Activities for Teaching the Novella: “The Metamorphosis”

Posted on September 8, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

The novella The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a fun story to read and teach. The entire concept of waking up suddenly as a bug (or vermin) is an attention-getter. It’s also useful to read the source between the cultural reference. There are interesting concepts and themes to explore during and after reading.

Write the Clerk’s Report

This is a targeted point of view writing. The clerk (or boss or manager) has to report back to work what he saw at Gregor’s apartment. Students will take the view point and write a short scene based on what little the clerk saw. For a different sort of writing project, students can write it as a report rather than a story scene– focusing on formal and objective language about an absurd experience.

Buy the The Clerk’s Report on Gregor Samsa Activity, with three versions of the clerk’s report with different writing focuses. Rubrics included.

Genre Analysis Activity

Some stories don’t fit neatly into a particular genre, and The Metamorphosis is one of those. Students will examine the components of genre and decide which genre they think fits best. They will support their position with details and quotes from the text as well as definition of the genre. And since the story can fit multiple genres, the focus is on the support rather than one right answer.

Buy the Genre Analysis Activity includes literary essay instructions with rubric, quick guide to literary essays, plus a genre analysis infographic option with rubric and quick guide to infographics.

Explore Grete’s Transformation

Rather overshadowed by her brother turning into a bug, Grete does undergo her own (more typical) transformation. Students can explore the details about Grete and how she changed during the story. This is a good topic of literary analysis, either in an essay response or a multimedia project.

Buy Grete’s Transformation Activity with literary essay writing with rubric, literary analysis multimedia project with rubric, plus option for point of view narrative or graphic novel options.

Alternate Point of View Writing

Retell the story from an alternate point of view in a story is a valuable activity. Students refer to the details from the text, while also considering the impact of view point. Gregor’s mother, father or sister are all good choices with differing view points in the story.

Buy the Alternate Point of View with student instruction sheet, rubric, pre-writing worksheet, and reflection.

Graphic Organizers

Another way to help guide students in working with the text, for projects or just understanding, are graphic organizers. Recording the sequence of Gregor’s behavior becoming more bug-like or recording the impact of the transformation on Gregor as well as his family are two tasks that work well on graphic organizer.

Buy the Graphic Organizers with KWL, Going Buggy, Literary Devices, Gregor’s Life Before and After, The Transformation’s Impact, and a set of Word Webs.

Reading or Quiz Questions

Hold students accountable for the reading while also providing them a reference for project work by using reading questions. Using both recall and inference questions can expand the usefulness of reading questions by going beyond the text. Quiz questions can also test their knowledge and retention of assigned reading.

Buy the Reading, Thinking and Quiz Questions set.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving The Metamorphosis Activity Bundle. Great for building a unit around The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

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Activities for Teaching the Short Story: “To Build a Fire”

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

The short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a fun story to read with middle and high school students. The setting in the frozen North is interesting as is the tension. The ending is somewhat unexpected as reader would expect the man to make it to safety. At least the dog lives.

Here are some activities for teaching “To Build a Fire.”

Alternate Ending Project

Student can take one of the pivotal plot events and rewrite a new ending from that point. How does a change at one spot change the ending. Students will reference events from the story, but there’s lots of room for creativity. This one is fun for a graphic novel adaptation with the interesting (and maybe easy to draw) snowy north setting.

Buy the Alternate Ending Project with student instructions and rubric for graphic novel project, as well as narrative instructions and rubric.

Alternate Point of View

The story focuses on the a 3rd person limited view point. Students practice the valuable skill of writing from another view point by retelling parts of the story. One option is to tell the story from the view point of the dog (goes well if also studying Call of the Wild). Another option is to tell the story through the view of someone who finds the body– what do they know or learn about the man and his final mistakes?

Buy the Alternate Point of View Creative Writing Project with student instruction sheet and rubric, pre-writing worksheet and student reflection.

