Working in pairs or small groups, have your students create a story map using pictures and words to describe the following aspects of the story: basic situation, setting, characters, main problem, main events and complications, climax, and resolution. A typical story map links each item. Students can create each section on copy paper, construction paper or even on poster-sized paper. They should work collaboratively, first discussing the story in detail and deciding on their choices for the map, then breaking up the work between them. When the map is completed, each group should present its map to the class, during which time students can defend their choices and discuss their ideas about the story. Finally, the class as a whole can compare the differences and similarities between all the maps.
When students must recreate a story in script form it requires them to examine the story in close detail. Ask your students to convert their short story into a script. The number of characters in the story should be a guide to the size of the groups working on the project. Each student should be prepared to assume a role in the script. However, an especially shy student could be given the role of "director" or "stage manager." Students can act the script out in class or create a video for presentation. In addition to writing the script you may also want them to add elements such as simple costume pieces, props, lighting, music or sound effects.
Most middle school students enjoy art projects. As part of your short story unit, have your students illustrate scenes from the story and create character portraits, and then hold a class art show to display their work. Students can use a variety of media, working individually and in small groups to demonstrate their understanding of the story and its characters. Allow students to draw with pencil, paint with watercolors, create collages, make mosaics from paper, or work with clay or any other medium. Invite the students to bring in materials from home and, if possible, obtain the help of your school's art teacher.
Have students create a board or card game using the short story and its characters. Students can model their games after something they are familiar with, such as Monopoly or Life, or develop an original game idea of their own. This project works especially well with adventure, fantasy and science fiction stories with multiple characters. For example, if you are teaching Ray Bradbury's story "A Sound of Thunder," students might create a game board that begins in the present, takes them back into the past to kill the T-Rex, then ends in the present, but along the way the board offers the players choices and events that can alter the future. Students should create clear and workable rules for their games. Make sure that your students are given the chance to play each others' games after completing the project.