Teaching “The Gift of the Magi” by O’Henry

In today’s Teaching ELA podcast episode, we discuss a classic Christmas story, which still finds its way in many a literature anthology. Takeaways ELA Common Core Lesson PlansSurprisingly, there’s not a whole lot of Christmas short stories. If you’re going to teach irony in literature, there are very few better authors to teach than O’Henry […]

Teaching Irony with These Short Stories

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories for teaching irony: “The Necklace,” “The Interlopers,” “The Machine that Won the War,” “The Blue Hotel,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now. And if there’s one short story involving […]

Hopeful Short Stories in the Time of Corona

I really want to thank Veronica for her comment on the need for hopeful short stories during a time of anxiety. When I read her comment, though, I was feeling no anxiety, so I decided to watch the news. After 49 seconds of news watching, I’m convinced the world is going to end by summer. […]