How to Guide Writing

Creating a how to guide about surviving in the Yukon is a fun visual activity. Students can draw on details from the text about survival. They could add additional research, optionally. Students will use bullet points and headings as part of organizing their information. As a challenge, students can be tasked with using a positive tone (instead of “don’t” focus on “do.”)

Buy the How To Guide Activity with student printable and rubric. Includes option for requiring positive tone.

Read about Jack London

Prepare to read the story “To Build a Fire” with learning about Jack London. His writing draws heavily off of his experiences, particularly in the Yukon during the Klondike Goldrush. Using a non-fiction article is a good way to practice non-fiction reading skills.

Buy the Jack London Author Information Activities. Includes an original non-fiction article (written by Ms. Dickson) with Reading Questions. Alternately, the same information is provided as Guided Notes PowerPoint with student worksheet. Great for “To Build a Fire” as well as The Call of the Wild.

Reading Questions and Critical Thinking Questions

Hold students accountable with reading questions. Students can answer the questions while they read. This also provides a sort of reference sheet for when they work on concluding project(s).

Critical Thinking Questions are questions asking students to respond in a short answer, such as paragraph, using support for their answer. These can be turned into projects or essays, or just work as stand-alone short, supported responses to targeted questions.

Buy the Reading Activities, with reading questions, critical thinking questions, and graphic organizers.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving To Build a Fire Activity Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including “To Build a Fire” by Jack London.

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Activities for Teaching the story: The Call of the Wild

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

The short novel or novella, The Call of the Wild is a good choice to engage readers, being an adventure novel based off real experiences. The use of the dog as narrator is different– though some students may be sensitive to the behavior of the dogs.

Here are some activities to use while teaching The Call of the Wild by Jack London:

Research the Klondike and Klondike Gold Rush

The Yukon and Klondike setting as well as the Gold Rush are key parts of the story, from the kidnapping of Buck to the trials of being a sled dog. Students can dig further into the location and time period in an interesting research project. The striking photos from the time period make a multimedia project a good choice.

Buy the Klondike Research Project includes student instructions and rubric, plus research reference and image reference sheets to guide in citations. Students often struggle with properly finding the source website of the images.

Analyze the Theme

Themes of instinct, adaptation and survival, civilization versus wild are all great to explore. These are less personal than some texts, which can be a benefit. The story has lots of evidence for the nature-related themes as well. An alternative to a literary essays is to create a multimedia project– while still requiring the analysis component.

Buy the Theme Analysis Project with theme analysis worksheet, literary essay instructions with rubric, multimedia instructions with rubric, quick guide to literary analysis handout, and ICE worksheet with guided reminders.

How to Guide Writing

This fun visual activity combines details from the text about sled-dogs or the gold rush to create a how-to guide. The real-world writing component includes use of organization. Students can be challenged to use positive language– avoiding ‘don’t’ and focusing on what to do instead.

Buy the How To Guide Projects with student printables and rubric, plus option to require positive tone.

Write a Poem Based on the Story

This is a different sort of creative writing activity. Students will write a poem based off the story. They will include theme, characters, conflict, and setting in their poem version. It may be a retelling or a re-imagining. (It may be best to restrict them from prose poems to get a greater use of poetic devices and force students to think poetically.)

Buy the Narrative Based Poem Project with student instructions and rubric, and story element identification worksheet.

Sequel Writing Activity

Students pick up where the story leaves off. Buck is living in the wild, having heard the call. What is the next chapter of his life? There are some details and legends. Students can use those– or treat them as rumors– and write a sequel for Buck. Students can consider what adventure he has.

Buy the Sequel Writing Activity, with student instructions and rubric for both a narrative and a graphic novel option. Plus sequel writing teacher notes.

Learn about Jack London

Prepare to read the story The Call of the Wild with learning about Jack London. His writing draws heavily off of his experiences, particularly in the Yukon during the Klondike Goldrush. Using a non-fiction article is a good way to practice non-fiction reading skills.

Buy the Jack London Author Information Activities. Includes an original non-fiction article (written by Ms. Dickson) with Reading Questions. Alternately, the same information is provided as Guided Notes PowerPoint with student worksheet. Great for “To Build a Fire” as well as The Call of the Wild.

