What a wonderful project, Lori! Your husband is to be lauded. Two of my favorite writers frequently have short stories available online. They are not as challenging in vocabulary as the ones you list, but I believe that they require depth of thought. I love Gary Soto and found http://www.seadeeper.com/shortstories/thebike.php I am also a huge fan of Sandra Cisneros, here's one http://forevafound.tripod.com/eleven.pdf Judy
----- Original Message ----- From: "EDWARD JACKSON" <[email protected]> To: [email protected], [email protected] Sent: Saturday, February 6, 2010 3:39:52 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [MOSAIC] Upper Level/Middle School Short Story The seventh graders in my husband's class are going to do a portfolio project as the culmination of their unit on short story. They will complete a detailed graphic organizer (story map) on the story of their choice, write a summary/reaction (1/3 summary, 2/3 reaction) paper, identify and define 10-15 vocabulary words (all year we have worked on skimming for x number of unknown words and using context support to determine meaning w/some opportunity to confirm predictions using good old fashioned dictionary skills) and do a creative project of their choice (poem, painting, etc.). As part of the portfolio, they will turn in a hard copy of short story with evidence of text coding (just a few simple codes used along with notation to 'document' thinking). Most of the students in the class are decoding at grade level and do well with comprehension with the exception of inference. A couple decode slightly below grade level and have more trouble in general with deeper thinking skills. We are building a list of short stories for them to pick from. All of them need to be available full text online (their handout lists story, author and web address). Lots of cowboy hungry types here. I know they will like O. Henry, but fear the vocabulary and prose may challenge those most interested in a cowboy story. Incidentally, we previewed the short stories used at 8th and 9th grade level so that we aren't stepping on any toes. I know it isn't the end of the world to read the same story twice, but it is an easy thing to do to make nicey nice. Any of you have any suggestions for the list? Thanks in advance. This is the list so far: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow John Irving The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allen Poe To Build a Fire Jack London The Ransom of Red Chief O. Henry Beware of the Dog Roald Dahl The Lottery Shirley Jackson The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Mark Twain An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Ambrose Bierce Lamb to Slaughter Roald Dahl The Gift of the Magi O. Henry A Piece of Steak Jack London The Stranger Katherine Mansfield The Open Window H.H. Munro (Saki) The Storyteller H.H. Munro (Saki) Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger H.H. Munro (Saki) The Lady, or the Tiger? Frank Stockton The Strange Tale of Doctor Dog Norman Pitman Lori Jackson M.Ed.Reading Specialist Broken Bow, NE EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
