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.