Reading and Quiz Questions

One way to hold students accountable during reading is with reading questions. The questions can also help guide students in paying attention to parts of the text. Quizzes are another tool for accountability or retention.

Buy the Reading, Thinking, Quiz Questions with a set of reading questions, plus quiz questions. Critical Thinking questions are focused questions with a paragraph response that can be used to explore the text or prepare for a project.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving Activity Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

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Activities for Teaching the Short Story: “The Necklace”

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

The short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is an engaging short story. The story raises questions about impressions, the value of things, materialism, and honest communication.

Modernize It Project

“The Necklace” was set some time ago, so students might enjoy updating the story with something of modern value. What sort of materialism would be exhibited today? What are today’s items of value?

Modernize It Culminating Project

Alternate Ending Project

Students retell the ending of the story, but instead Mrs. Loisel tells the truth about the necklace. Students can write a narrative, or for variety, a graphic novel. Being otherwise true to the character requires character analysis. A solid ending requires understanding of plot structure.

Buy the Alternate Ending Project with student instructions and rubric for both a narrative and graphic novel option.

Honest Communication Personal Writing

As an anticipatory set or a culminating project, this activity has students reflect on a time when they realized that honest communication was important to the outcome of a situation. They might write about themselves or someone close to them. They could write about when someone was honest and it was beneficial, or when someone wasn’t honest and faced consequences.

Buy the Personal Writing Activities, with narrative instructions and rubric, plus multimedia project option.

Reading Activities

Hold students accountable with reading questions. Questions can be completed during or after reading. Good for read-alouds, independent reading, and for helping students keep track of details from the text.

Buy the Reading Activities which includes reading questions and graphic organizers.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving The Necklace Activity Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant.

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Activities for Teaching the Poem: “Casey at the Bat”

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

“Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer is a fun narrative poem. Good for students reluctant about poetry, but also has an interesting ending. Students might expect a happy ending.

Compare With the Short Film

The poem was adapted in 1946 into an animated short Disney film. You may be able to find it for streaming. The adaptation is fairly faithful, but there are some changes for students to examine and explore. Also can include discussion about the animation and cartoon style.

Bu the Poem vs Film (Movie vs Book Activity) resource with comparison table, best of both worlds, and evaluation writing activities.

Newspaper Writing Activity

Students can take a different approach and retell they story as a Newspaper Article. What details are included, what are left out. Good retelling activity for working with a poem.

Buy the Newspaper Writing Activity with student instructions, rubric, and brief handout on newspaper article writing.

Alternate Point of View Writing

Taking an alternate point of view is a good activity for students. The poem is in third person, so students could write from Casey’s point of view. Consider having students write as a poem, matching rhyme scheme or other elements from the original poem.

Buy the Alternate Point of View Story with narrative option with rubric, poem version with rubric, prewriting worksheet and student reflection.

Write Your Own

Students may enjoy the challenge to write their own narrative poem about an unexpected or disappointing ending. They can study the source poem for poetic devices that they can then put into their own version. This makes for a fun way to study poetic devices in use as well as applying them.

Buy the Write Your Own Activity with student instructions, rubric, poetry analysis worksheet, and reflection.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving “Casey at the Bat” Activity Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer.

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Activities for Teaching the Short Story: “The Birthmark”

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

The story “The Birthmark” by Nathanial Hawthorne is fun to teach with high school students. The horror in watching Aylmer destroy his “perfect” wife makes for a compelling story. Students can discuss why the wife accepted her fate or if Aylmer learned anything from his doomed experiment. Can anyone truly be perfect? Should a partner accept “less than perfect?”

Write a Newspaper Article

Combining real-world writing, creative writing, and text study, students will write a newspaper article about the death of Georgiana. Consider what Aylmer admits about what happened. Students might address community response to the event as well.

But the Newspaper Writing Activity with instructions, rubric, and brief handout on Newspaper Article writing.

