Translate This Page
Humor:
Make eye contact with each of your
students to emphasize what is important.
Encourage interaction through questions.
Keep a journal and write down all the
stories that come your way.
Integrate a group of storytellers to make
constructive criticism.
They’re Made Out of Meat
by Terry Bisson
I love introducing students to science fiction.
We really don’t use
it enough in our English
classes. In this story, two aliens discuss the
bizarre new life form they’ve discovered and
try to figure out how it thinks and lives.
Your students will laugh out loud when they
discover that the aliens are talking about
humans and love figuring out the everyday
activities and items the aliens just can’t
seem to make sense of.
In class: This is perfect for introducing a new
genre to students. After reading, ask students
to craft their own science-fiction short
story.
As a class, brainstorm a list of activities of
events that take
place all the time that we
think are totally normal. Then, ask students
to write their version of an alien race trying
to figure out a birthday
party, after-school
detention, or lunch in the school cafeteria.
Charles by Shirley Jackson
by Shirley Jackson
Written by the same woman who wrote the
eerie short story “The Lottery,” this story is
guaranteed to make students of all ages
chuckle. The tale of the worst kindergarten
student ever, as told by a student in the same
class to his mother at the end of every school
day,
your students will love hearing all about
Charles’s antics. The twist at
the end of the
tale will make students gasp and giggle.
In class: Perfect for lessons on irony,
your
students can debate whether Jackson’s funny
short story
demonstrates verbal, situational,
or dramatic irony. I’ve also used this
story to
show students how an author can utilize
dialogue as a method
for developing
characterization.
