Advanced Placement Short Story

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Description:

Advanced Placement Short Story helps teachers use short fiction to incorporate extra challenge and enjoyment into advanced placement and honors English classes. Through short stories, students can absorb a panorama of styles, subjects, characters, conflicts, themes, and points of view quickly and intensely. This unit integrates a variety of approaches to appeal to diverse learning styles and to stimulate classroom vitality. Lessons maximize students’ ability to read and write critically and effectively. This unit can be used independently or in combination with a short story anthology.

Seven complete stories are included on reproducible handouts. The stories are highly diverse in subject matter, theme, and style.

• "Little Things” by Raymond Carver is a hard-hitting story of family violence.
• “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is a moving portrait of a woman’s life.
• “The Door” by E. B. White presents a nightmare of disorientation and frustration.
• “The Trout” by Sean O’Faolain shares a gentle, poetic story of a young girl maturing.
• “Who’s Passing for Who?” by Langston Hughes treats racial issues with ironic humor.
• “The Bill” by Bernard Malamud is a grim story of poverty, guilt, and hopelessness.
• “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield presents a man’s grief and anger over the death of his son.

*AP and Advanced Placement Program are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this product.

Activities:

Students briefly review key terms and concepts in preparation for in-depth analysis of a variety of elements, including characterization, theme, style, and symbolism. Activities take students beyond read-discuss-write routines. Lessons include opportunities to practice advanced placement-type questions, both multiple choice and essay.