Create an Infographic of the Events of the Text

Students will create an infographic with events of the text. Infographics are a fun visual activity that combine creative elements with the literature study.

This resource is included as one of 9 options in the Culminating Projects set.

Character Analysis of Aylmer or Georgiana

Analyze the motivation of Aylmer or Georgiana in their choices. Students can create a written or multimedia project with their findings, including evaluation and support from the text in their project.

This resource is included as one of 9 options in the Culminating Projects set.

Personal Writing

In the story, Georgiana feels unappreciated. As an anticipatory set or response writing, students can complete a personal writing about a time that they felt unappreciated. Students will reflect on their experience.

Buy the Personal Writing Narrative and Multimedia with options for essay and multimedia projects, with instructions and rubrics.

Reading Activities

Reading questions are a great way to hold students accountable for the reading. They can used during read-alouds, with students listening to the text and completing as they go. They also work well for independent reading. A combination of recall questions to note basic story elements and inference questions to get students at a bit higher level thinking makes for a good activity.

Buy the Reading Activities with Reading questions, plus graphic organizers. Also critical thinking questions with quick paragraph responses to the text that stand-alone or build on projects and essays.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving The Birthmark Activities Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including “The Birthmark” by Nathanial Hawthorne.

Building a unit– combine this story with other stories of Science Gone Wrong.

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Activities for Teaching the Short Story: “After Twenty Years”

Posted on August 27, 2024 by msdickson

Teaching the story “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry is fun in middle school and high school classes. There is the question of loyalty versus professional duty. Another component is how people grow and change. Teenagers may not see it yet, but who they are in high school may be quite different than the person they grow to be in even a few short years.

Here are some activities to use when teaching the short story “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry:

Prequel Writing

Students will use the details in the story about “Silky” Bob and create a prequel story about what he’s wanted for. Students can be guided on selecting or writing about the crime in a school-appropriate way. Many crime stories keep explicit details ‘off the page’ and instead focus on impact, for example.

Buy the Prequel Writing activity, with student instructions, rubric, prewriting worksheet, and reflection worksheet.

Newspaper Article Writing Activity

This activity combines details from the text, real world writing, and creative writing. Students will write a newspaper article about Silky Bob’s arrest. What details make it into a news paper article that people will want to read.

Buy the Newspaper Article Writing Activity with student instructions, rubric, and a brief handout on newspaper article writing.

Interview Project

Students can interview a family member or other older person about a long-separated relationship. Perhaps it was a friend they haven’t seen in years or a relative that they have become estranged with. Students can come up with their own questions, or build of a common list. Good as either a written project or a multimedia project. A reflection component can have students thinking about what they learned from the interview about time and relationships.

Buy the Interview Project with checklist, interview questions, narrative writing project with rubric, multimedia project option with rubric, reflection questions

Create a Wanted Poster for Silky Bob

Students use details from the story plus creative writing to make a wanted poster for Silky Bob. Fun visual activity to pair with the story.

This activity is included in the Bundle or buy a blank Wanted Poster activity for use with any story.

Reading Questions

Reading questions are a good way to hold students accountable for reading the story. They can complete the questions while reading or listening. The questions and answers can help them retain details from the story as well. Graphic organizers are another way to help review and retain components from the story, such as for preparing for a project.

Buy the Reading Activities with reading questions with recall and analysis plus graphic organizers.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving After Twenty Years Activity Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry.

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Activities for Teaching the Short Story: “The Story of an Hour”

Posted on August 25, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a great short story. It’s particularly short length still includes questions of marriage, self-determination, and women’s issues. There are a number of options for exploring beyond the text of the short story.

Here are some activities to use while teaching “The Story of an Hour” in middle or high school classes:

Prequel Writing Activity

The story is very short and little is said about the characters, or particularly about the marriage. Students can write a short scene or story about life before. How does it explain why Mrs. Mallard feels the way that she does. Consider historical implications as well.

Buy the Prequel Writing Activity with rubric. Includes version that requires societal research and one that does not. This resource is included as one of 9 options in the Culminating Projects set.

