FOR MORE LINKS AND LESSON PLANS BEYOND THESE 2 FROM A SHORT STORY SURVEY COURSE I TAUGHT SEVERAL YEARS AGO, SEE THE TEACHING DOCUMENTS SECTION OF MY ACADEMIA.EDU WEBPAGE: https://swarthmore.academia.edu/PeterSchmidt
(The students had the option of doing lesson plans for teaching a story rather than writing a conventional interpretive paper. Swarthmore has many students taking courses in our fine Education Studies program.
TEACHING MATERIALS FOR FLANNERY O’CONNOR’S STORY “A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND,” By Adriana Obiols Roca, Swarthmore College ’16 (with input from Peter Schmidt).
• Lesson Plan
• Discussion of Lesson Plan
• Links and Resources
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW; THESE THREE .DOCX FILES WILL DOWNLOAD TO YOUR COMPUTER:
A Good Man Is Hard to Find Lesson Plan
TEACHING MATERIALS FOR TOBIAS WOLFF’S STORY “THAT ROOM,” by Kate Crowley, Swarthmore College ’16:
• Lesson Plan for Tobias Wolff’s story “That Room,” from Wolff’s collection Our Story Begins (New York: Random House/Vintage, 2008).
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW; ONE .DOCX FILE WILL DOWNLOAD TO YOUR COMPUTER:
Kate – Wolff lesson plan rev
• NOTE: this story is available in print, or as an audiobook for $ .99: http://www.downpour.com/that-room-1
Publisher’s summary of “That Room”:
In this short story by the masterful Tobias Wolff, a teenage boy learns the joys – and struggles – of adult life.
Eager for independence and adult-like freedom, a teenage boy takes a summer job baling hay on a rural farm. Savoring the farm wife’s attention and the extra change in his pocket, the boy feels like a grown man. The fellow hands give him a sense of camaraderie – Clemson, a fastidious boy who attends the same high school; Eduardo, a talkative Mexican seasonal worker; and Miguel, a quiet man and Eduardo’s brother.
One night, after working the fields from dawn until dusk, Clemson and the boy drop the two brothers off at the decrepit hotel they live at during the summers. Eduardo invites the men in for a drink and they all accept. But the room is filthy and reeking of mildew, and as angry words lead to dangerous actions, the boy must face the reality of his situation.
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These lesson plans were created by two students in Professor Peter Schmidt’s English Literature 71D, “The Short Story in the U.S.” (Fall 2014). Swarthmore College, Swarthmore Pennsylvania, USA.
If you would like to use these lesson plans you are welcome to do so, but please first contact Peter Schmidt at the Department of English Literature, Swarthmore College. My email is available on the department’s website.