“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.