Alternate Point of View Writing

Alternate point of view writing is a great activity for students to both explore the text as well as the idea of seeing things through someone else’s view points. Students could write from the point of view of Mrs. Mallards sister, Josephine, or from her husband, Brent Mallard.

Buy the Alternate Point of View Writing Activity with instructions, rubric, and prewriting worksheet. This resource is also included as one of 9 options in the Culminating Projects set.

Movie Poster Project

Students will design a movie poster to accompany a new (fictional) movie version of the story. They’ll include actors to play the characters. And they’ll consider an alternate title. Fun visual product to engage with the text.

This resource is included as one of 9 options in the Culminating Projects set.

Reading Questions

Reading questions are useful for providing accountability during reading. Reading questions can include basic recall to keep students on track as well as inference questions for higher level thinking. The answered questions can also help students with keeping track of key points in the story while they work on projects.

Buy the resource: Reading Activities with Reading Questions, Graphic Organizers and Critical Thinking questions.

Literary Essay

As a short story, the essay would be short as well. This can be good for demand writing practice or simply a quick literary essay. Students might explore how Mrs. Mallard thinks of her husband in positive terms but feels joy at his death in character analysis. They might address the impact of the ending. Short literary essays can help practice essay skills with less time investment.

Buy the resource The Story of an Hour Literary Essay with choice of 4 topics, rubric, and pre-writing worksheet.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving The Story of an Hour Activity Bundle PDF. Great for building a unit including “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin.

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Activities for Teaching the Novel: The Time Machine

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Kim Lindblade

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is a fun story with plenty to explore within and beyond the text. There are at least two movie versions that can be compared for what historical events were included and the way they shape the future. The trope of a Time Machine is a common one in media today.

Here are some activities to use with teaching The Time Machine by H.G. Wells:

Movie vs. Book Comparison

Comparing a book with the movie adaptation is always a fun and challenging activity. The Time Machine has at least two movie versions (the 1960 and 2002 films being most well-known.) A good comparison activity may include several parts– observing differences and evaluating the differences.

Buy the Movie vs Book Comparison Activity with a Movie v. Book comparison table, a Best of Both Worlds worksheet, and two responses for evaluating the best version.

Movie Poster or Book Cover Projects

These are two great visual projects to work with the text. Students consider images or symbols from the text. The movie poster includes finding actors for the roles. The book cover includes a blurb to entice readers. Both look great on the wall or in a digital gallery.

Buy the Movie Poster or Book Cover Projects with instructions, teacher discussion guide information pages for movie poster and book covers, reflection worksheets.

Sequel Writing

The ending of The Time Machine leaves off with the Time Traveller having never returned from his second journey. Students can explore what happened to him and why he never returned. But also historical events or cultural changes that could be included.

Buy the Sequel Writing Activity with planning worksheets, student instructions, rubric, and options for either a Narrative or Graphic Novel/ Multimedia project.

Create a Literary Infographic

Infographic projects are fun visual projects that can still include many of the literary analysis concepts used in studying a story. Students retell and examine the text in the format of an infographic.

Buy the Create an Infographic Activity with Handouts on Infographics, plus an option for a literary infographic for the Time Machine as well as a character one focusing on the Time Traveller. Student instructions and rubrics included.

Alternate Ending Project

The ending of the Time Machine may feel a bit unresolved. Students might enjoy writing a different ending to the story. One that has the Time Traveller return, or even going further back, to save Weena. Students will choose a pivotal moment in the story and rewrite the ending from that point. An effective ending demonstrates their understanding of story structure. Consider if students should also match mood, tone, or diction of the original text, as appropriate.

Buy the Alternate Ending Project with student instructions, prewriting, and options for either a Narrative or a Graphic Novel project.

Alternate Point of View Writing

Taking an alternate point of view is a valuable activity for students. With reading the Time Machine, students can take Weena’s point of view. What’s her version of events when that strangely dressed Time Travellor shows up and changes her life? Students will consider what Weena will know and understand.

