Students need to understand and be able to emulate the structure of a short story by the end of a short story lesson. Students should also be able to define and describe the elements of a short story, as well as identify and analyze literary techniques an author uses. In addition to understanding and analyzing, effective short story lessons provide opportunities for students to try their hand at short story writing, incorporating the structure, elements and techniques they learned.
Teachers can illustrate the plot structure of a short story with a plot graph. A plot graph portrays the movement of plot from left to right and the intensity of plot from low to high. Teachers can ask students for examples of stories, novels and movies they know that follow this structure. For elements such as characterization and setting, teachers can point to characters and settings in familiar stories, such as fairy tales or a novel the class has read together. Literary techniques require more time to teach, as writers use a vast number of them. Simple techniques, such as simile or alliteration, suit middle school children. High school students can handle the rest, including irony, metonymy and consonance.
To ensure that students fully understand the concept of a short story, teachers can provide students with short stories to analyze. Students can plot the action on graphs, describe the characters and setting and pick out and explain the significance of any literary techniques.
Practicing writing their own stories solidifies the concept of a short story for students. Teachers should instruct students to carefully plan out their stories, outlining the plot, creating a significant setting and dynamic characters and selecting from a list of literary techniques to incorporate in their writing. Sharing stories with the class allows students to compare their work to those of their peers.