be the equivalent of high school/secondary school year 10, 11, or 12. If students are taking the class for an academic grade, they should plan on spending several hours a week on the class for the lessons, homework, projects, and reading. There are NO live meetings for this course. Multiple posts will be made to the classroom each week which will include: video lessons on the text and language arts/grammar lessons, discussion on the reading prompts which can be video or written responded to, homework post which will include the reading and worksheet/writing/creative project assignment, and question/answer posts regarding language arts, vocabulary, and grammar. This is unit 1 of 4 units in my English 3: American Literature and Composition Semester A self-paced class.
Learning Goals
Students will learn about how to analyze literature, increase reading comprehension, and write a short story.
Syllabus
Curriculum
Follows Teacher-Created CurriculumStandards
Aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS)11 Lessons
over 4 WeeksLesson 1:
Week 1 ELA Bell Ringer
Each week the bell ringers will cover vocabulary, literary terms, and grammar corrections. This week is grammar correction and vocabulary. Video Lesson: 9 min 1 assignment
Lesson 2:
Short Stories Lesson 1: Characterization
Learn about the importance of characterization and how to analyze characters while reading excerpts from "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway, and the full stories of "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. Video Lesson: 7 min 1 assignment
Lesson 3:
Short Stories Lesson 2: Setting
Learn about the importance of setting details and how to analyze them while reading excerpts from “1408” by Stephen King, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” by Jhumpa Lahiri, "The Passing of Grandison” by Charles W. Chestnut, and the full stories of "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid and "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. Video Lesson: 6 min 1 assignment
Lesson 4:
Week 2 ELA Bell Ringer
Each week the bell ringers will cover vocabulary, literary terms, and grammar corrections. This week is grammar correction and a literary term - syntax. Video Lesson: 5 min 1 assignment
Other Details
Parental Guidance
Students will research some topics online, read articles on websites, and occasional watch an informational YouTube video (in the classroom) to complete homework assignments.
Students will read and discuss in a matter-of-fact way the following texts which tackle some sensitive topics. Some of the topics tackled will be racism/prejudice, foul language, sexism, sexual references, bodily functions, murder, vengeance, starvation, religion, and torture. The short stories and excerpts read tell stories that include these elements and the students will discuss these issues in a matter-of-fact way in context to when/where it happened or is depicted as happening. It is important for learners to know that these issues exist even if they don't have a personal connection to one or any of the topics. This literature is taught to high school/secondary school aged children all over the world and are considered to be age appropriate with the knowledge of the sensitive issues that will be covered.
Supply List
Students will need a word processor to write paper assignments, a journal/notebook/google doc is recommended for journaling thoughts and extra/non-workbook assignments, a printer to print up the workbook pages or pdf editor to do them on their computer, and a cell phone with a camera/scanner to turn in PDF activity pages. All materials will be provided as PDFs, Google Suite links, or web links.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Joined May, 2020
5.0
170reviews
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Teacher expertise and credentials
2 Degrees
Master's Degree in Film/Cinema/Video Studies from California State University, Fullerton
Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Charter Oak State College
I studied literature throughout my bachelor's program as part of the creative writing emphasis. I have been teaching middle and high school level students for several years how to analyze texts (movies and books) as well as writing essays.
Published writer in nonfiction (articles and books) and fiction (short stories, novellas, and novels).
Writing young adult fantasy and space opera under the pen name Angelia Almos.
Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting
Bachelor of Arts in Applied Arts: Creative Writing
Certificates from Institute of Children's Literature
Certificates from Institute for WritersReviews
Self-Paced Course
$24
weekly or $96 for all content11 pre-recorded lessons
4 weeks of teacher support
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1 year of access to the content
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Ages: 15-17