Buy the Alternate Point of View Project with student instructions, rubric, and prewriting worksheets.

Reading, Thinking, Quiz and Test Questions

Holding students accountable with reading can be a challenge. Reading questions can be completed during reading to assist in this process. As a bonus, the reading questions can serve as reference material for students working on projects. (This is Ms. Dickson’s favorite method of accountability).

Quiz questions can provide another type of accountability. These may be completed to ensure students are doing the reading as assigned. Tests might cover the entire book, providing a more objective grade point than projects. A combination of short answer and multiple choice questions can be used to assess student’s understanding and retention.

Buy the Reading, Thinking, Quiz and Test Questions. Questions are aligned with the two primary versions of the text. See image below for a brief overview of the differences. Also includes Critical Thinking questions with are short paragraph level concepts that can be built on with longer essays or projects, or stand alone as bite-sized responses to the text.

Actually, it was quite interesting exploring the different versions while ensuring the reading and quiz questions would align correctly.

The items listed in this post are sold in the money saving The Time Machine Activity Bundle PDF Great for building a unit with The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

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Activities for Teaching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech in High School and Middle School English ELA Classes

Posted on January 7, 2024 by msdickson

The “I Have a Dream” speech is a popular speech to teach. Students often learn about it at younger grades, though there’s certainly benefit to returning to this powerful speech in the older grades as well. This speech is worth a closer study into the analogies and the language used, as well as the messaging.

Here are some activities to use with teaching Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech for High School and Middle School English ELA Classes for MLK Day and beyond.

I Have a Dream Speech Then and Now Research Project: There is history behind the injustices in Dr. King’s speech. Sometimes more than history books include. Things students don’t always realize. To do something more with the speech, since my students were already familiar with it, I made a project that had students research specifics of 5 of the dreams mentioned in the speech, then come back together to share their findings. The project concluded with reflecting on the progress made towards achieving the dreams. I always allow solo projects. So the resource available has several versions to help fit your classroom.

Two Text Comparison Activity: Studying the speech along side other texts is a good way to work with it at the secondary level and building off the familiarity many students have with the speech. There are a good many powerful speeches from the Civil Rights era. Also, as a Common Core task, students could compare the “I Have a Dream” speech with another important speech.

Some speeches to compare to the “I Have a Dream” Speech by MLK:

  • “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Dr. King
    • “Speech at the March on Washington” John Lewis (Aug. 28, 1963)
  • “Address at the Detroit Walk to Freedom” Dr. King, 2 months before the Washington D.C. march and speech, compare to find similarities in this ‘predecessor’ speech
  • John F. Kennedy’s 1963 “Address on Civil Rights”

Analyzing Analogies: this activity has students explore the analogies Dr. King uses in his speech. They will attempt to put those analogies into their own words or explain what they mean. This can help students think about what the message is and what the impact of using those analogies is. (This resource is free on TPT!)

I Also Have a Dream Classroom Project: A secondary level version of the project. Students make a project with their own dreams to improve their world. This project has students consider the community level, the state/ province/ regional level, the country level, and the world level in coming up with one or more ‘dreams’ (I also use the term “ideas” to improve the world, to help some students who get stuck on words like dreams.) Prewriting and reflection activities can add depth to the project. The slides (or paper-sized posters) can be displayed in class or hung in the hallways.

Reading Thinking and Quiz Questions: Reading questions can be a good tool for accountability without the stakes that come with a quiz. Quizzes are another tool for checking student knowledge. Critical thinking questions ask students to think further into the text and its ideas, with support.

Graphic Organizers: a different way to examine the text. Word Webs can record analogies or repeated phrases in the speech. Another activity is for students to map the locations in the speech and contemplate what’s different about the two groups of locations. A KWL is always helpful– especially if paired with additional research into Dr. King or his speech that lets students actually learn more about the L column item(s).

All of these activities are available as resources for purchase on TPT. Also, you can get the whole bundle at a discounted price.1

  1. Image credit for this post: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Martin_Luther_King_-_March_on_Washington.jpg ↩︎
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